May is Better Speech and Hearing Month, which helps bring awareness to issues related to hearing loss. I was likely born with moderate hearing loss, but did not get an official diagnosis until I was four. I wore hearing aids in both ears until I lost my hearing in my right ear about 25 (!) years ago due to a surgery that didn’t go as planned. Since that was in the late 90s, cochlear implants (CIs) were still relatively new and were only available for people who were completely deaf. Cochlear implants are implanted directly through the cochlea with electrodes that correspond to different sound pitches. An external processor that looks a lot like a hearing aid connects to an internal piece under the skin by magnet.
My left ear started to fluctuate in 2009-2010, so even though I had been told “no” several times, I asked again whether I was eligible for a cochlear implant in my right ear in case I were to lose my hearing in my left. I was approved in 2011 once they relaxed the criteria for getting an implant, and got my first cochlear implant at the end of that year. I spent the next year learning how to hear again in my right ear and the implant quickly took over my hearing aid in what it was able to hear. Hearing music was a gradual process, but I chose songs I was familiar with to practice listening to different instruments. It’s a lot like physical therapy. When a body part hasn’t worked in a while, it takes a lot of practice to get it back up to speed.
About a year after I got my right cochlear implant, the hearing in my left ear suddenly dropped significantly to the point that I could not understand speech. Thankfully, getting approved for my second implant went much more easily that the process did for the first one. I lost my hearing in May 2013 and got my implant in December 2013. The hearing practice was also much easier for this ear, but I didn’t practice as much with it at the intensity that I did with my right implant.
Meanwhile, it’s been almost 10 years with bilateral cochlear implants. They have become such a part of me that I don’t really keep track of the technology advances anymore, but I will be excited for a processor upgrade next year that includes much longer lasting, rechargeable batteries. Right now I use disposable ones that last about two days.
As far as awareness goes, there are two big things that I want to point out: One, it surprises me how few in the medical field know what a cochlear implant is. The local ENT doctor does take the opportunity to show students mine, which I appreciate. This is important because older implants are not compatible with an MRI because of the magnet in the internal piece. Just in the last few years has this issue been resolved. The other thing is that hearing through a cochlear implant takes a lot of work. I value the ability to turn them off to rest when I’m at home. It goes back to the physical therapy reference I made earlier. When a body part has to overcompensate, it takes a lot out of you.
Overall, hearing technology has advanced rapidly over the last 30 years or so. It is exciting to think about what will be available in as little as 5-10 years. I have included a picture of my first set of hearing aids with my CI processors to for reference on how far the technology has come.
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