I have a cousin who was born deaf. She had the implant in her 40s and just couldn't adapt to it, so she turned it off. It nearly drove her mad, because her brain didn't know what to do with the sounds.
My husband has had Cochlear implant on one side...he is completely deaf in both ears. He says the Cochlear is not what God gave him but at least he can carry on a conversation. One on one is better...a large group is hard. He got his about 6 yrs ago and he is 74. Some really neat features are the bluetooth streaming. He has a streamer for the TV..it streams directly into his implant..he hears it perfectly. Same with his I phone. It blue Tooths as well and he can actually talk on the phone. These features are wonderful... There is also a mini microphone, when we go to dinner I clip it to my shirt and it bluetooths directly and he can hear me, If we forget to take it he cant because of all the external noise. Also movies bluetooth in the theater. He has a small remote to control it and also has an app on his phone. He can use either one. .iPhone and Android both have this feature now..All in all its great without it we couldnt communicate and he would be totally isolated. We have had a good, experience, not perfect but all in all its worth it.
The cochlear has little hairs inside and these hairs vibrate to help make sound. Some born deaf is because the cochlear does not have these hairs or the hairs have been damaged. Playing loud music will bend these hairs and cause hearing loss. My husband is not a candidate because his hearing loss is caused by the damage to the bone and nerves behind the ear.
I woman I know was born hard of hearing and wore hearing aides her whole life. A few years back she got the implant and says she does not like it. She doesn't like the sound of peoples voices and doesn't feel she hears any better than with her aides. If like my husbands digital aides, the sound is mechanical. For some that is hard to get used to. His audiologist says you need a few weeks to allow the brain to adjust. I would also think there will be alot if tweeking until Mom is comfortable with it.
Yes that’s exactly what I’m afraid of….the sounds she’ll hear with the implant won’t sound the same as it did. They say it takes many months of listening “rehab” and lots of practice to retrain your brain. She’s very easily upset and frustrated when things don’t go the way she’d hoped. I’m hoping this implant will be wonderful for her so she can hear again but I do worry how well she will adapt to it.
It will be interesting to read the responses to this. I can not stand to have anything in my ears. I have said that if I ever need hearing aids I would see if I am a candidate for the cochlear implant.
I’m hoping she will do well. I do worry about how easily she will learn to adapt to it at her age. She is 79. It takes many months to relearn sounds and to train/teach your brain what you are hearing. Very different from natural hearing. I hope she will be happy with it
It sounds a bit odd to me. I did some work with a school for deaf children, and I thought it was only done with children. However the children had never been able to hear, so their lack of knowledge of speech was part of the problem. It might be easier with someone who wasn’t born deaf, but I’d still ask. Check the follow up tuition offered. Some people think that the implant will make them hear normally, and my understanding is that it isn't like that at all.
We have so many posters whose parents won’t wear their hearing aids, fall monitors etc, so it might depend a lot on your mother’s motivation to do the follow-up learning.
Yes from what I’ve read and all the information the audiologist gave us, the sounds you hear with an implant is very different than natural hearing. It’s “mechanical “. I’m told it takes many months to adapt and retrain your brain to recognize speech or other sounds because it won’t sound like what you used to hear like. I hope she does well and it’s a wonderful thing. I do worry though because she’s easily frustrated and gets upset when things don’t turn out the way she’d hoped.
I woman I know was born hard of hearing and wore hearing aides her whole life. A few years back she got the implant and says she does not like it. She doesn't like the sound of peoples voices and doesn't feel she hears any better than with her aides. If like my husbands digital aides, the sound is mechanical. For some that is hard to get used to. His audiologist says you need a few weeks to allow the brain to adjust. I would also think there will be alot if tweeking until Mom is comfortable with it.
I can not stand to have anything in my ears. I have said that if I ever need hearing aids I would see if I am a candidate for the cochlear implant.
We have so many posters whose parents won’t wear their hearing aids, fall monitors etc, so it might depend a lot on your mother’s motivation to do the follow-up learning.