• 48-year-old female
• Deafened at 3 or 4 years old
• Implanted at age 46

The following story is one person's experience with a cochlear implant. Your experience may be very different. Success with a cochlear implant is influenced by many factors including how long a person has had hearing loss, the age a person receives an implant, medical and anatomical factors and more. Please consult your cochlear implant professional and/or the Bionic Ear Association with questions.

My name is Carol McGowan. I was about 3 or 4 years old when my grandmother noticed that I did not respond to the ringing of a bell behind my back and told my parents that they had better take me to the doctor for a hearing test. The doctor sent us to a clinic for some intensive tests where they told my parents that I am profoundly deaf. My identical twin sister was along and my parents asked to have her tested also and were told that she is hard of hearing. I come from a family of 8 children, so it was understandable that my parents failed to notice that I could not hear. With my sisters and brothers around to help me do everything and anticipating my needs, my deafness was not very obvious. We don't know the exact cause of our hearing losses, but we were 7 weeks premature and we both had scarlet fever when we were about 3 years old.

For my early education I attended special schools for the hearing impaired to learn to speak as well as improve my lip-reading skills. High school found me back in my hometown attending the local high school in a regular class with special seating so that I could lip-read what the teacher was saying. I wore my body aid till I was 16 when I got my first 'behind the ear' (BTE) hearing aid. My audiologist did not think I would benefit from the BTE due to the fact that my hearing thresholds were between 115 and 125 dB HL! They let me try it for a few weeks and, to their amazement, they found that I was doing very well with it. Thirty-two years later in, January of 2003, I was introduced to a wonderful doctor, who implanted me with a Clarion cochlear implant. Another exciting day, one month later, I went to see my audiologist for the hook-up. During my initial stimulation, the audiologist recorded my responses of threshold level (barely heard) and comfort level (just what the word suggests; if it were any louder it would hurt). This was the first time I heard sound through my left side, so it has to be trained - just like one trains a baby to understand what it hears.

I did not know what to expect at the time of hook-up. After "hearing" the beeps during programming, I expected to hear sounds as a hearing aid provides when the microphone was turned on. Not so! The cochlear implant was totally DIFFERENT from hearing aids. I sensed a lot of vibrations via the beeps, but all the sounds were alike! I thought I could hear my own voice with my old hearing aid but it was really only for the loudness. With the cochlear implant I heard my own CLEAR voice for the first time.

It takes time for the brain to assimilate new sounds and start recognizing them for what they are. The day after my hook-up all I heard was the beeping sounds that overwhelmed me and were just annoying. After a few remappings I began to hear words inside of what I thought were just beeps. Whenever I heard any noises that I never heard before I would ask my family, co-workers, my bosses and hearing friends what the sounds were. Things like sneakers squeaking, clothes swishing, computer humming, clock ticking, tires squeals, clicking of the train on the tracks, a train gate bell, car horn, raindrops, wind chimes and dog panting. My lip-reading skills, which were very good before my surgery, became even better with the cochlear implant. I find I am able to follow conversations with people and on TV so much better because I am not only lip-reading but also can associate what I am hearing as speech. And it is getting more and more exciting every day as I continue to hear new things and create new "auditory memories".

I experience the weirdest combination of emotions, fascinating one moment and quite frustrating the next. I am sure this pattern will continue for a while, but eventually things will even out. I have heard a lot of high-frequency sounds that I NEVER heard before: "sh" & "s", water running, telephone rings, people's laughter, etc. The sound of wind is great, lovely and beautiful!!! I enjoy sending my friends emails when I hear new sounds for the first time like the birds chirping, crackling dried leaves, a cat's meows, a baby crying, etc. I enjoy the world of new sounds every day! I love learning new sounds. My motivation and patience is the main key for understanding the sounds. With my cochlear implant my hearing thresholds are now in the 25-40 dB HL range! I was flabbergasted and emotional when I saw my audiogram.

The cochlear implant is challenging and exciting! It is truly a big miracle for me. My BIG THANKS from the bottom of my heart goes to the doctor and audiologist that worked with me, and to the Advanced Bionics Corporation teams who make the implants. More exciting news to tell you is that my twin sister, Nancy, got her cochlear implant in September of 2003. We call ourselves the "Bionic Twins"!