July 2008 Update to Story

As a note to update my own story, I have been upgraded to the Harmony® processor and HiRes120 since May of 2007. The HiRes120 strategy was one of the important considerations for me when I was selecting my CI, and it has not been a disappointment! While it took my brain a while (several months) to get fully adjusted to the greater amount of detailed sound information from HiRes120, the sound quality is even better than I had ever hoped to experience.

As far as the impact that my CI has had on my life (as well as my wife's life), I can tell you that in the 2 years since I have received my CI, we have attended 5 different musicals, 2 rock concerts, and several other concerts and movies. This is MUCH more than in the entire 26 years that we had been together prior to that!

I am now considering getting my other ear implanted, and hope to have it done early next year.

Original Story

My hearing loss surfaced as a young boy. Because my older brother had experienced a hearing loss at an early age, my parents were closely monitoring my hearing situation. I was fitted with a hearing aid in my right ear at age 10, thus beginning my lifelong association with audiologists and other hearing specialists. I was never given a firm diagnosis as to the cause of my hearing loss-only that it was probably due to a hereditary nerve loss.

From the age of 10 until age 30, I managed to hear very well with one hearing aid, I went to college, got married, and started a family. At age 30, I experienced a sudden drop in hearing in my right ear, and also in my left ear. I was fit with a more powerful aid in my right ear, as well as an aid in my left ear. Once again, the specialists offered no reason for the sudden loss of hearing. It was then (1985) when I first learned of a device called a cochlear implant that offered some crude "hearing sensations" to deaf persons. I prayed that I would never lose enough hearing to ever have to consider that device.

At age 40 (in 1995), I was devastated when I lost all remaining hearing in my right ear, and suffered a further loss in my left. By this time, my left ear (my good ear) had profound hearing loss, yet I still could not accept that I was deaf. I was terrified that I would no longer work as a Project Manager with an electrical engineering company and wondered how I would support my family if I could not hear.

Somehow, I managed to follow conversations by relying heavily on speech reading and other people. However, as time went on, the physical and mental effort required to do this became too much, and I withdrew from social settings. I no longer enjoyed concerts or plays and stopped attending parties and family functions. Business meetings were particularly stressful, and I dreaded those the most.

In the meantime (in late 2002), my brother received a cochlear implant, which was a huge benefit to him. I thought, but he has always had worse hearing than I have, so it is no wonder he got a CI. I was still not ready to seek out a CI for myself, and I still thought I was doing fine and did not consider that the CI would be beneficial to me.

Finally in late 2005, at the age of 50, I came to realize that I was NOT happy with my life. And unless I wanted to start a new career, as well as learn sign language to communicate, I had better see whether a CI would work for me. Looking back at that decision, it is now ironic that it was not until I accepted that I was deaf that could I begin my journey back to hearing.
During my evaluation for the CI, I was amazed to learn how much I depended upon speech reading to understand conversation. Seeing the very poor results of my hearing tests (which were done with my hearing aid in my good ear) made me anxious to receive my CI and get started on the journey back to hearing.

We decided to implant my deaf right ear and continue wearing a powerful hearing aid in my left. It was up to me to decide on the CI device; and after researching all three devices, I chose the Advanced Bionics HiRes 90K® implant and the Auria® BTE processor. As an engineer, I wanted an implant that not only had the latest in technology, but also had the potential for future upgrades without requiring additional surgery or reimplanation. I quickly recognized the design superiority of the Bionics' device with its 16 individual current sources for electrode excitation. This innovative design allowed sound processing strategies that none of the other manufacturers' devices could offer me.

My cochlear implant outpatient surgery was done in March 2006 and I was home for dinner the same day. I returned to work after about a week at home and was activated a month after surgery.

While I could indeed hear sounds immediately upon activation, those sounds were not understandable, and were accompanied by a constant high-pitched squealing. I could not imagine ever being able to understand anything I was hearing with the CI. However, after a few weeks, the squealing went away, and my brain truly did begin to adapt to the sounds, and I WAS HEARING WITH MY RIGHT EAR AGAIN!!

The first few months brought rapidly improved hearing, speech understanding, and music appreciation. When I went to several sessions with my audiologist and she refined the sound processing programs, my understanding of sounds improved.

By four weeks, my implanted ear already understands speech about four times better than my other ear (with a hearing aid). At three months, the difference was about six times! In addition, I rediscovered the joys of attending concerts, as well as connecting with family and friends. Before I received my CI, my wife was stuck by my side, acting as my interpreter at social events. Now she happily complains that she has to hunt for me, as I wander everywhere making conversation with anyone and everyone! We have listened to bands, and gone to movies again. For our anniversary, we are looking forward to attending a play for the first time in 20 years or more!

As someone who has struggled for years with a profound hearing loss, I did not think that I would ever be able to enjoy the many things that hearing folks enjoy like concerts, plays, and movies. But as much as I missed these things, I missed being connected with my family and friends even more. My cochlear implant has given me back music, movies, and plays. But most importantly it has given me back my life, by connecting me with my family, my friends, and the whole world.