It’s been eight months since my cochlear implant (CI) surgery and seven months since its activation. I’ve used the words “metallic,” “robotic,” and “tinny” (among others) to describe the sound of speech through the device. I’ve come up with a new descriptor – it sounds like wire brushes on a cymbal, such as those used on a trap drum set. Percussive, certainly, but maybe a little bit sharper or crisper than the real sound of those brushes.
When I was first activated, and for the first five weeks, that is the only sound I heard – all day, every day, every waking minute! It was all at one pitch level (a very high F) and everything sounded exactly the same – just a drummer drumming on a cymbal! Every key on the piano produced that sound; the spoon stirring my coffee produced that sound; my wife made that sound when she spoke to me; my footsteps on the carpet or on the tile floor made that sound; the microwave made that sound; the water running in the sink made that sound; the neighbor’s dog made that sound; literally everything made that sound. It nearly drove me nuts!
At my first adjustment, though, I was able to hear human vocal inflection from my audiologist, the first evidence of improvement. Little by little – in teeny, tiny increments – my ability to understand speech is returning. In the quiet setting of my audiologist’s office, I am able to carry on a conversation with her, with very few problems. That setting is not ‘real world,’ and when I’m in everyday listening situations, I still don’t understand conversations well. The larger the gathering of folks, the more difficult it is for me to understand anyone in the group. That’s been the case for the past 25 or more years, as long as I have worn hearing aids. In that situation, the CI is no different than the hearing aid – background noise is transferred through the device to my brain, which interprets it as, yes, background noise.
At any rate, I had an appointment at Hearts for Hearing in OKC on July 2nd, which included a battery of sound tests (yes, in the booth) on both ears, with and without the CI and the hearing aid. I didn’t record the numbers and I forgot to ask for a copy of the test results, so these may be inaccurate, but they reveal a bit about the progress I’ve made these past seven months. Pre-implant, my understanding of individual words was 18%; now I am up to 44%. In my ‘good’ ear (the one with the hearing aid), my pre-implant understanding was too good to qualify for an implant (I can’t remember the number she said); now it is 85% with only the hearing aid in use. My audiologist and I are both pleased with my progress. The numbers are good, even if my day-to-day experiences are still quite frustrating.
Since the last appointment, I had increased the volume on my CI to the maximum, a setting of 10. My audiologist, when resetting the device after the tests concluded, set that volume level as the default setting of 7. That way, by the time of my next appointment in December, I’ll be able to increase the volume, as needed, as my “ear” continues to improve. And it will.
I learned that my “good” ear is remaining stable and I am likely not going to qualify for an implant in that ear for quite a long while. I’ve already decided that when I eventually meet the qualifications, I’ll proceed with the second implant. I can only surmise that my aural sense of that ear getting worse is perhaps an indication that my implanted ear is improving and is beginning to take over the lion’s share of hearing for me. I’m quite aware now that the device is doing its job. In other words, my brain is getting better at interpreting the digital signals as sound.
I’ve never stopped playing piano. In fact, I am playing the piano at our church this coming Sunday, July 14th. I’ll provide the special music and the offertory. I feel confident enough in my playing now that I have planned a concert of Christmas music. The program is nearly finalized and I’m practicing it regularly. At our house, it seems like it’s Christmas in July. ♫
