Coclear Implants and Residual Hearing

I got my Cochlear Implant on March 8, 2022. Before my implant I had less than 30% residual hearing in both ears. I have made amazing progress but I also did my homework given me. I have no regrets and just finished up with speech therapy.

I got AB Bionics implant. I had just one ear done and wear my Phonak hearing aid in the other. I am hearing sounds I hadn’t heard in a long time. It’s been a blessing for me.

Arieswoman, thanks so much for responding. It leads me to two more questions:
Did you maintain any residual hearing in the side with the CI?
What was the "homework" you mention?

I received a CI in 2005. At that time there were no expectations that residual hearing would remain. Now there are some instances when it can be retained. However, my tests showed a 110 dB loss w/o hearing aids, so there wasn't much to lose.

I have been 'bimodal' since then, using a HA in the other ear. It's been amazing how much improved that aided ear became once my brain adapted to CI hearing. When I test with both devices now, I am hearing more than 95% word recognition. Reality: The spin test, which includes sentences in noise, takes me down to less than 20%, so I still have trouble in noisy settings.

My brand is Cochlear Americas. I commend Cochlear Americas for being the front runner in developing assistive technology that works with my CI and HA. Cochlear's 'Mini Mic' has become my 'best friend' in social settings. When I use it, I can hear quite well, even in noisy social settings. It's not perfect, but it's a huge help.

A word of advice that I received prior to getting my CI was extremely helpful. I was told to do all I could to rehab the residual hearing I had by using headsets plugged in to audio tapes. OR, by using a personal hearing loop (neckloop) to plug in to the audio device I used to play those tapes. I listened to several audio books in the months prior to getting the CI. I am grateful to my HLAA* friends who encouraged me to do that, and also to go the CI route. I had watched many of them, from the mid 1980s get CIs. Many were 'subjects' when CIs were still considered experimental. I knew people who did far poorer than I did in testing and in social settings, go from that level to hearing better than I heard then. It was fascinating.

The brain is amazing. Mine has adapted to binaural hearing. I was lucky that I didn't have to do a lot of rehab. Perhaps that pre rehab helped. I don't know. It took about 2 months before voices started to sound normal. From the beginning, I was able to distinguish sounds I had not heard for decades. (Birds, machines, etc.)
I didn't get hearing aids until I was in my 30s. I was 64 when I had CI surgery, so my hearing had progressed over a long time.

When I remove my CI processor and my hearing aid, I can only hear and feel very loud sounds. I am clinically deaf without my technology.

So thankful! I wish you well on your CI journey.

Julie Olson

*HLAA is The Hearing Loss Association of America. http://www.hearingloss.org HLAA's mission is to share information, to educate, to provide peer support and to advocate for better hearing health.

I have no residual hearing my CI side at all with my appliance removed at bedtime. So this brought up a concern. We had a meeting here at my apartment building with the fire department and this firewoman spoke. At the Q&A time I brought up my concerns that during the night I might not hear the smoke detectors. She immediately walked over and handed me her business card asking me to call her. The next day I did and they came out and installed an alarm clock with a bed shaker attached and programmed into the smoke detector! All of this at no cost to me. It also is an alarm clock to wake me up in the morning. Not necessary most of the time as I am retired. I can and do hear sharp sounds so I might have heard a smoke detector but why take the chance?

My app the speech therapist had me use the most is "IAngelSound" which is listening to different sounds at different speech speeds. I had 100% on my last appointment with the speech therapist. All of this in just 4 months since surgery.

I do have difficulties in a loud restaurant with music in the background. I think people with normal hearing do also. I think I do pretty well considering. I also have a Rogers mike and an app on my phone which is "Otter" and that works very well in meetings.