HearingExchange – Hearing Loss Blog and Resource Community for Deaf and Hard of Hearing People, Families and Professionals

In 2002 I underwent cochlear implant (CI) surgery. I had worn two hearing aids for over 30 years and managed to do well with them until the early 1990s. As my hearing got progressively worse, I began to rely heavily on lip reading and other coping skills. After three years of not being able to hear on the telephone and increasing frustration with daily tasks and general socialization, I decided it was time to explore cochlear implant surgery. I conducted a significant amount of research and interviewed adults and children who already had them. Deciding that I had nothing left to lose and everything to gain, I made a serious commitment to the operation and also to the subsequent auditory rehabilitation. Then I began a new journey back into the world of hearing.

To say it has been a positive experience is a major understatement. In fact, it has been a fabulously monumental experience! Without my cochlear implant I wouldn't be able to do a variety of things that most people take for granted.

During the three years prior to my surgery, everyone had to communicate with me via email and/or text messaging. When I answered the phone, I couldn't identify who was calling, nor could I understand enough of a conversation to make any sense of it. I simply stopped using it. It was a very depressing and isolating feeling. Just 7 weeks after my cochlear implant was activated I was able to converse easily on the phone. In fact, I was able to hear better with the CI than I had with hearing aids for at least 15 years. I promptly ran to a cellular phone store and bought myself a new phone. Talk about exhilarating!

Another exciting benefit of having a cochlear implant is that now I am able to hear and understand conversations without having to lip read. Lip reading 24/7 was a stressful and tiring experience. My CI has made it much easier for me to hear and I am so much more relaxed.

In years past, I used to rent every movie I saw in the theatre so I could read the captions and understand what the movie had been about. Now, I can enjoy movies again and actually understand most of the dialogue. I’m able to relax and enjoy the show rather than sit on the edge of my seat, straining hard to follow along without much success.

With hearing aids I had never been able to understand public address announcements. Now, I can understand announcements over the PA at my daughter's school and also some, if not all, of what pilots say on the airplanes. I can't understand all PA announcements, but just getting any is a bonus for me and makes me feel safer in this post 9/11 world.

I used to put CD player headphones over my hearing aid microphones and turn the volume up high. I did the same thing on planes when we used to listen to the radio. Even then, I didn’t understand much of what was being said or sung. (This was before JetBlue came around with televisions at every seat!) It is a terrific feeling to be able to plug in directly to an iPod and the televisions on airplanes and be able to listen at a normal volume. I love that my comprehension surpasses even my early days with hearing aids and I’m able to understand television dialogue without the use of closed captions.

In the past when I attended conferences and seminars or classes at law school, I always had to sit up close and wear an FM system. My concentration had to be intense so that I could follow the speaker's every move and lip read in order to get full access to what he or she was saying. Since my cochlear implant was activated I haven’t used an FM system. My cochlear implant enables me to understand what is being said even if I'm not sitting in the front row. I’ve learned that I can relax and absorb what is being said. I really enjoy going to different programs because I don’t have to work so hard to learn.

For me, having a cochlear implant has been a tremendously freeing experience. I never liked to be dependent on anyone and now I don't have to be. My cochlear implant has given me a level of independence I never dreamed of. In the words of an audiologist I've worked with, I'm a profoundly deaf person who is able to hear as if I only have a mild hearing loss. My CI is an incredible piece of technology and I'm thankful for it every day of my life.

Paula Rosenthal, J.D. is married and has three children. She, her husband and daughter all have hearing loss. A law school graduate, Paula is the publisher of http://www.HearingExchange.com, an online community for people with hearing loss, their families and professionals. She is also a writer and public speaker on hearing loss and related issues. She and her daughter were featured on “Back to the Hearing World,” a DVD directed by Academy Award® nominee Josh Aronson for Cochlear Americas. Contact your local cochlear implant center or Cochlear for a free copy. To contact Paula, send an email to info@hearingexchange.com.