CIborg bloggen til en ung voksen CI-bruker

Remember that your own starting point affects how you perceive sounds from CI and how fast or slow you learn to hear again. There’s a big difference between growing up with normal hearing and loosing the hearing in adulthood; and being born profoundly hard of hearing or deaf. Read my starting point, so you are aware of my previous experiences with hearing.

I will split my experiences in getting CI in different posts; CI evaluation, deciding, surgery and activation (click the links to read the posts). Following is a short summary of each part.

CI evaluation

The first step in the process happens when you finally receive a letter from the hospital calling in for a session for evaluation. The hospital will check if it’s physically possible for you to get CI and if you fulfill the needs and requirements to get a surgery. In other words they will find out whether your hearing is poor enough or if you will loose hearing because of a physical condition and whether you will benefit from a CI. Unfortunately many people get rejected after the evaluation if they don’t fulfill the requirements.

Making up your mind

If the hospital offers a CI surgery after your evalution, you still have the option to say “no” or “maybe later”. Using a CI is different than a hearing aid and requires a long training period with unfamiliar situation, good or bad. A CI-surgery is not reversible and will destroy your remainder of your hearing. At the same time there’s many (if not almost everyone) who make the most of CI and function almost as someone with normal hearing. Also you have to choose between different CI producers without the possibility of testing them, and if you’re 18 years or older you have to choose which ear to operate as well.

CI surgery

The surgery itself is not as complicated as it used to be, and spans just a few hours in the operation room. But there’s some information you should know beforehand. I’m talking about my experience before, during and post surgery.

CI-activation

A whole new world of sound awaits you when you finally activate your CI. But unfortunately your brain doesn’t understand it. Here I’ll tell you about my first CI turn-on and experiences of CI-sound. It’s important to remember that it takes time to learn to hear with CI. A long time. Don’t give up, for with training and patience you’ll get there.