Here I have pasted direct links to my blog posts on my quest for better hearing. Please note my experiences are personal; experiences do vary from person to person. I was born deaf and brought up with lipreading as my only method of communication. A progressive hearing loss meant hearing aids became less useful for me and I was forced to consider other options.
Not liking the idea of a cochlear implant
Discovery and changing my mind about a cochlear implant
Why do I want a cochlear implant?
Which cochlear implant? Doesn’t it look BIG?
Seeing is believing: my tipping point.
VIDEO of a cochlear implant operation (not mine!)
What a cochlear implant looks like
My operation : February 25, 2010
My recovery – with tips for the hospital stay
Activation day and captioned VIDEO of my activation
Four days after activation – the beeping changes into wonderful sounds
One week after activation – my brain squeals in protest
Two weeks after activation – new hearing test
One month after activation – what a noisy world!
‘Adjusting’ my new hearing – mapping and IDR (Input Dynamic Range) explained
Two months after activation – voices, comparing the cochlear implant and hearing aid
Voyage of discovery – recognising sounds
Three months after activation – perfect music, hearing test and progress
Four months after activation – using the phone for the first time
Five months after activation – wider IDR and hearing test
Seven months after activation – hearing test and new sounds
One year after activation – from crawling to walking … with Auditory Verbal Therapy
My one year review – bouncing into a hearing life
15 months after activation – one step forward, two steps back
18 months after activation – going bilateral: sequential cochlear implant surgery
Going bilateral on the NHS – guidelines for your application
Activation day 2 with captioned video (2011)
Bilateral – one month old! 🙂
Bilateral – three month review
Bilateral – baby steps with Auditory Verbal Therapy
Bilateral – discriminating direction of sounds
Bilateral – experiencing binaural hearing
Bilateral – 2012 annual review at one year
Bilateral – 2013 annual review at two years
Bilateral – 2016 annual review at four years
Bilateral – 2017 upgrade to Naida Q90 – coming soon!
I look so I can hear.... 
Hi Tina
I started researching cochlear implants about 90 days ago. Because of your journal and Howard S, a mentor at Advanced Bionics,I was able to learn what I needed, make my decisions and select a surgeon in record time. I had the implant on Sept23rd and am doing very well. Without you and Howard, I would still be stumbling around trying to figure out what to do.
Thanks
Bill Pogue
Wow, that is in super-quick time Bill! Very pleased to hear you are doing well and you sound happy with your decision. Howard’s a great help, isn’t he. Hopefully activation day will be a fun day for you – good luck!
This is great! I’m enjoying watching your videos and your progress. Very exciting stuff, Tina. And thank you for captioning these videos!
I’m looking into getting a hearing dog one day. What program did you get your dog from?
And thank you for this website. We may not agree on everything, but I respect the fact that you 1) publish open information (even information that may be damaging to the company) (and even though your blog posts are biased towards Advanced Bionics) and 2) you are open to the exchange of ideas and will publish all comments that contribute to the discussion (hopefully that’s what you do). Keep up the good work!
It’s nice to be able to help other people Leah. I got my dog from Hearing Dogs for Deaf People in England. We only have one training program in this country and there is now a 5 year waiting list for a dog – hopefully your wait will be shorter. My dog is just wonderful.
Yes, I do publish all reasonably sane 🙂 comments. Even when I get comments that aren’t exactly complimentary – they show the writers for what they are. But happily, most comments are constructive and helpful to other readers. (And thanks Leah, for your valuable contributions!) I might seem biased towards Advanced Bionics but I wear that brand myself, so I write a lot of posts about my personal experiences of that brand. The FACTUAL information posted on my cochlear implant resources page is totally impartial.
[…] Learning to use my cochlear implant […]
Hello, My name is Nathan
On my first day CI activation and day after that, I have a starting experience to hearing sensitive high pitch sound like spoon clicking on bowel, and when sound go bit loud, it made my ear ringing sound (Tinnitus). have you had any of these experience?
Thank you Tina for such an informative blog, I am recovering after my CI last Wednesday, your blog gives me hope. Thank you! I will be watching all the videos while resting xx
Congratulations Marie! You have an exciting journey ahead 🙂
[…] Olen lueskellut tata Tinan blogia, siita saa vahan kasitysta mita tuleman pitaa – tietysti jokainen on yksilo ja toipuu hyvin eri tavalla Tassa linkki tahan blogiin https://funnyoldlife.wordpress.com/cochlear-implants/learning-to-use-my-cochlear-implant/ […]
This was a good read which has now changed my mind on cochlear implants. I have been in two minds about whether this implant was as effective as they say however I do understand the experience is different for each person nonetheless this has been an extremely positive and admirable read. I will most certainly be considering this operation now as I am very independent and I am oral deaf not born deaf. So here goes ……
Good luck! As long as you put in lots of listening practice in the first year, you should do well.
[…] started blogging in 2007, writing about my hearing journey; going from hearing aids which I had worn all my life, to a cochlear implant, and then a second […]
[…] can read my personal cochlear implant story and how I went from rejecting the very idea of having a “thing” implanted into my head, […]
[…] I was initially terrified of getting a cochlear implant but I love my bionic hearing now. In fact, I told my surgeon that he could add a third one – if he could find somewhere to put it! My own cochlear implant journey is explored at Funny Old Life. […]