My Early Christmas Present

Backtrack to Christmas 1996 - which was the most truly special Christmas I have experienced in my life. My first cochlear implant was activated on Dec. 18th. On Dec. 21st I attended a special Christmas Concert. As long as I live, I will never forget hearing "Do You Hear What I Hear?" for the first time through this newly activated implant. I cried tears of joy as inside I shouted, "Yes! Yes! I DO hear what you hear!”

Since that special Christmas, seven years have passed and I have enjoyed my cochlear implant tremendously - the benefits far too many to describe in detail here. A large part of my good hearing was due to my continued ability to benefit from wearing a hearing aid in the unimplanted ear.

Two years ago I experienced a severe Meniere's attack, a month later I suffered from Tullio's Phenomenon. As a result, I had to stop wearing my hearing aid because it triggered the Tullio’s, causing extreme dizziness. This was a huge setback for me. Sounds became flat sounding - often unpleasant and unnatural compared to what I had grown used to with the integration of my implant and hearing aid. I began to tire more easily and depression set in with the increased communication challenges in the workplace.

At this point I decided to seek binaural hearing with a CI. I always jokingly said that if I lost the ability to wear a hearing aid in the "bad" ear, I would be pounding on the doors of my implant center for another implant. Little did I know that I was not joking! I spoke with my surgeon, and he said he would do the surgery. Fortunately, in January 2003 my insurer began to cover cochlear implants. My second implant surgery was Sept. 19th and I was activated on Oct. 21st and 22nd. As I write this, my new implant is less than two weeks old!

The activation was very different than the first time. Who among us can ever forget the "out of body" experience of the first sounds of running water and flushing toilets? This time, running water and flushing toilets sounded much like a person whistling! Not that awful harsh loud tinny sound I remembered the first time. I thought the new sounds might overwhelm the sounds of the original implant. Wrong again! If anything, the sounds from it were softer.

That evening after I had been turned on only a few hours, my husband and I were in a fairly noisy restaurant. I told my husband I was not so sure that the new implant was adding very much at this point. I turned it off and was shocked! Doing this just 4 hours later left the original implant sounding very odd. I guess it was making a difference already!

A few days later I was talking on the telephone with my Mother. She asked how the new implant sounded, wondering if I used the telephone with it yet. I had not, so I switched on the trusty "t" switch of the new implant and put the phone to my ear. I wasn't expecting to understand her very well, since when I listen through the new implant alone, it seems like I still do not understand much. I was astounded that I could understand her! It wasn't as easy, but I conversed with little or no misunderstanding.

The biggest things I have noted in this short time are that I now can stand in a bank of 6 elevators at work and correctly identify the direction of the elevator bells that ding when a car arrives. I usually depended upon movement of others (and not always getting on the correct car!). In busy traffic, I correctly identified the direction from which an emergency vehicle was approaching before I saw it. I now can decipher the direction phones are ringing in my office, something that always confused me. Now I know when my printer starts in a distant location from my cubicle. This audio cue prompts me to pick up my print jobs, something I frequently forget because I don't hear the printer run. I am beginning to hear office conversations out of sight and a distance away from my cubicle. I heard some excited chattering on Halloween when a local radio DJ brought treats to our office. I normally would not have caught this from my cubicle. Another surprise was with lyrics in music. To acquire music appreciation and understanding of lyrics, I have played some CD's in my car a gazillion times in my daily commute to work. There are some that despite all my best efforts still contain phrases that seemingly drop into a "black hole" of my understanding. One day, to test drive this new binaural hearing, I plopped a CD in. I almost had to pinch myself when the previously undecipherable phrase was clearly understood.

This whole experience has NOT been at all like what I thought it would be. I continually think that the new CI is not doing a lot by itself, but the difference taken together with the original implant amazes me. Quality of sound is definitely more pleasant and full sounding. Music has a 3-dimensional quality to it. Listening in noisy situations is much easier and in many situations around the house with my husband I am picking up more things. Knowing where the speaker is coming from is a huge help. I am finding listening in general to be much easier. It is not something easy to quantify but listening is taking much less effort.

Fast-forward to Christmas 2003 - while it is yet to come, without a doubt I will have much to be thankful for. I will be first in line to hear my favorite group sing "Do You Hear What I Hear?" The difference nowadays is that this group knows my story. They dedicate this song to me because they know the special meaning this song holds for me.

Carol Burns