Frustration as hearing declines
I was in my fifties when an audiogram revealed a mild hearing loss. Over several years, this descended from mild to moderate to severe hearing loss. Hearing aids helped at first. However, I was increasingly frustrated in meetings. I could not understand most of what was said. Probably most frustrating of all were the simple exchanges between my wife and me at home. Fortunately, we both have a reasonable sense of humor. Support groups like HLAA and authors like Katherine Bouton helped me cope as well. Yet the endless restating of words, gestures, and misunderstandings made it clear that hearing aids finally weren’t enough. I gradually felt less connected with the world around me. Assistive technology and other accommodations weren’t helping enough either. It became increasingly difficult to interact with students. As a result, I quit my job teaching.
A dramatic improvement with cochlear implants
For a while, I postponed pursuing cochlear implants (CIs), hoping a medical cure for sensorineural hearing loss was just around the corner. Finally, in 2020, at the age of 76, I was implanted in my slightly “worse” ear. I am so thankful for the skills of my surgeon and audiologist. Incredibly, only six weeks after activation and regular daily practice with my new CI, I regained 90% of my understanding of the spoken word. My listening skills continue to improve. I can now follow most conversations without captioning. I now use apps to practice so I can regain a degree of musical sound appreciation. Once again, my wife and I have regular conversations. My volunteer work resumed, including literacy tutoring. Instead of feeling left out of what is going on around me, I am again an active participant in social exchange. In April, 2021 I got a cochlear implant in my other ear. I was thinking today how much technology, especially cochlear implants, and the amazing people that gave me access to it (including the surgeon, audiologist, implant service providers, insurance, and the union) have helped me to reverse the path of withdrawal into senility that my father took before me. I feel grateful to all of them for my recovered life.
The need for more advocacy
My story is not unusual for CI users. Conversations on typical Facebook CI users’ support groups (such as this link) give a pretty clear sense of some of our issues. It pained me when I recently read someone’s comment that an uninformed medical professional had told him cochlear implants “don’t work very well.” Although the movie, The Sound of Metal, gives an excellent sense to the hearing community of what severe hearing loss is like, it can mislead people who would wish to maintain connection with hearing friends, associates, and family. I hope others will join me to share more accurate facts about CIs and to advocate for cochlear implants and hearing aids.