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<p>Yeah, and for the internal component, it looks like a rubbery
thing, but it's actually made out of a jell, I got to feel of one
at an event one time, the internal component has electrodes that
are kind of hexagon shaped.</p>
<p>The process is this, the Sergent will make an insition on your
head, then have to drill holes in the cochlea depending on how
many electrodes the brand of ci you go with, which, of course will
injure the cochlea, which will leave you with out any hearing on
that side, then they make what I would refer to as an armature
magnetic field, kind of like the way a motor is constructed.</p>
<p>What happens with a motor, is that you have the grind wheel, this
is the part of the motor that turns when it's running, so, it has
a few of these flat medal round pieces that have three openings on
them, then, you take some copper wire and rap it around, evenly
around all of these three openings, and then somehow, secure the
end of the wire so that it doesn't come undone.</p>
<p>So, that's kind of how the internal component of the implant
works, once you connect the outside magnetic head piece to the
inside magnet that goes to the internal component, the mic picks
up sound, it's processed through the processor, then it's
transmitted through the rf cable to the coil on the head piece,
which sends it through the two magnets, and then through the
electrodes in the cochlea which are connected to the main auditory
nerve.<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>hope that answers your question.</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 11/4/2019 5:48 PM, Chris Westbrook
via NFB-DB wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CA+6QrLiEt=TEMMgnZWRzuLMW4qbhm_VU1L7cEu9ahrX6kXRbTw@mail.gmail.com">
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<div dir="ltr">There are different types of processors, the
processor I have works similar to the behind the ear hearing aid
I used to have for that ear and still wear on the other ear. It
has an ear hook that goes around the ear which is connected to a
device that sits behind the ear which contains the microphones.
It is slightly bigger than my hearing aid, but that is mainly
due to the battery which is rechargeable so I will take the
convenience over the slight increase in size. It doesn't bother
me at all. Oh I forgot this piece behind my ear is connected to
a coil that is connected to the magnet that attracts to the
magnet inside my head. It doesn't bother me at all though. It
did a little bit when I was first activated but not much. I got
used to it quickly.</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, Nov 4, 2019 at 4:19 PM
jmail201586--- via NFB-DB <<a
href="mailto:nfb-db@nfbnet.org" moz-do-not-send="true">nfb-db@nfbnet.org</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div lang="EN-US">
<div class="gmail-m_5867188439754182011WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal"> Hi
Everyone,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So may I ask, how exactly does the
implant work? I’m asking this question because me
myself, am hard of hearing (this is how my
doctors/audiologists terms it) and I’ve chosen not to
have the implant performed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Is the implant noticeable. Do you
wrap the device around the ear?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thank you. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>From:</b> NFB-DB <<a
href="mailto:nfb-db-bounces@nfbnet.org"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">nfb-db-bounces@nfbnet.org</a>>
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Chris Westbrook via NFB-DB<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Monday, November 4, 2019 10:02 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> NFB Deaf-Blind Division Mailing List <<a
href="mailto:nfb-db@nfbnet.org" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">nfb-db@nfbnet.org</a>><br>
<b>Cc:</b> Chris Westbrook <<a
href="mailto:westbchris@gmail.com" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">westbchris@gmail.com</a>><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [NFB-DB] cochlear implant
experiences</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">I have no vision. I chose cochlear
because of their compatibility with iphone. I was told
that all three major brands are good and it was just a
matter of picking one. The center I went to had
experience with all three but that may not always be
the case. </p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">On Mon, Nov 4, 2019 at 9:56 AM
Marsha via NFB-DB <<a
href="mailto:nfb-db@nfbnet.org" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">nfb-db@nfbnet.org</a>>
wrote:</p>
</div>
<blockquote
style="border-top:none;border-right:none;border-bottom:none;border-left:1pt
solid rgb(204,204,204);padding:0in 0in 0in
6pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in">
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Gene and Chris,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Both of you do not have any
vision? Correct. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thank you for sparking this
very interesting discussion. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thank you, </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<div>
<div
style="border-right:none;border-bottom:none;border-left:none;border-top:1pt
solid rgb(225,225,225);padding:3pt 0in 0in">
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>From:</b> NFB-DB
<<a
href="mailto:nfb-db-bounces@nfbnet.org"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">nfb-db-bounces@nfbnet.org</a>>
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Gene Richburg via
NFB-DB<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Sunday, November 3, 2019 9:24
PM<br>
<b>To:</b> NFB Deaf-Blind Division Mailing
List <<a
href="mailto:nfb-db@nfbnet.org"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">nfb-db@nfbnet.org</a>><br>
<b>Cc:</b> Gene Richburg <<a
href="mailto:gene5402@austin.rr.com"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">gene5402@austin.rr.com</a>><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [NFB-DB] cochlear
implant experiences</p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p>Hi guys;</p>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<p> </p>
<p>I have had my ci for probably about 4 and a
half years now.</p>
<p>At first, when I would hear voices through
it, some voices would sound like a man and a
women mixed together sort of, and the sound
was like I had a really bad ear infection.</p>
<p>Also, the sound was so new, that it sounded
like my head was this really big medal ball,
and when my audi was giving me simple words
like hotdog, ice cream, bluebird, words like
that, it almost sounded like she had a little
of a reverb, and like she was singing the
words, even though she wasn't really!when I
was over at my mom's house, and I was back in
the bedroom, the ac was kind of loud because
the ac was just outside the room, so it got
the most air flow in the house, so the vent
was only open just enough for sufficient air
to come through, so, I wanted to see what it
would sound like if I took my ci off with the
ac on, so I did, and it left a very metallic
sound, very much like a digital sound effect
trailing off behind it.</p>
<p>Samantha on my iphone sounded like she was
talking much higher and quite monotoned at
first untill I got more adjusted to the
implant, she sounds normal now.</p>
<p>Basically, it sounds very distorted at first,
kind of like a radio off the station, but that
should clear up after some time, the more you
wear it, and use it, the quicker you ajust.</p>
<p>There is a grocery store in Texas called H E
B and if you go into huge ones like they have
here in </p>
<p>Austin, it is really noisy, and even though I
still have a ha, I found I was unable to hear
people that didn't know me, so, I had a friend
of mine go with me, and man, was it loud, but
I said, there's no point in putting off the
oppertunity to get adjusted as quickly as
possible, so I just wore the ci, and just
lived with it.</p>
<p>When you have one of these, you or some else
that has it might notice, in the way of music,
that notes sound very distorted and soft
almost like there out of your range to hear
them.I have advanced bionics, which was
recommended to me since it supports virtuil
frequencies, it only has 16 electrodes, unlike
cochlear Americas, but, to my knowledge, ab is
the only one that supports this virtual
frequency technology, basically, what they're
doing, is much like what ha manufactures do,
but in the case of the ci's, it's a little
different.</p>
<p>So when you have a loss that's so severe,
that ha's are not able to accomidate the
frequencies you need, they use this virtual
frequency cloning technology.</p>
<p>What this does, is takes frequencies that
you're not able to hear, and clones them to
frequencies that you can here.</p>
<p>So, the a b ci's do something similar to
that, they take frequencies that they don't
physically support, and copy them to ones they
do support, so the result is more of a range
of hearing, but you don't have to use that
feature if you don't want to.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It also has something called clear voice,
this feature I should say tries to provide
releaf from unwanted noises, but in doing so,
it makes speech you're trying to hear kind of
scratchy and muted, and my audiologist told me
that I'm not the only one that says that, she
has 4 other deaf-blind patients who also say
the same thing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I do have unpredictable sound localization
issues, as my ears are not balanced, and I'm
actually in the process of having to get my
other ear implanted, as my hearing has gotten
to the point that the most powerful ha is only
5 percent stronger than the one I have now,
and I've had two audiologists tell me that
they really think I should consider it, so I'm
trying to work through the twc system to get
it, but I don't know when it's gonna get
aproved, as they have a lot more loops and
hoops to jump through to get it approved.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I hope this has been helpfull, just everyone
keep in mind, that everyone has different
experiences, so you might experience some or
all of the things I have should you decide to
have this done.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Gene</p>
<p> </p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">On 11/3/2019 6:49 PM,
Chris Westbrook via NFB-DB wrote:</p>
</div>
<blockquote
style="margin-top:5pt;margin-bottom:5pt">
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">I can imagine that
would be a real mourning process. I have
had hearing and vision loss all my life, I
could have gotten a cochlear implant a
long time ago but was too scared. Lol. So
I dont know what normal sounds like. I
will say music sounds really bad through
the implant, but that might get better
still, I have been focusing more on
practicing speech recognition than music.
So interesting that people can have such
different experiences. </p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">On Sun, Nov 3, 2019
at 7:26 PM Showe Trela via NFB-DB <<a
href="mailto:nfb-db@nfbnet.org"
target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">nfb-db@nfbnet.org</a>>
wrote:</p>
</div>
<blockquote
style="border-top:none;border-right:none;border-bottom:none;border-left:1pt
solid rgb(204,204,204);padding:0in 0in
0in 6pt;margin:5pt 0in 5pt 4.8pt">
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hello. I had a CI
put in about a year and a half ago
and I personally am glad I have it,
but don't use it as much as I
should. I got randomly sick a couple
of years ago and lost all my hearing
in my right ear. I am still going
through a terible mourning process
so I think that is why I hate my CI
so much. It didn't hurt at all for
me. I find the app pretty
accessible. I hate how it sounds
because I still have normal hearing
in my left ear and my CI gives me a
headache and I have to slow down
voiceover to understand my phone.
Never had to do that before... I
still have lots of trouble
localizing sound even when I wear
the darn thing. Like I said. I am
still mourning my hearing loss.
Blindness is nothing to me because
I've been blind all my life but
losing my hearing was hard... </p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="margin-bottom:12pt">Showe</p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sent from my
iPhone</p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="margin-bottom:12pt"> </p>
<blockquote
style="margin-top:5pt;margin-bottom:5pt">
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="margin-bottom:12pt">On
Nov 3, 2019, at 12:21 PM, kara
bohnenstiel via NFB-DB <<a
href="mailto:nfb-db@nfbnet.org" target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">nfb-db@nfbnet.org</a>>
wrote:</p>
</blockquote>
</div>
<blockquote
style="margin-top:5pt;margin-bottom:5pt">
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<blockquote
style="margin-top:5pt;margin-bottom:5pt">
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">As the
mother of a 14 year old who
is totally blind and on Nov
21 will receive the
surgery-- I would love to
hear anyone's experience...
Here's one question:
firstly, did you wake up in
a lot of pain from the
surgery? Glad to hear you
are glad you did it, Chris!
</p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Best,</p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kara</p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">On Sun,
Nov 3, 2019 at 1:58 PM
Chris Westbrook via NFB-DB
<<a
href="mailto:nfb-db@nfbnet.org"
target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">nfb-db@nfbnet.org</a>>
wrote:</p>
</div>
<blockquote
style="border-top:none;border-right:none;border-bottom:none;border-left:1pt
solid
rgb(204,204,204);padding:0in
0in 0in 6pt;margin:5pt 0in
5pt 4.8pt">
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">I
thought it would be neat
to start a thread on
cochlear implants. I
have been "activated"
for almost three months
now and am glad I did
it, but it has been a
challenging journey.
Just curious what
others' experiences have
ben. I am considering
writing an article for
the braille monitor on
my experiences, as I
feel that the broader
blind community needs to
be more educated about
the experiences of some
of us. I am also willing
ot answer any questions
anyone may have. Look
forward to responses.
Thanks and have a great
day.</p>
</div>
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