My hearing loss

When researching and reading other people's cochlear implant (CI) blogs, one of the things I always look for is their audiogram or description of their hearing loss.

I was under the impression that you had to be completely stone cold DEAF before resorting to a CI.  I was very surprised to discover that my hearing was the same, if not worse than many of the people who have received a CI.  I guess I have been covering up and/or have been relying so heavily on my lip reading skills, that I failed to realize just how bad my hearing really was.  In other words, I have been deluding myself into thinking that I wasn't "deaf enough" for a CI.

Below I have recreated my audiogram that was completed in April 2012.  This "pure tone" hearing test requires you to push a button every time you hear a beep.  The red line represents my RIGHT ear.  The blue line represents my LEFT ear.

Created using: http://www.hearingaidknow.com/audiogram-creator/

As you can see, my right ear is considerably worse than my left ear, especially in the middle frequencies (where most speech sounds occur).  The right side is the ear that was eventually implanted.

Below, I have included a snazzy little diagram of different noises that may help you understand my audiogram a little better.  Basically, without my hearing aids - I can just barely hear a lawn mower with my left ear, and wouldn't even register a jet plane with my right.

During my CI assessment at Sunnybrook, I also had to take a test called the HINT ( "Hearing In Noise Test") or "aided sound field speech recognition".  I was able to wear my hearing aids, and had to listen to sentences spoken in a clear voice over a speaker.  They usually test your scores in quiet and in noise (with competing background sounds).  I scored a pitiful 27% on the HINT in quiet.  The only words I was able to pick out of a dozen or so sentences were: "the" and "lemon pie" (I know...random).  

Needless to say, they did not bother with further testing in noise.  I had already flunked the hearing test, or from the other perspective - I definitely passed the test to qualify for a CI.  You need to score 60% or less on this test in order to be considered "deaf" enough to require a very expensive surgery.

With this setup, I was not able to "cheat".  After 32 years of hearing tests, I know all the tricks.  The hearing impaired folks reading my blog will know what I am talking about.  When the audiologist holds paper over their mouth, you can still see their forehead wrinkling and/or their cheekbones moving.  This gives you clues to what words they are saying.  Plus, they tend to use the same words over and over (e.g. ice cream, baseball, hotdog etc.) - which are way easier to identify than random words thrown into a sentence.  Context is everything.

Now that we have established just how deaf I am - I must give a shout out to Phonak.  They have invented very powerful hearing aids: the Phonak Naida.  It is pretty amazing what I can hear with my Phonak hearing aids.  I can hear birds singing, call bells going off, thuds, dogs barking etc (if they are close enough).  I can hear voices - but I just would not be able to understand what the person was saying without lipreading.  I can hear the voice, but can not understand it.  Comprehension and hearing are two very different things.

That is what I want from my CI.  Comprehension.  Being able to understand speech without lip reading, without struggling.  Hearing the lyrics to a song without having to follow along over and over with lyric sheets.  Talking on the phone would be pretty amazing.

I do not care about hearing microwaves beeping and a pin falling on the floor 2 rooms away.  I just want to understand speech.  

On May 16, 2013 at 2:30 PM, when my CI will be "activated" or "turned on", I will begin my journey towards this goal.