#cochlearimplant

1) Types of assistive devices that can be used to help reach the needed level of hearing

The devices depend on the severity of the hearing loss. That is determined by an audiogram which tests the quietest noise at a frequency you can hear which is discussed later.

If you have a mild hearing loss, the chances of you needing an assistive device is low, almost nonexistent. That is because you can still hear the speech of most people which is what an assistive device helps with.

The two assistive devices used are a hearing aid and a cochlear implant.

A cochlear is only for profound or total deafness. You can only hear really loud things, and sometimes not even that. The basics of how it works is you have a sound processor that converts noises to electrical impulses which go to the physical cochlear. It requires surgery to install and you can get that at 12 months at the youngest.

A hearing aid has 6 different appearances which depend on what your needs are and what you want.

a)iitc-invisible in the canal. People can’t see it but it’s better for less severe hearing losses because it’s smaller and can’t process as much

b)cic-completely in the canal. Pretty much the same as an iitc just a bit bigger and more visible.

c)itc-in the canal. Again, same as above, but it does have more ability to help with more severe hearing loss.

d)ite-in the ear. Visible, and can help with moderate hearing loss.

Most in the canal designs are made for less severe hearing loss and better. They’re small and discreet, especially if you get skin-colored ones. They also can have smaller batteries which can be an issue for dexterity.

e)ric- reciever in canal. The power bank is behind the ear while the reciever that makes the noise is in the canal

f)bte-behind the ear. Most visible

The ones that go behind the ear are best for connecting with additional assistive devices because you can fit Bluetooth in or connect a receiver to it. These are also good for children who lose things and are a bit sturdier.

2) What an audiogram is and how you get one

[Image ID: A graph with the left axis labeled “Loudness-measured in decibels(dB)” going from 0-120, the right axis labeled “degree of hearing loss”, normal in 0-25 decibels, mild in 25-40 decibels, moderate in 40-70 decibels, severe in 70-90 decibels, and profound in 90-120 decibels. The top is labeled “pitch (or frequency)-measured in cycles per second(Hz)” and goes from 125-5000. Pictures of different things that make noise are over the graph with a yellow banana-shape in the middle of the graph. End ID]

This is an audiogram with the “speech banana”(the yellow banana shape) which is where you have to be to hear and understand speech without any devices and it is how you find out if you have a hearing loss.

To get one, you have to go to an audiologist and take quite a few tests that take forever and suck. Keep in mind, these tests can go in any order but as kids are a handful they tend to go in this order from experience.

Test one: You go into a little sound dampening booth so you can’t hear outside of it and the doctor puts what is basically wired earbuds in your ear. They leave and sit at a table full of controls and start pressing buttons. You’re told to repeat whatever words you hear through the earbuds and you do it. It goes on for a while, lots of boring words and struggling to make one out, it is done in a single ear and both ears. It can be done by the doctor saying words but that’s not as common in professional settings.

Test two: You stay in the little booth with the earbuds. Now you have to listen to sounds and confirm that you heard the sounds. This can be done verbally, by raising your hand, or by pressing a clicker that tells the doc you heard it. The sounds are piped in through one ear at a time, this is to determine if one ear has a more severe hearing loss

Test three: The doc comes back in and removes the earbuds. Next, they put a special band on your head that looks like a headband but has a cold hard bit on the end that goes right on the bone behind your ear. It hurts and is very uncomfortable. Then repeat the same stuff as test two with the doc coming in to put the headband on the other side of the head so both sides hurt from the bit on the end.

3) Hearing aid fitting

First step, you go and get any big lumps of earwax in your ears cleaned out. Too much earwax means they can’t make a mold of your ear. Second, the doc shoves mini sponges with a string attached into your ear to make sure that you don’t get anything down the canal and it doesn’t get lost. Third, they open up a package with a syringe and some sort of molding stuff, I don’t know what it’s called, but it’s often blue or pink or a mixture. The molding stuff gets put in the syringe which is then used to fill up your ear. The stuff is cold and feels weird while it’s drying which takes ~5 mins, and while it is in there you cannot hear a single thing from that ear. Then the doc pulls the dried thing out of your ear using the string and you have an ear mold for the hearing aid. Repeat for other ear if needed.

Couple weeks later, you go back and the doctor has your completed hearing aid with everything preset to compensate for your level of hearing loss and a perfect fit in your ears. Then you fiddle with the settings a bit so that you’re comfy and trim the wire if it’s a bte to make it sit better. It’ll feel weird for a bit as you adjust to it, but it’ll feel comfy after a week or two.

4) Deaf community and sign language

First, sign is a real language which has its own dialect, slang, jokes, and grammar. Go away if you disagree.

Second, one sign language isn’t the same as another. ASL is not the same as BSL which is different from JSL which has little in common with SSL. There are similarities but they are very different from each other. I can’t interpret for a deaf British person because I don’t know BSL

Third, yes staring at someone who is signing is rude and annoying. If you know it, it’s like you’re eavesdropping on them. If you don’t know it, it’s like staring at someone speaking a language you don’t know just because you don’t understand them.

Fourth, sign names are given by a Deaf person. If you’re hearing and learning sign, you can’t give yourself a sign name, that’s disrespectful.

Fifth, most Deaf adults don’t support getting cochlears when a kid is still a toddler or younger because it implies that deafness is something that needs to be fixed and the kid has no real say in the matter.

Sixth, Deaf person and deaf person are two different things. It’s similar to identity first vs person first language, but not the exact same.

Seventh, the Deaf community is fairly welcoming to everyone. Someone who’s just going deaf is just as welcome as someone who’s been deaf all their life. A hearing person learning sign is welcomed in as long as they’re polite and don’t expect the community to shift to make them more comfortable. A parent of a deaf kid is welcomed and given information that the kid needs.

5) Medical Stuff

Technically, speaking if you have any sort of hearing loss, you should wear a medical alert bracelet. It’d have your name, a phone number, if you wear a hearing aid, cochlear, and/or use ASL, and says that you might not respond to vocal prompts. Most of us don’t wear them, it’s just kinda a hassle to do.

Since both cochlears and hearing aids do have metal, you have to be careful about MRIs because if they are removed, they can get ripped out and injure you further. That mainly a concern for cochlears since they’re surgically installed under the skin and not visible unless the outer piece is on

Using hearing aids does cause earwax buildup, so you need to get that cleaned out regularly or it’s make your hearing worse.

Audiograms are typically redone every 5-ish years to update the cochlear/hearing aid ability and to make sure you’re getting what you need.