My Bilateral Cochlear Implant Experience

As I mentioned in my first post, I have two cochlear implants. I received my first one on my right ear at two years of age. 16 years later, at age 18, I received my second CI. I had never worn a hearing aid on my most recently implanted ear.

At the time, I thought it was kind of crazy to get another implant when I was 17. I grew up with one CI and felt I was completely fine. It wasn’t something that I had planned doing. I remember my parents asking me if I wanted a second CI when I was 10 or 11, and I said, “I’m fine, so no,” and that was that. Other family members would sometimes ask me about it. During those five years, I met more people my own age with two cochlear implants and I would think, “Why not me?” 

And Then Everything Changed

When I was 17 and a junior in high school, a lot started to change in my life. I had just gotten my driver’s license, the college search began to ramp up, and life was going fast. So, I told my parents I wanted to go for it. I wanted to hear out of BOTH ears. They were surprised. I think they thought it just came out of left field. I don’t blame them for thinking that because I was totally fine with my life and my hearing the way it was. But I wanted to see if a second CI would help me.

Going for a Second CI

I decided I really wanted to do it, so we made some calls and appointments to get the ball rolling. Throughout this process, many professionals told me to keep my expectations low. They did not believe I would get much benefit from a second cochlear implant since it had been so long since my first implant and I had never worn amplification. The surgery was scheduled for November 19, 2014. I had my 18th birthday the week before.

The surgery went smoothly. One month later, my parents and I went to the cochlear implant center for the activation. Honestly, it was awful. I heard nothing—I just felt popping sounds on my right (other) side. When my audiologist asked me if I was hearing anything, I said, “I think I’m feeling something? On the other side?” I have no idea why I reacted this way, but everyone seems to react differently to cochlear implant activation. I was underwhelmed and disappointed as I thought I wasn’t hearing anything. I kept thinking it was a mistake and I shouldn’t have done it. The process had been mentally and emotionally draining. We went back the next day for a second mapping and then again a week later, then the next month. Each time my audiologist would raise the volume and expand the frequency range. My hearing started getting better, I wasn’t “hearing” sounds, but the “feeling” sensation was getting stronger. That was good though, as I was told as it meant the nerves were starting to work and were noticing sound was coming from somewhere. It was hard for me to accept because I wanted instant results but that wasn’t going to happen.

Realizing Benefit Took Time and Practice

The first month was very difficult for me. I wanted everything to sound the way I heard them through my first CI. I had to convince myself that I needed to keep doing the work and it would start to be okay. For the first few weeks, my hearing was different, and it was uncomfortable at times. I did want to take the left implant off a few times, but I convinced myself to keep it on all the time. And I did; I wore the second implant all day long. Around the third week, I was getting used to it, and everything was starting to sound good! High-pitched sounds would bother me sometimes, but I could function just like I did before the second implant. Per directions from my audiologist and auditory verbal therapist, I did a lot of practice with just my new ear; I would take off my original CI processor when I was eating dinner with my family, when I was watching TV, or even just doing homework. I couldn’t wear just that one for long since I wanted to hear, but it was important that I did that. It helped train my left ear. Also, my AV therapist suggested practice exercises to do at home, so I would do them with my parents.

Two Years Out—A Successful Outcome

Now, I can happily say it has been a success. My left ear will never be as good as my right ear, but I am at peace with that now. It’s a support ear. But, everything sounds so much better and so much fuller now that I have bilateral implants. Another positive aspect about hearing double is if something happens to my right ear, either internally or externally, I will still be okay as I would be able to hear and understand most sounds.

I had been told by CI professionals that a second implant would help me with localizing sound. For the first year and a half, I didn’t notice that it was helping with that aspect at all. Now I am noticing that I can localize sounds a lot better than when I had one CI. I don’t hear as well as a typically hearing person, nor someone who received their second cochlear implant when they were younger, but I do think with more time I will continue to improve at localizing sounds. I hear better in noisy environments now, such as noisy restaurants. Before I had two CIs, I did not like going to noisy restaurants but now I don’t mind it. I can’t explain exactly why the second CI helped—I just know it has. I’m able to better follow and participate in conversations.

I still take off the processor for my original CI from time to time and listen to music with just my left ear to see how it’s doing. It seems to me that there’s still improvement after two years! I can now have conversations with those I know with just my left ear. Another interesting development is if I have both processors on but sound is only going into my left side, I can hear almost as well as if it were coming in from my right side. It’s as if the connections in my brain are almost complete.

I am grateful that I decided to pursue a second cochlear implant. Going through this difficult process made me grow as a person and it taught me a lot about myself. I learned that I can negotiate hard situations. I am generally not a patient person, but I had to be patient throughout this process and wait for the results. All of the hard work was worth it and if I keep working hard, there will hopefully be even more improvement in hearing bilaterally in the years to come.