Adult Cochlear Implant Rehabilitation Blog

American Cochlear Implant Alliance offers an auditory rehabilitation resource, ACI Alliance Blog: Cochlear Implant Rehabilitation for Adults. 

Cochlear Implant Rehabilitation for Adults, a blog offered by American Cochlear Implant Alliance, was launched in January 2016. It was initiated because of the scarcity of high-quality rehab guidance materials and direct rehab services available for adult CI recipients. Although adults comprise at least two-thirds of US cochlear implant users, the focus of (re)habilitation post CI surgery, has traditionally been on children. I was asked by ACI Alliance to organize the adult blog, write content, and facilitate submissions by others. With my 20 years of experience in working with adults and children with cochlear implants, I happily accepted the task of supporting adult CI recipients in their fascinating and challenging journey. Click here to read more about the blog. 

 Blog entries discuss the following topics:

1. Welcome/Naama's Background
2. Why Adult Rehabilitation is Important
3. The Hearing Assessment
4. Constructive Communication
5. Listening to the Sounds Around You
6. Self Learning Tips: Part I
7. Self Learning Tips: Part II
8. Unilateral Hearing
9. Adult CI Support Groups: Part I
10. Adult CI Support Groups: Part II
11. Emotional Impact of Cochlear Implantation
12. Quality of Life Improvement
13. A Retrospective Look at Cochlear Implantation in Adults with Prelingual Hearing Loss
14. A Retrospective Look at Cochlear Implantation in Older Children with Prelingual Hearing Loss
15. Cochlear Implantation for Adults with Prelingual Deafness
16. Cochlear Implants and Adults with Congenital Hearing Loss
17. What’s Old is New Again if We’re Lucky
18. Music Appreciation Following Cochlear Implantation
19. A First Anniversary Blog Post
20. Home Practice Tools: How to Build your Own Auditory Training Word List
21. Auditory Training Using Your Own Word Lists Can Be Fun!
22. Assistive Listening Devices for Cochlear Implants
23. Can you "fail the test” and still be a successful CI user?
24. How to Begin Talking on the Telephone with Your Cochlear Implant
25. Audio Books as a Home Practice Tool
26. You’ve been asked to be a personal auditory trainer. What do you need to know?
27. Listening Effort and Fatigue: Part 1
28. Listening Effort and Fatigue: Part 2
29. A Young Adult's Perspective
30. An Octogenarian's CI Journey
31. Listening to Songs with a Cochlear Implant
32. The Challenge of Adults for Learning to Listen
33. Hearing People Can Be So Mean
34. Adult Cochlear Implant Use During the COVID-19 Crisis
    
35. Tips for People Who Converse with CI Recipients on the Telephone
36. Auditory adjustment, spontaneous auditory learning, and auditory rehabilitation following CI
37. Do individuals who experience deafness during early childhood benefit from cochlear implantation as adults?
38. How To Get The Most Out Of Your CI Mapping Appointment
39. Is it Noisy? It Depends on Who You're Asking
40. How can you practice and improve your listening skills during the social distancing timeframe?
41. Listening to Podcasts
42. What can an experienced cochlear implant recipient do to further improve hearing outcomes and quality of life?
43. Perfection is the Enemy of Progress
44. A New Year’s Resolution: How to take good care of yourself (and your CI)
45. Getting the Most Out of Your CI if You have a Non-Implanted Ear with Usable Hearing
46. If you can make a salad, you can probably make soup (AKA Getting beyond your listening comfort zone)
47. My CI was switched on, now what?
48. Tips for Broadening Listening Skills To Wide-Ranging Daily Situations
49. Understanding Foreign-Accented English
50. I've completed my clinician-guided auditory rehabilitation. How can I maintain what I've achieved and continue progressing?
51. How does noise level impact speech understanding?  What can we do about noise to support communication?

ACI Alliance provides resources and guidance materials for adult cochlear implant recipients interested in rehabilitation options. The Hearing Journal periodically publishes Patient Handouts on issues many adult cochlear implant recipients face, including hearing in noise, auditory fatigue, using a telephone, and more. Read more adult rehabilitation resources here. 

The Blog is intended as both a patient and a professional resource. The attached printable brochure may be used to refer adults and family members who may benefit. Please click HERE to download a printable resource.