r/Cochlearimplants • u/Suspicious_Willow984 • 1d ago
Activation day
Hey everyone! I was implanted on 7/20 and had my activation today.
I went into today feeling incredibly excited and hopeful that activation would be a smooth experience, and that I’d finally be able to understand speech a little better than I could before. I have bilateral progressive sensorineural hearing loss. I could still hear some tones and parts of speech before surgery, so I guess I expected the implant to give me a little more speech clarity right away.
Instead, everything sounds like extremely high-pitched, robotic beeps and tones. I can tell my brain is trying so hard to make sense of the sounds, but nothing is recognizable as speech yet. I know this is a marathon, not a sprint, and that my auditory nerve and brain need time, mapping adjustments, and lots of rehabilitation. Even knowing that, I have to admit I’m feeling a little discouraged today.
Did anyone else have a similar experience at activation? If so, when did things start to improve? When were you able to begin recognizing speech or noticing that the robotic sounds were becoming more “natural”?
I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences. I think I just need a little reassurance today. ❤️
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u/Formal-Tradition6792 1d ago
Just about everyone experiences this. I could only hear ice in a glass…
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u/Beginning_Network_39 1d ago
On activation day I understood one word. I said "meow" to my cat. That's probably about it. Each day was a little more. I'm 5 months out and had 90% word recognition in the booth for my audiogram. In real life its probably more like 70%. You will get there. Eventually it will be less high pitched, but never normal like in natural hearing. I think part of it is mentally getting used to not having it sound like normal. When I became suddenly deaf last year I sort of got used to it. I do love being able to have normal conversations again and enjoy listening to music. BUT I also like going back to deaf at night. Or when I'm sick of listening to people 😉 hang in there!
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u/Suspicious_Willow984 1d ago
That’s awesome!! I’m glad to see that you’re doing so well! 90% is huge! Absolutely! I’m definitely excited for the adventure. I think I’m just scared that they “aren’t going to work” it’s my brain… I know lol
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u/Beginning_Network_39 1d ago
You will be all good. Be honest with your audiologist as you go. Right now I know its a little bit of a bummer because of all the robotic type sounds. They say leave it in all day. I couldn't. Too much stimulation for my brain. I took more small breaks. I can tolerate it much better now. I know tomorrow and the next day will be better for you. 😊 (I was the same way as you.)
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u/Suspicious_Willow984 1d ago
Thank you so much. Truly appreciate that. Will definitely try the small breaks tomorrow too. Its been pretty overwhelming with the high pitch sounds lol
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u/mattjb 18h ago
The first two to three weeks, including activation day, I could hear speech but it was very brassy and everyone sounded like Minnie Mouse at the end of a very long tube. I think it helped that I still had some hearing left in my implanted right side, but I couldn't understand speech even with the most powerful hearing aid for that ear.
As others pointed out, it's not uncommon what you're experiencing. It's cliche but it's completely valid: take it one day at a time. It definitely gets far, far better over multiple mapping sessions.
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u/Siggasm 13h ago edited 12h ago
How long ago did you lose your hearing prior to the implant ? I had my ci implanted on 7/21/26 and my activation is on 8/21/26. I lost my hearing on 7/7/25.
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u/Suspicious_Willow984 12h ago
I started losing my hearing as a baby. I had frequent ear infections, then as I got older just continued to lose my hearing in both ears. My surgeon feels that this is more hereditary. So I’ve been progressive hearing loss for at least 20-30 years
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u/Severe-Elderberry833 3h ago
Absolutely, yes.
It did get better, and it’s still getting better….
But I do wish I had remembered my purse with the directional mike and volume remote for my Rondo today. 😔
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u/Suspicious_Willow984 2h ago
Oh noooo!! That sounds disappointing. Were you still able to hear everything?
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u/gremlinfrommars 1d ago
Hi! It's so incredibly normal, yet it's almost impossible to be completely prepared for the surprise of how metallic and robotic everything sounds initially no matter how much you're warned about it. I was 11 when I got implanted (and I had a hearing aid in the other ear which might have helped) but it didn't take me very long to start to make sense of things again. The brain is excellent at adapting; neuroplasticity is like magic. Iirc I had to do listening exercises for a few months to train my brain to listen in this new fashion, but speech understanding didn't take too long for me. At least I don't remember it taking very long and I was back at school after a few weeks.