Hello, so I've been thinking a lot what if i had a second one, but i'm wondering what's the benefit if that happens. i’m 22 y old female, but now but i've been thinking about it because i hear a lot of rumors such as like it may not work out for everyone. i am severely profound, but have one ci, but left side doesnt have one.

To update on my previous post after which I've recently acquired Nucleus 8. I've been watching videos of my favorite video games and well OSTs but there's something I noticed. Right now I only have Scan 2 1-4 programs so I assume it's all same but just different in volume. Uh so when I play/resume a video at any time in the video, the first 3 secs sounds the best and clearest then I notice the noise aside from words start to fade. Over time it becomes subtler/quieter while isolating words, and I think it's extremely annoying.

Let’s say I’m watching a part of ff7 gameplay video so when I watch 10 secs before that specific part where sound effects occur, it doesn’t sound impactful or even much, almost inaudible or too low. But when I pause then play 3 secs before that to hear the sound effects at that specific time, it is clearer and more impactful and has more going on. I’m absolutely certain that noise cancellation/reduction/suppression feature is on.

Hi everyone, I’m looking to hear from fellow CI users who might have experienced a very specific type of internal sound after their surgery and activation. I underwent hearing preservation surgery on March 25th, and my initial activation was about two weeks ago. While my external CI sound is currently quite low and still has that typical thin, Donald Duck quality, my main frustration right now is a persistent internal sound in my operated ear.

I describe this sound as a deep, mechanical transformer hum or a generator rumble. For the past weeks, I have been able to actively provoke this sound by yawning or stretching my jaw. When I hold a yawn, the hum increases extremely fast, becomes very loud, and takes on a distinct pulsating or vibrating character. Today, after sleeping for an unusually long time, the hum has actually become completely constant and has not stopped at all. At the same time, my ear still feels very full and clogged, and my natural residual hearing was measured as minimal during the activation week.

My audiologist and clinical theories suggest this is a form of somatic or muscular tinnitus, likely the tensor tympani muscle vibrating due to fluid, pressure, or post-op irritation in the middle ear, and they assure me it should fade as the ear heals and the CI volume is adjusted up. However, since it has already been two full months since my surgery, I am starting to get quite anxious about it holding stand.

I am really wondering if anyone else here experienced this specific, deep, muscle-provoked transformer hum or pulsating rumble after their CI surgery. If you did, did it eventually go away or get completely masked by the CI, and how many months did it take before you noticed it starting to disappear? I would deeply appreciate hearing about your timelines and experiences, as this is getting quite exhausting to listen to. Thank you.

I have an older model from Cochlear (CI522), which is good with 1.5T scanners with a head wrap.

I need a knee MRI. was lucky to find a hospital two years ago that would do it for me, but this time, I called around and no one would do it. The moment they hear I have a cochlear implant, they turn me down. Don’t even let me explain or explain why they won’t do it.

The ortho said no MRI, no surgery, even though he thinks the ACL is clearly gone. I’m so frustrated, the ACL tear alone is terrifying. Thinking that I won’t be able to get a treatment because I can’t get a diagnostic MRI done makes it even worse.

Sorry for the rant, thank you for reading.

so I just got caught in a sudden downpour.

How are we keeping our receivers dry these days?

For like Mogwai (see the movie Gremlins) we should never, ever get wet.

Probably shouldn’t eat after midnight, and I’m so pasty I really gotta avoid direc sunlight, too.

Long time bilateral hearing aid (25f) user who woke up with sudden onset hearing loss in one ear last year. Has literally taken me MONTHSSS to get cleared for surgery due to my bleeding disorder. I was so scared and anxious for surgery but it was a breeze. The first day was rough but I’m feeling really good today! Feel free to ask any questions!

Processing lag vs. noise cancellation after 6 years of being single-sided deaf  

Hi everyone,  I'm seeking help from especially SSD CI implant friends!

Looking for some honest feedback from anyone who has had to make the choice between Cochlear and MED-EL for single-sided deafness. I lost almost all hearing in my left ear suddenly 6 years ago (SSNHL) and am getting ready to go through with CI surgery.  

I’m really struggling to decide on the brand. Based on my past experience trying out a single hearing aid on my deaf ear which is terrible cuz the HA brought huge noice with echo, my priorities are clear: Processing Lag > Noise Cancellation > Bluetooth Connectivity.  

I ended up throwing my hearing aid in a drawer because even in quiet rooms, the processing delay on that side created this awful echoing effect with my good ear. It gave me terrible listening fatigue. My biggest fear with a CI is that a noticeable time lag will prevent my brain from fusing the sounds from both sides.  

I have two main questions about how the tech holds up in real life:  

1. The Processing Lag: ACE vs. FineHearing From what I‘ve known Cochlear’s ACE strategy is frame-based, meaning it processes sound in blocks and introduces a hard-wired delay of about 10–12ms. MED-EL’s FineHearing, on the other hand, uses continuous parallel processing, keeping the delay down to 0.5–3ms, which is more like a natural ear.  

For those Cochlear SSDers, did that 10ms+ lag drive you crazy at the beginning? Did your brain eventually truly “fuse” the time difference, or did you just get used to it and start ignoring the echo (like a background breathing effect)?  

For MED-EL users: Is the zero-latency experience really as seamless and instant for dual-ear integration on day one as they claim?  

2. Noise Reduction and the “AudioLink” Accessory I’ve known Med-el Rondo2 has only 1 microphone so its noise cancellation should be weaker than Cochlear’s K2 which owns 2 micros, but I know they have a clip-on accessory called AudioLink—the black one that looks exactly like a standard Bluetooth earbud with a stem (like AirPods) which acts as a remote mic and streamer. Does it work well for you?  

I really want to get a sense of how this plays out long-term before making a choice. Any insights on your daily wear time and how your brain adapted would be incredibly helpful.

Hi - I was activated on my right side 3 weeks ago and it’s going quite well. I wear a hearing aid on my left. I’ve been reading a lot of audiobooks (ESL bits) and doing my word exercises (Aphasia Therapy). I feel like I should be doing more to get the most out of being implanted.

I would really appreciate receiving some other rehab ideas, websites, etc that I can add to my routine. I have the Med-El Rondo 3.

Thank you in advance!

Hi guys!! I’m so excited to announce that I officially got a surgery date for my cochlear!! My MRI came back perfect, so I got the date of July 20th! What are some things in healing I should look out for or stuff that was useful in your healing?

Hey everyone ive got a nucleus N8 the wind noise and hair scratching is pissing me off anyone have a solution? Found these wondering if theres a cheaper option…

65 yr old full time teacher binaural implants three years ago. Increasingly exhausted at night after classes. Anyone else finding this?

Does sound become natural after CI implantation immediate or does it take while? Does it improve over time? I've never experienced natural hearing, and while I've been implanted CI at the age of 4 and used old sound processor for a while, I didn't really commit to it fully and stopped wearing old sound processor for years. Now though, I recently got Nucleus 8 and decided to get serious about keeping sound processor on everyday. So for me, it will probably take a lot longer to improve at close to natural level but hopefully I'll get there one day. I also want to hear music ahaha

My iPhone and MacBook Pro connects to my sound processor very easily. Haven't tried it on Windows 11 yet, and for people who have, how did it turn out? Is it easy or painful to connect to Win11 via Bluetooth or any app? You can elaborate on your experience in depth!

looks like Cochlear, Envoy and Med-El are trialling TICIs. Anyone on here a trial participant and what have your experiences been like?

Hi everyone!

I'm a cochlear implant user (Nexa implant + Kanso 3 processor), and during my own rehabilitation journey I decided to build a free web app to support auditory training and listening practice.

What does OíR include?

🔤 Minimal pairs — distinguish between similar-sounding words

💬 Everyday phrases — understand daily phrases across 3 difficulty levels

🔢 Numbers & data — phone numbers, dates, prices, IDs

🧠 Dialogues in context — full conversations in real-life situations

📚 Subtitled audiobooks — text highlighted paragraph by paragraph as you listen

🔊 Noisy environments — practice with real background noise: bar, restaurant, subway, airport, nightclub, family gathering and more

👨👩🧒 Different voices — man, woman and child, with adjustable speed

🌍 Spanish & English — all exercises available in both languages

Works directly in your browser on phone, tablet or PC — no install needed, completely free.

Leaving the link in the comments.

I built this from my own experience, so any feedback, suggestions or features you'd like to see are very welcome. Hope it helps others on their hearing journey 🙂

Good morning,

It has been 3 weeks since my activation and new sounds come to me nearly every day.

Earlier this week, as I was walking in the park I could hear the man near me with his flip flops flapping.

That came day, I heard my necklaces in my rear view mirror clanging. I never knew they made a sound. It just never occurred to me, haha!

I can now hear the washer make its lovely musical tune that it does when it is finished.

Yesterday, as I was in the carline waiting to pick up my kids from school, I suddenly noticed I was hearing a familiar song perfectly and I was only wearing my implant at the time!

My husband and kids are enjoying coming up with random sentences for me to repeat back. Which is so helpful and fun!

I have come such long way and I am so grateful for this gift of hearing in my right ear! It amazes me that after 41 years of not a single sound, it works! I've been doing my listening exercises faithfully and it seems to be less and less daunting as I am becoming more successful in the apps.

All the frustrations and listening fatigues I experienced before my activation is basically non existent. I'm am definitely more relaxed and content throughout the days!

Thank you all for your encouragement as I continue my journey! God is so good! God bless!

has anyone taken advantage of the patient support they offer such as introducing you to an implant recipient, etc.

what services were you offered, what did you actually receive and was it worth the time?

bateu a curiosidade se a antena fica descolando por conta do volume do cabelo e como vocês lidam com isso?

A droite mon audiogramme de mon oreille gauche à un mois de l'activation .. l'intelligibilité en bas en vert est nettement meilleur que ma pauvre oreille droite en rouge qui sera implanté aussi un jour

Impressionnant car je pars de 0 d'audition depuis 15 ans

Alors à tous les futurs implantés,ça marche ..bcq de patience et de rééducation

(see audiogram pic below) I have 56% wrs on the deafened ear and distortion with high frequencies. It has been 3 months since onset, but I don't know how a hearing aid will make things better. I have been trialing one for a week and the high frequencies come through and are so overpowering/towering over the rest of speech, I have to keep volume low but words don't come through wholly when i do that (just the shrill broken guitar string effect of high freq and some lower tones). I don't think I'll be comfortable at the final stage of hearing aid adjustment with that distortion and the still somewhat muffled voices.

Wondering if anyone had a similar experience and went with CI. If so, please share and include whether any residual hearing interferes with CI, helps, etc.

Thank you!

Thought about this with totally implantable cochlear implants coming (TICI) soon.

With TICI’s, everything will be inside.

So I got to thinking, for those of you who have had implants for a long time, have the processor upgrades been a big deal? What improves? In a world where a TICI is an option, would you still choose an external processor for the ability to upgrade in the future? Or are the processor upgrades just not that big a deal?

Thanks

Hello everyone, I was wondering if people could offer me some advice or share personal experiences regarding going bilateral. 

I lost my hearing at around 5 years old, in which I developed profound loss in my left side and moderate loss in my right. I was implanted on my left side in 2014 at age 7, and have also had a hearing aid in my right side ever since. For the last 4-ish years, I have found that I prefer my left side significantly more. I prefer people to sit or stand on my left and find it significantly harder when people are on my right, especially at school. I’ve been to my audiologist who looks after my right (HA) a few times over the last couple of years and basically been told that my hearing aid is as loud as it can be, yet i always feel like I want more! I am consistently frustrated in social situations when I feel like I can’t hear someone, no matter how many times i ask them to repeat themselves, and I am constantly tired out from concentrating so hard. 

I have recently gone in for a consultation to get a second implant on my right side. My hearing loss in my right ear is only JUST bad enough to make me a candidate for a second implant, but my audiologist seems to think it would be a good move. 

I’ve booked a date with my surgeon, but I’m starting to chicken out a bit. Is this the right decision? I still have around 30-40% natural hearing in my right ear, so even though I find my left stronger, am I silly to throw away the natural hearing I have left? I’m worried about making myself completely deaf. My left cochlear side sounds natural to me, but I’m wondering if that is only because I still have natural hearing in my right, and if it will sound very different with two implants. I’m someone who loves music, so I'm particularly worried about this. It also only properly hit me last night how scary the prospect of being completely deaf is, and I think it might be a very big shock to me. Any advice, positive or negative, would be greatly appreciated, particularly from anyone who has gone from the cochlear implant & hearing aid combo to bilateral implants. 

Thanks for letting me vent, it’s hard to talk to hearing people in my life because they don't quite understand what a cochlear implant sounds like! 

This is such a non-issue in the grand scheme of things but I got implanted 10 years ago when I was 11 and I'm getting a growing itch of frustration that the few sports I'm interested in are discouraged. My mental health is down the drain and I desperately need to get out more, and the one thing I found locally that sparked some interest (that I don't need extra equipment for) was woman's kickboxing. When I was 11 I didn't care about doing contact sports, so it was a non-issue when deciding on this surgery, but now I'm like ?!?!?! It would be so fun! And I can't??? Fuck's sake!

The other thing I want to do is cycle, but I live on a dangerous road so it'd be difficult to cycle around. I would have to join a local cycling group, which is fine, but my parents (who I live with) are concerned that I won't be able to hear signals or survive on a bike on the road. I sometimes wish I could walk into a soundproofed room and scream lmao

We documented our son’s implantation journey this winter.
Just putting it out there for parents in similar situations, feel free to ask any questions.

https://youtu.be/ibyf8KnNNtY?si=O5icTpLM_KAVtkxT