I’m mildly deaf and have hearing aids. The things that make me sad are, not being able to understand dialogue on tv shows and movies and having to always use the captions, having to turn my hearing aids off in pubs and restaurants because the background noise is too high, listening to my tinnitus while trying to fall asleep, being woken up by my tinnitus when it is in a particularly loud phase. I miss having good hearing for sure but I miss being in complete silence even more. I’ll never hear silence again, what a pain.

I'm older---i got my cochlear implant (one side only) when I was 77 and three years later I'm still having some trouble with comprehension. But I'm hitting it hard and I understand about listening fatigue=an hour and a half of intense exercises with my implant and I get very tired. But I've made a lot of progress in the last three months as I have really worked at it. On the social side--and adjusting to people who aren't so cooperative in dealing with my own hearing loss, I find it easier than it seems to be for you. That's age, experience a bit of hard knocks that don't come so early in life. But I'm glad to se e your quick progress in gaining comprehension and your settling in the adjustments one has to make. Keep up the good work and the smile.

I'm glad you're finding positives Nelle, it makes me happy that you appear content.

Hi nelle💖it's good to see captions in English & Spanish,I always believe things happen for a reason,if it was not for covid maybe your hearing would have been saved by going to A&E & having steroid injections plus if you had not lost your hearing would you still been a dental nurse and missed out on university? In two years you have achieved so much! But it's not been plain sailing,because of my hearing loss I cannot sit in side seats on a bus & I have to face the way the train is going! Like you I hate missing out on what people are saying! It's nice in a way people forget your deaf & carry on chatting as though you can hear! I was watching a brilliant you tube video from advanced bionics who make cochlear implants,they gave a British lady a cochlear implant in one ear but they linked it with a hearing aid by phonak the niada,the lady can hear everything very well now,the implant amplifys the high frequencies & the hearing aid the low frequencies! Does your implant have a similar thing & your hearing aid works with your implant? I hope enough money is raised soon to have your other ear implanted! So many people have benefited from a 2nd one! Do you think you have reached the point that this is the best you will hear? I still cannot believe you have been deaf for over 2 yrs! The cochlear implant & going to uni has been the making of you! I have to say you look happier each video! Thank you for all the lovely videos you have helped a lot of newly deaf people & others that have been deaf for years! 💖💖💖

For me, the hardest things are the distortion - which thankfully is less fuzzy than this time last year - and aural fullness that my left ear continues to experience after a SSHL in Jan, 2022.

Thank you , for sharing a great informations, i like your personnality and tips

I'm at 2 and a half months with my cochlear. My head was in a good place for the first month or so, and then I attempted to do something social. Camping trip with people I didn't know. I couldn't follow any conversation because of so many people talking at once. I ended up sitting at my camp alone. I feel like I'm at a point where I'm hearing everything, but understanding very little. This has been the hardest thing so far, and I hope it improves with my next appointment. This has been a difficult month mentally. Oh, and I have dogs next door that never stop barking, and they are driving me insane as well. They never bothered me when I was just deaf. This is harder than I had anticipated.

@nellefindlay

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Hi, it's definitely really frustrating where you feel like you can simultaneously hear really well and really badly. It's really hard to explain to people as well. I explain that I can hear most sounds, but just not very clearly. I still really struggle in group situations where I feel really left out, but I have to really try to not get angry with people for leaving me out because I know it's not on purpose. Remember you can always take breaks or turn the volume down if you need to, I know the audiologist tells you to wear your processor all the time, but I feel like that's not realistic for a lot of people. When I first got my processor, I tried to get the adjustment process over as quickly as possible. If you watch the video where I get it switched on for the first time, I basically told the audiologist to turn it up as loud as I could bear because I thought that it would me able to hear faster and then wore it every waking second for months. Unfortunately, it didn't really work like that, I just had a headache and was in a bad mood the whole time, so if I did it again I would definitely go a bit easier on myself and give myself more breaks. I promise it gets better and don't feel bad about taking breaks or turning the volume down a bit. Also don't feel pressure to be a walking advertisement for cochlear implants by trying to pretend you can hear better than you actually can. For some reason, I often feel like I need to act like I can hear perfectly because otherwise people will assume that my cochlear implant 'failed' or something. I hope you start getting used to it more soon. Sending positive wishes your way! Nelle :)

Your videos are great and encouraging!

Do you get dizzy because of the hearing loss. I have Ménière’s disease and the vertigo attacks and constant balance issues are pretty horrible. I wonder if after an implant on my damaged ear my dizziness would end?

@nellefindlay

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They think it might have been Meniere's disease that caused my hearing loss, but they're not entirely sure. Unfortunately, cochlear implants are more likely to cause balance issues than fix them. Luckily? my ears are so destroyed now that I have virtually no balance function left so I don't get the really severe vertigo attacks anymore, just general poor balance and motion sickness. It might sound super weird to most people (probably makes total sense to anyone who has experienced severe vertigo), but I'd rather have the hearing loss and general poor balance than the sudden attacks of vertigo I had before. While cochlear implants can't fix balance issues, it might destroy your remaining balance enough to stop the vertigo attacks (just be aware that I had horrible vertigo for several days after the surgery).

@xaviergamer5907

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Thank you Nelle for the information. I have Ménière’s disease in one ear with nearly daily vertigo’s for the past 6 months. I’m also starting to lose audition on my other ear slowly and they tell me it’s also Ménière’s disease. Sadly, I am an American currently without insurance so the Government won’t help me medically at all. So I’m moving from abroad (Ecuador) back to the States to try to get a Job ASAP to get insurance before I lose all hearing. I’m a teacher by trade so I really need at least one ear. I hope that once I get insurance I’ll be able to completely damage the ear that is affecting me the most so I don’t get vertigo’s anymore. So far I have to stop the vertigo’s taking Clonazepam which is a horrible and addictive drug. Thank you for all your help. You are a beacon to many who have Ménière’s and hope to get an implant one day.

@nelsangelin9667

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I have had the vertigo issues and it is much better now. How I judge it, our driveway is on a slope and I can look up while walking and I can look up and turn around and not have the bobbing, bouncy feeling. I do not have the balance issue any more or the bobble head as much now. It is a comfort to be able to hear and understand. There is not a worry of loud sounds of machinery, my processor cuts the loud down. I can hear through the sound and carry on a conversation at all times. It is the closest to normal hearing.