When trying to choose a cochlear implant for my baby daughter, I spoke to someone at Cochlear and asked about fully implantable implants. There are actually several adults in Australia who already have them on a trial basis. The biggest problem they have been having–and it is big!–is that they can hear their own body sounds, which aside from probably being very disturbing means that they can’t hear everything else as well as they can with an external processor. (They also have an external bit they can wear, and hear perfectly fine if that is on.) Also thus far the batteries would need to be changed too often, every five years I believe, which is a lot of surgery. The woman told me that it won’t be available on the market until it is perfected, but they are working on it!
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The latest post from Alley….
As I got older, I got used to being different.
My balance was never perfect, but I took gymnastics. My hearing was also different than most other people’s.
Being different also made me shy. It took me awhile to make friends, and some were not willing. I moved a lot, and so I had to face the same thing over and over again.
My favorite part of not being able to hear is the pool. It was harder to make friends, but there was something magical about it from my eyes.
It was a sparkling turquoise world where you can dive away from your troubles, and live in a silent, peaceful place for awhile. The silence presses on my ears and I can see anything, imagine anything. To most people, there is no such thing.
I have mentioned to several of you by email that it is my long term goal to make this site an excellent resource for people interested in cochlear implants. I have really appreciated all of the positive feedback and suggestions that I have received to date. In fact, I have set up an area in the CochlearWorld Forum where you can log your ideas or suggestions. So, visit our Suggestion Box and let me know what you are thinking.
I know I’m making some progress because Alley’s Alley got a visit from Paula Rosenthal today. I thought that was really nice of her to stop by. Many of you will recognize Paula from HearingExchange.com. Paula recently started HearingExchangeKids.com – a cool resource for kids with hearing loss.
Now all I need to do is get Alley to sit down and write!
Alley is a busy student. Look for her first post soon (perhaps over Christmas break).
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