Tammy Beaulieu, who I met at Gallaudet University in 1995-1996, and I are cyber-friends. She recently informed me she is going to get a cochlear implant. She agreed to let About Deafness chronicle her implant journey. Tammy was born with a profound sensorineural deafness in her left ear. The dB level in my left ear is 120dB or greater. She could hear in the right ear but her hearing loss was apparent when she was 5 years old.
Says Tammy, "One day, my mother was reading a book to me, and I turned around, looked at her and said 'Mummy, read!' Little did I know, she was already reading to me. From that point my mother called my doctors and I was referred to a top ENT (who diagnosed a progressive hearing loss in the right ear).
I remember, at that time, still being able to hear the birds, the gravel crunching under my feet when I walk, and the rain beating on the roof. Around the time I was 15, I started noticing that I was having a lot of trouble using the phone. I said "What?" a lot and had people repeat themselves often. At 18 and on Christmas morning, I woke up stone deaf to both ears. When I went to the audiologist, my right ear had reached 110 - 115 dB. I would then have a profound senorineural loss in my right ear as well. I've been using a hearing aid in my right ear for more than 15 years now.
When I first tried a BTE hearing aid in my left ear, sounds were distorted and I was so upset, I was determined never to use it again. But I became used to using one in my right ear and have used one ever since. However, sounds are louder, but everything sounds more mechanical than it did as a hearing child. I have significant issues with speech. While I can hear sounds, speech discrimination without lip reading is nearly impossible."
The Decision
Q: What made you think of getting a cochlear implant?A: I first began considering the Cochlear Implant in 1991, about 6 months after losing the hearing I had left in my right ear.
My mother and I went to Mass Eye and Ear for an appt to see if I was a candidate. This was back before the first auditory stem implant had been done and Cochlear was pretty much the only brand of CI on the market.
Mass Eye and Ear wanted me to be their first surgical patient and felt I was a prime candidate. But at the time, the technology was new. The processor was a full body worn processor, with lots of wires and larger equipment. Not as advanced as it is today.
I decided against having the cochlear Implant surgery in 1991 for fear of losing the hearing I had left in my right ear (approx 5 - 10%). The people at MEEI had told me that although they suggested implanting my left ear (the ear I heard less in). I felt unsure and I went home to think some more about it.
I did about 6 months more of research and made the final decision to go against surgery. I felt without the present knowledge of using ASL, and if I lost all of my hearing even with the procedure, I would be unable to communicate with anyone at all.
Since 1991, I have learned how to communicate with ASL (as a student & graduate of Gallaudet University) and I grasped a very good understanding of deaf culture. For four years, that would become my world.
Q: Why are you thinking of getting one?
A: The very first person I met with a CI was a friend I had at Gallaudet.I received a negative impression from her experience so it just reassured my negative feelings toward CI implantation. One of her biggest challenges that I remember was acceptance into deaf culture. Plus, if I remember correctly, she found it hard and frustrating adjusting to the CI from using a hearing aid.
I've had considerable difficulty on the job front since 1991. Being accepted into the hearing world has not been an easy one with concerns to employment. The negative impact on job losses, dealing with people in the hearing world, and causal misunderstandings has brought me pretty much to where I am today with considering the Cochlear Implant.
A couple of years ago, and during my third place of employment, I met and became good friends with another woman whom had the CI surgery just a few years ago. Her new CI has drastically changed her life. She went from becoming a Voc Rehab Counselor to a Director of a State Establishment. She is very successful and has played a crucial role model for me.
She was much like I am now, prior to her implant surgery, in the way that her use of hearing aids seemed to benefit her quite a bit with concerns to many sounds. She, too, was scared of the changes between using a hearing aid and CI. Yet she found after her CI surgery, that she could use the phone again, cell phones, and communicate quite a bit without the need of interpreters. It impressed upon me greatly. She still requires the use of closed captions, even with her CI, when she watches tv, while many other people whom have CI surgery that I have talked with, report getting along without it better now.
