Hello,

My name is Michael and I'm 40 years old and here's my story.

My story of hearing loss began at an early age, I remember while in grade school being sent home with a note to my parents that something was abnormal with my hearing.

My mom took me in for some tests which I barely remember and the doctors at that time said it wasn’t really anything to worry about. Shortly after graduating from high school I wanted to go into the Air Force but couldn’t pass the hearing test.

At this point I was really depressed and we went and had extensive tests ran on my hearing. The diagnosis was that my hair cells were dying off for some reason; the doctor didn’t really know why but thought it was a genetic issue.

At this point of my life I was 18 years old with a 20% hearing disability in both ears, and was told by the doctors to either get a hearing aid or just cope with it. Well I was young and could still hear fairly well so life went on.

By the time I turned 29 I could really tell I was having a hard time understanding people and went to a hearing aid clinic, at this time my hearing loss was already at 45% in both ears. I then purchase completely in the canal hearing aids which made a big difference for a while.

However, as I got in my mid 30’s I could tell my hearing was getting even worse. This was really depressing because I’m very much into music and have been a DJ for years.

In March of 2008 I went and saw a specialist about my hearing loss and found that my left ear was at 90% hearing disability and my right was about 65% and at that point chose to go ahead and go with the Cochlear Implant (The Freedom CI) which was in April 2008.

It was a scary and unsure time for me but I was withdrawing myself more and more from social functions because I could not effectively communicate with people and it also began to affect me at work.

After the surgery and healing process the day came when the Implant was activated and I was not sure what to expect. My audiologist was really great and told me what other Implant recipients had said but even still was nervous about the whole ordeal.

So my audiologist turned on the Implant and I was like “oh wow”. There were whistles and bells everywhere; I was hearing things I haven’t heard in over 20 years. At first everything sounded just like “Minnie Mouse” but it’s amazing how fast the brain adapts. My speech improved dramatically almost overnight, and within a few weeks everyone’s voice sounded just the same as before the implant.

My audiologist said I adapted very quickly and I was stunned by all the new sounds I could hear again; like birds chirping, crickets, turn signals on the car, and many more. I had to actually seek out sounds to re-associate them with memory. Even music sounded pretty good, although I really miss the deep hollow sound of Bass in my left ear, the implant just doesn’t replicate the low tones, but the high pitch tones are amazing.

I must say the Cochlear Implant has definitely improve the quality of my life, as I’m enjoying things again like going to the movies and being able to watch TV without captions, I’ve even been able to DJ with the Implant.

I’ll probably be going Bilateral soon since my natural hearing in my right ear is rapidly approaching deafness. It’s an amazing technology and I’m very grateful to have been to receive it, there are challenging times at work and in noisy environments but for the most part I’m enjoying life a lot more since the implant.

Hearing loss and deafness is an extremely frustrating and depressing thing to go through, so if you’re considering getting a Cochlear Implant then I hope my story helps you in your decision; I have not regretted getting mine.