Lipreading Mom

It has been three months with my cochlear implant. The CI was activated at the end of July. Pre-activation, my hearing accuracy without the implant was at seven percent proficiency. A month after my the activation, I tested at 94 percent accuracy using the same hearing test as before.

This week, three months after activation and with the same hearing test, I met with my audiologist and tested with 98 percent accuracy while wearing the CI.

This is huge, you all.

That is basically going from understanding one out of seven words to understanding six to seven out of seven words. Being able to understand speech more clearly has changed my life. I can now be driving in the car with one of my adult children talking to me in the passenger seat — and I can understand them without turning my head to lip read them, which is very dangerous while driving.

I also can now go to a movie and enjoy the experience without having to have a captioning device or even use of open captions. That is significant. I also am able to listen to podcasts for the very first time in my life, because most podcasts were never captioned for me. This has motivated me all the more to ensure that my Deafinitely Talking podcast is accessible.

This is what my current experience with a cochlear implant is life, and and I know that everyone’s experience is not the same. In sharing my story, I hope to provide you with encouragement. If you are experiencing hearing issues, it’s okay. It’s okay to get a second opinion and get help if you need it.

If you have a loved one who is experiencing hearing issues, be patient and encouraging to them. Support them through this journey by making time for them and advocating for accessibility. You never know what a difference your support could make in one person’s life, because people have made a difference in mine.

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Photo description: I sit in my audiologist’s office, with my dark brown cochlear implant visible behind my left ear.