This is no doubt a miraculous and beautiful story, and over the last few days, I've questioned if I've become a bit of a negative nelly, seeing videos such as these and feeling a tad more jealous than I should for people who have shared suffering similar to my own.
I've also wondered if people who are completely deaf, or at least mostly deaf, seem to do better making sense of the new CI sounds than someone like me. For example, I know one woman who was completely deaf and within a month following her surgery she was conversing normally and talking on the phone. I figured I had an edge having some hearing, limited as it is, but now I'm not so sure.
I truly believe I heard most sounds as a child, but I know I've slowly lost a majority of them over time, particularly in the last five years. I'm wondering if my brain is stubbornly holding on to 23 years worth of sound memories and refusing to make the switch over to bionic hearing because I just know... I KNOW... certain electronic sounds are just not the same as natural hearing. I'm wondering if this wouldn't be an issue if you didn't know any different. My audiologist tells me that eventually the bionic hearing will become "the new normal," and I'd love for her to be right. But for now, the left side hears one thing, and the right hears a completely different version.
If there are any cochlear implant recipients out there able to offer insight on this topic, I'd love to hear from you! Please share.
