my mom and CI

[Guest guest]

Hey everybody, I dont mean to interrupt the thread but I also didnt

want to annoy anyone by starting another thread on this topic.

This post is very important to me and my mom so any info I could get

would be greatly appreciated by the two of us.

My mom is profoundly deaf right now. Without her BTE hearing aids

she hears nothing. With the aids in she can hear you if you speak

loud and allow her to read your lips. My mom was born with perfectly

normal hearing. She gradually lost it starting in her 30's (she is

now in her 50's). Hearing loss runs in the female side of my moms

family.

Anyhow, my mom has been thinking about getting a CI for years now.

She went to go see a doctor a few years ago and after viewing her

audiogram the doc said my mom would be approved for a CI without any

problem and he instructed her to go for her blood work to get

prepared.

The thing is my mom has put off a CI for years now because she is

very scared. She does not know what to expect from the surgery. She

does not know how much the CI wil help her, if the sounds she hears

will be machine like and then if she is not satisfied there is no

turning back.

Right now my mom has very good speech for a person with profound

hearing loss. People are surprised when she tells them how bad her

hearing is because she speaks so well. The only words she struggles

with are new words she has come across since she lost her hearing.

Being that speaks quite well already, I think therapy will be much

easier on her (correct me if i am wrong)

I know the success of CI's vary for each person, but is there

atleast a minimum percentage of how much your hearing improves after

a CI? Will my mom atleast be able to speak on the phone again, and

have a normal face to face conversation with somebody else? What

should my mom expect immediately after the surgery?

Thanks for your time.