THE CI JOURNEY of ERNIE HARKER

1 EARLY YEARS

I was born in 1944 with good hearing in both ears. Although looking back I always tended to sit in the front at school so maybe my hearing was not as sharp as I thought. My father was hard of hearing although it was only in later life that he wore a Hearing Aid (HA). It seems as though I was destined to follow his hearing journey.

2 HEARING CHANGE.

In my later 20s early 30s I started to complain about the loud background music on films and TV programs. This change was coupled with the start of tinnitus. I later realised that whenever my hearing dropped a few dBs it followed a bad bout of tinnitus. The medics have since explained that this is caused by loss of “hearing hairs” in the cochlear.

Fortunately the Company who employed me operated a private health scheme. So at the age of 38 I had my first appointment with an ENT consultant. The Audiogram showed that I had hearing loss. I had not expected this result nor the consultant’s advice that I buy a private HA. I did the latter. The improvement was noticeable as was the external noise .This introduced me to the benefits and drawbacks of the HA. I tended to wear the HA at meetings and apart from this continued as usual. Friends and family did however notice that my hearing was “not as it was”.

3 VIRAL MENINGITIS 

At 47 I had a bad bout of meningitis and was hospitalised for a few days. Rapid and progressive hearing loss started from this attack. By now I was under the NHS and had a yearly appointment with the ENT consultant. At each appointment I had a fresh audiogram and invariably a change of HAs. I was now prescribed a HA for each ear. To help further I invested in private HAs as these were a considerable improvement on what the NHS provided.

When I reached 60 I was profoundly deaf. I attended lip-reading and sign language courses but I wanted to stay in the hearing world. An article in the RNID magazine introduced me to a Cochlear Implant support group. This group helped me realise that a CI could be the answer.

4 CI ASSESSMENT

The assessments started in June06 when I attended an appointment with the 2 ENT consultants who head up the NE CI Programme. I then had a CT scan to see if the cochlear would accept an implant. This was followed at various dates by audiology and hearing therapy assessments. These are to make certain that you have maximised the benefit from HAs and to demonstrate the CI and discuss surgery.

The evaluations were discussed by the NE CI Team and I was advised early Nov06 that I would benefit from a CI. Funding was a problem but as by private health insurance covered CIs the operation took place in March 2007

5 SWITCH ON

4 weeks later I was given the external parts of the Advanced Bionic Auria (processor ,leads, microphone and headpiece). The audiologist checked each of the 16 internal electrodes then by sending a series of beeps and buzzes established the map that best suited me. The switch on was really strange. Voices sounded like Donald duck and it was difficult to determine the direction of the speech. Within a few minutes this corrected it self and I could understand what was being said.

I saw the audiologist frequently over the next few months for retuning.

I was changed out to the Harmony in July 2007.

Still learning, still improving.