CI Initial Stimulation

Jack had his cochlear implant's "initial stimulation" this past Wednesday. Basically that means he got "turned on." His audiologist ran a series of tests on the implant's electrodes (which are inside his cochlea) to "map" his hearing range and program his processor (what is worn behind the ear). He gave some good, obvious responses to the sounds, enabling her to better program the equipment. There is, I think a perception out there that the process is magic- meaning that not only does he all of a sudden hear everything, but he understands what he hears. I wish this is how it happened! The reality is, it is a process. Right now he has access to the full range of sounds, low to high frequency, but has a limited range on volume. He is only hearing loud sounds. Over the next few weeks, he will progress through different hearing programs and gradually hear softer sounds and nuances. This is so he isn't overwhelmed and will leave the processor on his head; he needs the time to adjust to hearing so much. After the first several weeks, his processor will then be "fine-tuned" to make sure the sounds coming thru are correct; for example, the "s" sound is the most difficult speech sound to hear, so this is where the fine-tuning comes into play. After the first few months, Jack will be on a regular program which stays the same and he will hear everything.

Jack's new processor; we chose the chocolate brown to blend with his hair, I think once his hair *finally* thickens up it'll look even better.

How does it work?? The processor is behind the ear and receives the sounds, which then travel thru the cable, up to the coil (the round part on top), going directly to the electrodes inside the cochlea, stimulating the hearing nerve and sending the signals directly to the brain, allowing him to perceive sound. The coil doesn't defy gravity as it may seem-- it holds to his head with a magnet, connecting to the magnet placed inside his head during surgery. It swipes off easily enough and he doesn't sleep in the equipment. (I've had some people ask me if he would be able to take off the equipment once put on, like it would be permanently attached to his head.)The stuffed koala bear Jack received with his equipment. I thought it was too clever; it's a "deaf" koala and comes with its own toy processor for Jack to play with and place on koala's head.
Jack really enjoys putting the processor on koala. He immediately made the connection between the toy processor to the one he wears.

Over the past few days, Jack has done very well with his CI. He leaves it alone and tries to fix it when it gets knocked out of place. At first, when initially stimulated, he stopped responding to his name when called; I'm sure it sounded weird to him and he didn't recognize the sound. After a few days, he is responding about half the time now when I call his name; so I can see definite improvement. He also learned the word "slow" yesterday when Daddy played cars with him. He showed him how to move his cars "fast!" and "sloooow." Jack started saying "ohhh" when Daddy modeled "slow." To check his comprehension of the word, I had our cars going fast, and then said "slow," to which Jack immediately made his car go slow. It's moments like that which make this whole process worth it and encourage us to keep going. I know that he is hearing and learning, and that's what it's all about.