Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Matthew's Cochlear Implant Activation


Remember Matthew, my friend's son who received a cochlear implant several weeks ago?

Yesterday was his activation day and it went rather well. Sue, Matthew and I arrived at Children's Memorial and we were joined by a Department of Specialized Care for Children representative who wanted to watch the activation. The hospital also provided an interpreter.

The audiologist placed the implant on Matthew's head and hooked it up to a laptop. She explained that she was going to "map" the implant so that the sounds would be comfortably low. "Are you ready?" she asked Matthew.

"I'm ready!"

At first, Matthew heard nothing. Then his face lit up and he said, "I heard that." The audiologist asked him to point to a colored chart with responses that ranged from "too soft," to "too loud." She was aiming for a "sounds perfect" response on the chart. Within a half hour, she reached a mapping that Matthew was comfortable with.

"How does it sound?" Sue asked. Matthew explained that the sounds were sort of mechanical. The audiologist explained that over time, the brain would adapt to the sounds and it would improve.

The audiologist introduced the Ling sounds to Matthew. Ling sounds are "oo, ee, ah, sh, ss, and mm." She covered her mouth and went through the sounds. Matthew raised his hand on every sound. This is the kid who sometimes couldn't hear his own name hollered. Sue and I stared at each other--we couldn't hear two of the Ling sounds.

Matthew heard them all.

The audiologist then asked Matthew to repeat the Ling sounds after her. He was able to hear the sounds but not repeat them accurately. It will take time, practice and several more mappings before he can get the full potential of the implant and even then, it remains to be seen how much auditory benefit he will gain.

Matthew picked out a colorful blue-swirled covering for the magnet and the implant processor to match the one his friend has. Arriving home, Sue texted me, "Matthew listened to music on the way home. He says it sounds better!"


A similar post can be found at: Matthew's Activation.

9 comments:

MB said...

Yeah, Matthew! Sounds like he is doing great.

groovyoldlady said...

Hurray for Matthew!!!

Anonymous said...

Keep at it Matt!
Grandma Sandy

Anonymous said...

Does Carrot top like AC/DC now? Like is brother? :-)

Karen Putz said...

No, Bob, Matthew likes JOHN DENVER! Whoohooo!

Jennifer said...

I don't know how I lost your webpage...but I have added it to my Google Reader...I won't lose it again!! HOORAY for Matthew...his processor looks like mine (I have a picture of me wearing my swirlies on my CI blog... http://stereophonicbionic.blogspot.com/ !)
And if he likes John Denver, he's got good taste...Daddy raised us on that (and Sgt. Pepper...go figure ;) )!)

Anonymous said...

Hi there! The hubby ran across your blog and pointed me to you. I just got info about a cochlear implant sent to me from the U of I and I'm gonna check it out.
Just thought I'd pop in and say hi!

Celeste said...

that is good news. I hope it continues to be.

Anonymous said...

mra3SR Please write anything else!