Re: Cochlear Implant
The operation itself takes 2 - 3 hours and I'll need to be under general anaesthetic the whole time as the part that's installed in my cochlear is a sensor array like a human hair and the connection to it is fitted between my skull and the lower skin layer, just above and behind my right ear.
That part has a magnet fitted to it.
The processor fits behind the right ear with a small lead to a circular "plate" that is held in place by magnets.
The processor receives everything that goes to my outer ear via microphones and converts it all to signals that are then fed to the sensor array in my cochlear.
Over time my brain decodes those signals into intelligible data I can understand - quite how that happens I do not know but when I first got digital aids I had to learn to hear and decipher digital signals which didn't take all that long - your brain is a wonderful thing and to make something artificial that can do that is still a long, long way away!
There's lots of other things I'll be able to do, like choose the direction I want to hear from, as normal people do without thinking about it.
I'll be able to receive phone calls, via Blue Tooth, directly to my cochlear via the processor and respond via the built-in microphones.
All I'll need is a Bluetooth phone, (turned on) and my Cochlear Implant will do the rest.
I'll also be able to pin remote microphones to speakers in meetings I attend so I can tune-in directly to them via Bluetooth yet
still hear all around my as a reduced background, again like normal people do without a thought.
I'm hoping too that I will again be able to hear music but it's not guaranteed as the Implant is programmed mainly for human speech but has the capacity to add and enhance ambient sound that normal people hear and adjust to.
I might just get enough to make my life complete again because I do sorely miss music in my life.
Of course on a lighter note, I'll be able to gossip and chat again! stevmk2