In a comment to a friend regarding a controversial magazine article about CIs at school Monday, January 26, 2004

I would like to get the CI (and we’re figuring that out right now if I’m eligible or not), but the problem is that I do too well with my hearing aids.

Recently (I’m not done with the hearing test/evaluation yet), I got 19/20 right in the sound field test on BOTH ears.

So, with a 95 and 110 dB loss in both ears, but a functioning capacity between 30 to 50 dB (I forgot exactly what), I can hear just about everything, but I don’t always understand what I’m hearing (the words, unless if I’m looking at the person). And then again, it depends on who I’m talking to (i.e. my mom, I can have a simple conversation with her without looking at her or on the phone.)

But the one thing I want, is a better guarantee or prediction that it will work. That I won’t revert to a state of hearing that was worse than it is now by getting the implant. At the same time, I have the auditory training, skills, and the capabilities to be a successful implant candidate. It’s the cutoff and my current abilities that’s the problem. As I said, I’m still in the middle of testing, so I’ll have to update you about that later.