A bunch of people told me to do an AMA since I'm deaf and I just got bilateral Cochlear Implants. So go ahead!

In my asl class, my teacher mentioned the backlash cochlear implant recipients endure from the deaf community. Have you experienced any disapproval from your other deaf friends? Are you worried about it at all in the future?

I have heard some from the adults, but none from the children. I think it's because Cochlear markets their implants poorly and says they will work perfectly for adults, when in reality you have to work in therapy for a long time to get it to work.

What happens in the meantime before it works? Do you not process/understand the input?

At first, everything you hear is noise at the same frequency. As therapy continues, you are able to discern different pitches and so on until you can discern speech. That's the highest level; most adults can't reach this because they're too old. Their brain has already gotten too conditioned to hearing nothing.

Does it stick out of your head or is it resting on it via sticky or magnet? How does that work?

I have a piece that rests on my ear, and a magnet that sticks on my head a little farther from the ear. The surgery is comprised of putting a magnet into my head so that it can connect to my cochlea.

What was your first reaction? Did everything seem loud? Has your speech improved?

Lots of annoying high-pitched sounds at first, but as I trained my ears it got better. It wasn't easy.

I got my first implant when I was ten months old, so about three years of speech therapy made it so that people couldn't even notice I'm deaf.

You mentioned in one video getting one implant when you were young. Why did your family decide to do that?

Do you also know some Spanish sign language?

Does your mom log extra steps on her fitness watch because she’s signing so much?

My parents wanted me to have an ordinary life, I guess. They had tried implanting my mom but since she was too old it never helped. I assume they didn't want that to happen to me.

ASL and SSL have very minor differences. I know a little bit, like Monday being signed with an L instead of an M, since in Spanish it's Lunes.

Your last question made me smile. Yes, she actually does. Signing often is good exercise.

Before you got the implants, did you hear anything while you dreamed? If you did, how much different were those sounds in comparison to what you’re able to hear now?

As a matter of fact, I take off my implant now when I sleep and I still hear sounds almost perfectly when I dream. I can't tell you how they were before because I was implanted when I was ten months old.

Have you heard yourself fart yet?

Hate it.

An elementary school friend of mine, got a cochlear implant and i witnessed the first time he heard birds sing. He was like "Whats that sound?" and it took us a while to figure out it was the birds singing. Then he cried a little and I myself and some others may or may not hace cried aswell :,)

Aw

Do you ever find it overwhelming/annoying to have so much of your identity wrapped up in your hearing loss (e.g. deafgamer)? I find myself jabbing at my deaf friends a lot about their hearing not fully realizing that they probably get those comments all the time. The same way a tall person gets tired of people starting conversations with "wow you're tall!" Etc.

I've embraced my deafness, which is why I have it in my username and I have a YouTube channel all about it, AND I did an AMA about it. I wanna spread positivity and awareness about the deaf community, and what I'm doing right now will help.

How nice is it to be able to just turn off your ears if there is something annoying you don't want to hear?

I can think of so many times I would have wanted to do that. Noisy neighbors, loud construction work, people you don't want to have to listen to, the list is endless.

It's great, but I don't usually do it anyway just in case there's an emergency and someone calls me from another room. Just being oblivious to that would be a bad idea.

Isn’t there like a big stigma in the deaf community about getting the implant? I mean obviously you did what you wanted which is awesome, but are there other dead people that you know that are upset about you getting one?

The majority of deaf people I know are implanted, so there's nobody I personally know that is against it. I mean, the technology is there, so why not use it?

Sorry if this is insensitive, but I noticed you didn't refer to yourself as "capital D Deaf." Was that intentional? Incidental? Do many deaf people make the distinction in writing? Or at all? Is there a correlation with its usage and the formality of the writing?

Edit: Also, I just watched the videos and was quite impressed with your clarity of speech. Would you say that's typical of someone who's had a cochlear implant as early/long as yourself? Btw, my mom's an audiologist, so I'm not entirely unfamiliar with this subject area, but my (possibly outdated) impression of cochlear implants was that the sound reproduction was limited. Is that still the case, and how much does it vary from patient to patient?

For the first question, I sometimes capitalize deaf, I sometimes don't. When I do, I get comments appreciating that I capitalize it, so I should probably do it more often. Though I don't really see a logical reason to use it.

I've met a lot of people my age who were implanted very young, and they have the same speech I do, and it's because of therapy. I had three years of speech therapy.

What kind of music do you listen to?

Rock, dubstep, and a little bit of J-pop

Are you shocked that porn is so loud?

I was surprised there's usually no music in the background.

Have you dealt with any deaf fundamentalists yet who’ve yelled at you for your decision?

Also, I’ve heard that deaf people actually like music because they can feel it. Have you listened to your favorite songs yet? Are they still awesome or are you disappointed with how they actually sound?

Also, how do you trash talk in ASL? For example:

git gud, scrub

Get rekt, son

1v1 me IRL, bitch

I don't know anyone who's against implants. Besides, the technology is there, so why not use it?

I've never used ASL in a competitive scene, mostly because I play video games and the people are somewhere else in the world.

To lose my hearing would be such a great loss. Do you listen to music? Can you recognize different pitches? Are you musical? What do you enjoy/not enjoy about music?

I listen to music regularly, and one of my friends has been trying to teach me how to sing. I don't know if it's because of the limitations, but I haven't been able to learn how to sing very well. I can at least recognize different pitches.

What is something you would like us to know being a new recipient of both hearing and those cool implants? :)

If you ever have a deaf kid, implant them as soon as possible. It's way better in the long run.

Do you think you will have children knowing you could pass this on?

My mom is deaf, so considering she had children (duh) I most likely will.

Do you take your cochlear off whenever you go to the bathroom? I always do haha, What brand cochlear do you have? I’m Med-El :D (also if you use disposable batteries always let them chill for a minute before you put them in your cochlear, it helps prolong battery life! I always pass this on to every cochlear user, surprisingly not many people know)

I definitely take it off when I take a shower! My model is the Nucleus 7. And yes, I've known that little tidbit about disposables! I'm surprised people didn't know this.

Now that you can hear, what did you “hear” before you could? Is it even describable?

I could feel things, but not hear. I'm profoundly deaf.

who's voice are you hearing when you read this question just now?

The voice in my head. It's like a femboy kinda voice. It's weird

My wife has the bone conduction Baha system and gets feedback often. With double implants does that happen for you?

None at all.

What is the highest and lowest frequency your implants can pick up?

I'm actually not sure, but I can test it out. I'll probably forget to tell you lol

Is it hard to wash yourself without getting the implants wet?

I take it off.

How’s your local deaf community taking the news?

I took a couple semesters of ASL and I remember one of the things my teacher taught us is that the deaf community doesn’t like the idea of being “cured” and many resist Cochlear implants for children, among other things. It was a few years ago now so my memory is fuzzy

For my local one, lots of them already had an implant, which was partially why I made the decision.

How do you feel about it?

Amazing.

If a tree falls and only a deaf man is around to see it, does it make a sound?

play xfiles theme

What difference have the implants made in your life?

Vast. Mostly that I can make friends way more easily and listen to the music they rave about all the time.

Have you tried whistling yet?

It took me a while to learn, but I did.

Has your family noticed a difference in your voice or sounds you make?

Early on, when I would take my implant off and talk, my little brother would tell me I sounded like Astro Boy. When I put it back on, he wouldn't. Now, there's no difference in my voice whether I have it on or not. I was first implanted when I was 10 months old, so I didn't have much of a voice back then.

What kinda music are you getting into? Is it just wonderful? I couldn't imagine life without it.

Me neither. I listen to heavy rock, Dubstep, and a little bit of J-pop.