by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
When you get “turned on” at your first cochlear implant (CI) mapping session, it’s a given that the sounds you’ll first hear will not sound normal at all. Don’t be surprised at the strange, robotic nature of the voices you first hear. In time, your brain will learn to understand them and they will begin to sound normal to you.
In order to help your audiologist produce the best map, you’ll need to describe these unearthly sounds and often that can be a challenge. To make things easier for you, following is a list of words people with cochlear implants have used to describe the quality of sounds they heard during or after mapping sessions.
These words also may relate to sounds people have experienced that may indicate a problem with equipment (i.e., a processor cord). Note that how one person perceives a sound may not be the same as another person might perceive that same sound, thus, words on this list could mean entirely different things to different people. When choosing a term(s) to describe your listening experience, be prepared to explain it in more detail to your audiologist.
Here’s some words to get you started.
Banging
Barking
Bass
Beeping
Blaring
Blunted
Blurred
Booming
Bottom of a Barrel/Well
Breathy
Buzzy
Cartoonish
Chimes
Chipmunk
Chirpy
Chopped Up
Clangy
Clashy
Clear
Clicking
Clinking
Clipping
Compressed
Cottony
Crackling
Crinkling
Crisp
Cut Off
Cutting Out
Cymbals
Damped
Disembodied
Distorted
Droning
Ducks quacking
Ducks underwater
Dulled
Echoing/Echoey
Electronic
Fading
Far Away
Flat
Flour-y
Fluctuating
Fog horn
Frog in throat
Fuzzy
Fuzzy on the edges
Garbled
Gargling/Gargly
Grating
Gravelly
Growly
Gurgling
Harsh
Helium
Hissy/”essi” (too much, or not enough “s”)
Hoarse
Hollow
Indistinct
Intermittent
Jumping Out
Layered
Mechanical
Metallic
Metal Pipe
Microphonish
Motorboating
Muffled
Multiple voices
Murky
Mushy
Muted
Nasal
Off the station (radio out of tune)
Ooooom
Out of Focus
Out there (voices sound disconnected from bodies)
Piss-y (“P” sounds)
Pitch
Plinky
Pointy (like “crisp”)
Quacking
Raspy
Resonant
Resonating
Reverberating
Roaring
Robotic
Rough
Rumbling
Screechy
Shadow voices
Sharp
Shrill
Sibilant (too hissy)
Snap
Soft
Solid
Spongy
Squashed
Squawky
Squeal
Squeezed
Static/Police radio-like
Tapping
Thin
Throaty
Tinkley
Tinny
Tunnel-Like/Metal tunnel
Tweety
Underwater
Vibrating
Warbling
Whiny
Whispery
Whistling
White noise
Zipper-y
Note: The words on the above list were contributed by adult cochlear implant users on the CI Forum and Nucleus Forum and compiled by Camille Jones. This list may be reprinted for further distribution. July 2, 2001; Revised May 2005. The original of this list is located at http://www.cochlearcommunity.com/data/files/E/EllenBR/Say_It_in_CI_-_by_Camille_Jones.pdf.
I am having situations in different businesses and even at home sometimes where I find myself doing things that seem to be like someone else ordered them. At a grocery store, I will be headed to purchase something and then all of a sudden, I will turn around and go to a different area. At home, I will all of a sudden get upset at not finding where I left it and then when I give up, I am without even thinking of it again, up and around the apt. to find it at a location where I probably wouldn’t have put it. I have had several surgeries with ENT with sinus issues and I still have them. I have had in the past what I thought was inappropriate medical care through some Medicare providers. I will be online working and all of a sudden I will find myself searching for a different sight. Also, I walk my dog at night and try to stick to a schedule and then sometimes I sit up abruptly in bed and feel the need to take her then. I even think I hear barely audible voices inside the apt. (older house subdivided into 4 apts.) I recognize the voices as some of my neighbors. Some people who live in houses beside of me own equipment for CB amateur use (per landlord). ONe is a hispanic with Cobra boxes outside in his yard prior to removal. I also voluntered at a church and sometimes I would get the feeling I was being instructed there. I also had a lady who followed me constantly there and was also angry in her dealings with me and her husband also. I am worried about abuse and installation of ear implants. I also was a victim of police abuse by a cadet. I have never been diagnosed with hearing problems and never felt the need to have them tested but once and they said my hearing was perfect. Am I picking up on loop systems within buildings or systems being used illegally?
Hi Patricia:
The disconnect you feel–going to do one thing and ending up doing something else–sounds to me like some psychotropic drug is messing up your brain. These could be anti-anxiety drugs, antidepressant drugs, Benzodiazepines, etc.
The barely audible voices you hear may be real or may be phantom. One way to tell is to put your hands or pillow over your ears. If you still hear them, they are almost certainly phantom.
I don’t see that the CB radios are influencing your hearing in any way. Nor are loops systems. They are not operating using technologies you can hear. The CBs work on radio waves which your ears can’t detect, and loop systems and house wiring put out magnetic fields which again your ears can’t detect.
Cordially,
Neil