“Wait, what did you say?” Vera had always been an energetic, fun-loving person. Even the hearing loss she discovered in her early 20s didn’t change that. Hearing aids, which she got along with well, compensated for her hearing loss for a long time. But her hearing deteriorated noticeably, and Vera felt socially isolated, lonely, and sad. Her last hope: a cochlear implant on the right side. In this article, we follow Vera on her journey from the initial consultation to the activation of her implant and show just how much a cochlear implant has changed her life.

Vera also learned that hearing loss has nothing to do with age: In her early 20s, her hearing began to deteriorate. However, the changes weren’t severe at that point: Although Vera could no longer hear many high-pitched sounds, she could still understand speech well. Eventually, though, she began to have difficulty following conversations if people weren’t facing her while speaking. That was when she first got hearing aids, which helped her a great deal.

What Vera’s doctors had suspected when she was diagnosed actually came to pass in 2017: As with many other people with hearing loss, Vera’s hearing loss had gradually worsened over the years. Her hearing aids were no longer sufficient.

Her hearing loss also strained her relationship with her husband, Nigel. He often makes jokes and likes to tease. “But I couldn’t understand him anymore,” Vera says. Nigel also struggled with the situation. “Vera’s hearing loss made our daily life more difficult. I felt a great sense of loss, a sad emptiness,” he says.

But Vera was optimistic: A cochlear implant (CI) for her right ear was a viable option for her. Vera continues to wear a hearing aid on her left side. This is referred to as a bimodal hearing solution.

“I didn’t hesitate. Since the hearing aid was no longer helping on one side, the only promising solution was a cochlear implant,” Vera recalls.

Before her cochlear implant surgery in 2018, Vera was thoroughly informed by the hospital staff about all the risks. The surgery took only two hours. The cochlear implant was inserted into the cochlea. After just one night in the hospital, she was able to leave. She recovered quickly; the small incision was only tender for a short time. After just a few days, she was able to go for short walks with her dog again and manage her daily routine independently.

Shortly after the surgery, an audiologist activated the audio processor of her cochlear implant. During this so-called initial fitting, the expert first checked each electrode individually and carefully stimulated the auditory nerve with the first sounds. Vera signaled with a hand gesture as soon as she perceived something.

At first, Vera heard only indefinable sounds: “It sounds like when I’m not wearing my hearing aids. Everything is incredibly quiet. When I speak, I hear a squeaking noise in my ear,” she explained to the audiologist at the time. This was a normal reaction of the brain, as it first had to learn to process the new signals. Even as the fine-tuning continued, Vera was able to understand her first words. Afterward, a technician gave her a detailed briefing on the accessories.

The process concluded with an appointment with a speech therapist, who gave Vera exercise materials for at-home hearing training, which she was to do daily. These included recognizing background noises such as a phone ringing or a doorbell, identifying everyday sounds, listening exercises without lip-reading, and structured speech exercises.

Back home, Vera consciously noticed everyday sounds for the first time in years—from the click of the light switch to the soft clinking of a spoon in a teacup. “Understanding speech took time and required practice. But I heard ambient sounds right away,” she recalls. “I was completely surprised. I hadn’t heard the sparrows chirping since I was in my thirties. And suddenly, a few days after the implantation, I could hear the birds singing and chirping again.”

In the first few days, she was often exhausted because her brain was working hard to process the new auditory impressions. The listening exercises sometimes tired her out after just 15 minutes. But then something extraordinary happened: “I woke up and my brain had pieced everything together into a single piece of information. It was incredible,” says Vera. “I could literally feel the process happening in my brain. It was a pivotal moment.”

Her progress was often gradual and barely noticeable, until suddenly something that had previously been impossible began to work. At first, she could understand individual news items on the car radio; later, entire interviews.

Even everyday things, like conversations with her husband, have taken on enormous significance. It was precisely the little things that helped her find herself again—such as attending lectures, teaching at the university, talking on the phone, or enjoying carefree, spontaneous visits to cafés. “I’ve started to regain things I had lost,” Vera said. “I’m myself again. I’m just like I used to be.”

Hearing aids can help many people with hearing loss. However, in cases of particularly severe hearing loss, those affected understand very little or nothing at all, even with high-performance hearing aids. In such cases, cochlear implants can help. They bypass the damaged, non-functioning part of the inner ear, thereby restoring hearing.

A cochlear implant often sounds like a complicated system and a long process. However, it often takes only twelve weeks from the initial decision to the first signs of success. The first step is always a consultation with your ENT doctor or hearing care professional.

You can find ENT practices and hearing aid centers throughout Germany using the hearing aid specialist search or ENT doctor search on Ihr-Hoergeraet.de.

If you—whether you have normal hearing or wear a hearing aid—notice any changes in your hearing, you should always seek expert advice. You can also use our online hearing test to get an initial idea of your current hearing ability: https://www.ihr-hoergeraet.de/online-hoertest/. However, it is not a substitute for a professional hearing test conducted by an expert, such as an ENT doctor or hearing aid specialist.