Getting a Cochlear Implant Changed My Life: Things I Never Thought About

If you are like me, getting a cochlear implant was life changing.

You spend all that time thinking about one thing, hearing again.

What you do not spend much time thinking about is what it is actually going to be like having a processor behind your ear and a magnet stuck to the side of your head every day. At least I did not.

And when it first happens, it is a little strange. You have spent your whole life without this thing attached to your head and suddenly there it is.

I have seen plenty of comments on social media saying, “Wear it loud, wear it proud.” Nothing wrong with that. For some people that is exactly what they want to do.

But I am not one of them.

I did not want to make a statement with my cochlear implant. I did not want to hide it because I was embarrassed by it either. I just did not necessarily want everyone I met noticing it.

I wanted to hear again and get on with my life.

Turns out, getting on with my life was not quite as simple as I thought.

Nobody Warns You About the Little Stuff

I have always been active and I play a lot of tennis.

Once I started wearing a cochlear implant, I quickly discovered there were things I had never thought about before.

Sweat.

Keeping the processor from moving around.

Wind.

And wind was a big one for me.

Try playing tennis when the wind is blowing across the microphones on your processor. I could hear the wind just fine. Unfortunately, I could not hear much of anything else.

Then there was something even more basic.

I wanted to wear a hat.

Sounds pretty simple, right?

It was before I got a cochlear implant.

I had worn hats my entire life and never once thought about how they fit around my ears. Why would I?

Now I had a processor sitting behind my ear, microphones that could not be covered and a coil attached to the side of my head.

Suddenly putting on a baseball hat was not quite so simple.

The hat could press against the processor. It could push it around. It could cover the microphones.

It was one of those things that made me think: there has to be a better way to do this.

That’s Really How EarFree Started

I was not trying to start a company.

I was trying to solve my own problem.

I wanted to play tennis without constantly worrying about my processor. I wanted to wear a hat again. And yes, I liked the idea that the hat made my cochlear implant a little less noticeable.

So I started experimenting.

I cut up hats. I changed things. Some ideas worked. Some did not.

Eventually I figured out that instead of trying to squeeze a cochlear implant underneath a regular hat, the hat needed to be made to work around the cochlear implant.

Give the processor its own space.

Keep the microphones open.

Keep everything secure.

And still have it look like a regular hat.

That simple idea eventually became EarFree.

Five Years Later

It is hard for me to believe it has been five years.

Since then I have talked with a lot of cochlear implant wearers and parents of children with implants, and I have learned something along the way.

We do not all feel the same way about wearing a cochlear implant.

Some people want bright colors and accessories and want everyone to see it. Good for them.

Some of us would rather take the incognito route. Good for us too.

There is not a right answer.

What matters is being able to live your life the way you want to live it.

For me, that meant being able to get back on a tennis court, go outside on a windy day and put on a hat without thinking about my cochlear implant every five minutes.

When I got my cochlear implant, I was thinking about hearing again.

I had no idea that one day I would be cutting holes in hats trying to solve all the other little problems that came with it.

But that is exactly how EarFree started.

And five years later, I am still working on those little problems.

Tom Ross
Founder, EarFree LLC
Cochlear implant wearer

Keep reading

Cochlear Implant Hats: How to Choose One

A practical guide to choosing a comfortable cochlear implant hat for compatible behind-the-ear processor setups.

Cochlear Implant Winter Hat: What to Look For

A practical guide to choosing comfortable headwear for cold, windy days with a compatible cochlear implant processor.