Robot Ear

I will meet with an audiologist in about four weeks to activate my ABI and have him patiently run through several different combinations of electrode pairs that will stimulate my brainstem, hopefully allowing to restore some 'sound awareness.'
 
I have no idea what the results will be. The sounds will be nothing like 'normal hearing' but it will be something. The results are described as being pretty primitive - horns honking, doors closing, etc. From what I understand there is quite a learning curve which can improve over years of use. I am currently profoundly deaf, which means that I have absolutely no hearing in either ears, so anything is better than nothing.

The positive news is, the surgeons were both very pleased with the placement of the device and when they stimulated it before closing me up. It tested quite well with 18 of the 21 electrodes functioning. So, we'll just have to wait and see what things sound like when they boot this thing up.