To alexh and Mike:
I have had my CI on for just about a month now and have had very positive effects in this device helping me to deal with my T as this was my primary motivation for undergoing CI surgery. The activation process for me resulted in the immediate return of approx. 55% voice recognition which in of itself was incredible. The programming I currently have in place however picks up all ambient noise so I do experience a fair amount of white noise as my brain struggles to reconcile the various competing sounds as it is a process to learn how to hear again. As a result I am constantly adjusting the settings for my CI based on the surrounding environment so as to not have too much or too loud of sound which in turn can trigger my T.
In terms of the effectiveness in dealing with my T, the impact has been profound. With the return of sound, albeit robotic and mechanical sound at this point, the net effect is that for me my brain has re-engaged with the experience of hearing and has resulted in a significant reduction in the priority my T maintains in my conscious state. I am finding that at the end of the day I am not exhausted and feeling defeated, wanting to find a dark corner to curl up and hide in like a wounded animal. By hearing the world again, I am still engaged at the end of the day with energy and a positive approach and am with the capacity to cope with my T when I take my CI off at night. In turn as my T has become secondary in my day to day I am finding that I am maintaining the severity at a much lower and constant level than before. It is still there but far less prevalent and severe. We will see how far I am able to push it down, hopefully to where it belongs which is somewhere else
All very hard to put into words and effectively explain - as it is when you are trying to explain T to someone who has no idea.
As far as the risks highlighted by others that the surgery can present, provided you are with a capable surgeon this operation is becoming much more commonplace with a very high degree of success and very low probability of complication. If the options is available and you suffer from profound hearing loss with no chance of correction, I would not hesitate to recommend a CI as a means of coping with T.
Best of Luck!