Everything You Need to Know After Hearing Implant Surgery

The recovery process after hearing implant surgery is crucial for successful healing and activation. Here are a few tips and ideas to keep in mind that can help you after your hearing implant surgery and during your recovery.*

Take Your Time to Recover and Ask for Help After Hearing Implant Surgery

• Take time to rest after cochlear implant surgery, so you can let your wound heal and body recover.
• As you may feel pressure, pain, or discomfort on the implanted side of your head, have your medication ready and try to avoid sleeping on the wound.
• If you are an adult recipient, driving following surgery is possible as soon as you feel ready and are no longer on medications. If you don’t feel ready to drive, arrange for someone to take you home from the hospital.

Prepare for Communication Before Activation

• Don’t expect to be able to hear immediately after implantation. Keep in mind that your wound needs to heal first. Only then can the implant be activated. Read here what happens at the activation of your hearing implant.
• Depending on your hearing status on your non-implanted side and level of hearing preservation, you may need to communicate via non-auditory means until your activation appointment. Have a whiteboard, a tablet, or pen and paper handy to help you communicate.
• Learn a couple of keyword signs to use with your family—if you aren’t using some already.

Prepare for Activation After Hearing Implant Surgery

• Your switch-on/activation appointment will be scheduled by your local MED-EL team. At this appointment, your external audio processor will be activated and programmed to work well with the internal implant. The exact date of this appointment will depend on your clinic. It is normal to feel anxious and excited about this appointment.
• Remember, switch-on is different for everyone. Read about different activation experiences on our Hearpeers forum.
• At switch-on, it is normal for the sounds of your hearing implant to seem unpleasant or high-pitched for a few days as your brain gets accustomed to the new auditory information it is receiving. It can be tiring, but try to wear your audio processor as much as possible to get your brain used to the new way of hearing.