January 7th 2026 was my cochlear implant activation day. A total of 7 weeks after the date of my surgery. Normally activation is 3 to 4 weeks post surgery but due to the holidays, a weeks travel I had planned and coordinating with the Envoy Medical engineers my activation day was delayed.
We drove to Charleston, SC, on the 6th and stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in downtown Charleston. Very convenient location for MUSC hospital on Rutledge Avenue, very comfortable and very economically priced.
Appointment was set for 8:30 a.m. and we had to be there at 8:00. We showed up a little earlier before they were checking people in so checked in using a kiosk and then had to check in with the nurse later.
The first step in the activation process was the Envoy engineer bringing the implant out of hibernation mode followed by a firmware update. There are two processors, one in the chest with the battery and one up on my skull, which I believe is the sound processor. Both had firmware updates. The whole process took about 45 minutes and are performed wirelessly, I believe with near field communication because you have to hold the induction coils over the battery. With bluetooth you would not need to be so precise with location of the transmitter and receiver.
After activation came calibration which was performed by the audiologist, Dr. Kara. For this process I removed my hearing aid from my left ear and Dr. Kara played tones directly into the processor, beginning at low volumes, gradually increasing the volume until it became uncomfortable.
With that done, the next step was tone detection, like a regular audio / hearing test. The really impressive part was where she indicated she was going to try a few really high frequencies – like in the 14k to 15k range. I could not hear them, but she said that could very well change. That, to me, is awesome, to think that I would be able to hear sound in the 14k, or even 12k, range again.
After that, she asked if I could hear her voice and I could. Then I put my hearing aid back in my left ear and we did some speech. I could tell already that I could hear better, that things were crisper and cleaner, even though distorted.
After about 30 minutes and close to the end of the activation process, she threw some colours at me and hid her mouth so I could not read lips and I was able to get every colour correct. For me, that was a huge improvement.
Finally, I went back over to the clinic where Dr. McRackan, the surgeon, was waiting. He explained that I will likely still have some equilibrium issues for a while, maybe another month, and made some suggestions for practicing balance. My balance has improved significantly since the surgery, but it isn’t quite “there” yet.