Great read. I'm a cochlear implant recipient. I live in Melbourne and had my operation at the Eye and Ear Hospital where Graeme Clark did his research, which I thought was pretty neat.

For unknown reasons my normal hearing deteriorated rapidly in my late 30s to the point where my right ear became "profoundly deaf". (My left ear only hears up to 1500 Hz or so.) I got the implant in my right ear in late 2015 and it was literally life changing.

With the combination of the implant and the residual low frequency hearing in my left ear, in most situations my hearing is almost normal. I can understand speech fine and appreciate music.