Recent Mapping Appointment

I recently had another mapping appointment last week. I was able to make small adjustments and increased the volume. I had more hearing tests with the implant and I am still doing very well with hearing speech through the implant. Also, I had a hearing test on both ears and it looks like some of the low and high frequencies (250 Hz and 8000 Hz) on the implanted ear (right) has some hearing left at the 90 decibels. I guess doctors are trying to save whatever hair cells are good in the cochlea.

On my left ear, it appears that my hearing has dropped a little in the low frequencies. It might be related to allergies, but the eardrum was tested and it was working fine. So, I will need to watch the hearing on my left side to see if it progresses. I guess I qualify for an implant already on the left. I am not sure if I am ready to go through the whole process again right now. I think I will wait until the hearing on the left no longer benefits me anymore that it will not be too much of a risk to do another surgery. I guess lately I have been noticing that my left ear is more dull than the right and seems to be getting worse. Audiologists do suggest that the quicker you get implanted after losing hearing does help with the auditory training, because your brain still remembers sound on that side.

I may need to consider the second implant at some point because it is starting to become more difficult to hear in groups. Last night, I was with 7 of my college friends talking around a table and it was challenging to follow the conversation. I feel like I am getting used to hearing very well on the right but need more support on the left. It's never been fun to get the news of losing more hearing, but I am grateful there is the cochlear implant to improve my hearing because half of my life is interacting with hearing people.

One good thing, Cochlear recently came out with a new speech processor that is much smaller and lighter. I guess insurance companies are supposed to provide a benefit for an upgrade after 5 years. The processors are $7,500, so any benefit helps! Soon, they will have an automatic t-coil switch, so when you put the phone to your ear, the speech processor will automatically switch to t-coil without having to push the button. That will be nice!