Out with the Old, In with the New!

New speech processor on the left

I have some residual hearing left!

My remote for my speech processors

Hello!

On Tuesday, July 30th, I went back to Mayo for a second activation appointment. On my hour and half drive there, I thought I should continue to train my new ear and I listened to the Madonna CD listening to one song with both implants and the next song with just the new one. Madonna sounded like a male and it was a little freaky, but it was still awesome to hear with both ears in the car.

I asked my audiologist why my first two appointments are scheduled within 24 hours of each other. I guess there are particles that will become stuck on the electrode from the surgery, so when the implant is turned on the electrical currents flicks off the electrodes. This is important because it allows me to go higher in my mapping with loudness. I was also curious if I could ever max out on volume because I seem to increase volume often and maxing out within six months. She did not think this would happen, unless I was a 100 years old or something. I was relieved to know there is still lots of room to grow when it comes to volume. 

First, we remapped the new implant. My audiologist's voice still sounded low and like a man, but when I put on my other implant she sounded normal. I guess it will take time for my brain to get trained and get used to different speech sounds. It's only been 24 hours since I was hooked up, so I need to be patient! She also suggested I have fun with the training of my new implant. I can listen to a song a few times and get the words down, then listen to that same song with the new implant. I tried this on my way home.

Next, she was able to remap my right ear with a new speech processor. Once the mapping was done, she had me look directly at her to see if the sounds were coming in even on both sides. I love having both ears at the same volume again! It's been a while! 

Also, the audiologist explained what I should do if I am struggling in situations to hear. First, I should check the program. I have four programs - two for everyday sounds, one of everyday programs is good for listening to music; then I have two for within noise, one of the noise programs is a zoom program that works when I am one on one with someone in a noisy environment. The second thing that I should focus on is adjusting the sensitivity levels. I guess this is a powerful tool to have; if I set my sensitivity to a lower level, it will pick up sounds closer to me and if it is at a higher level it will pick up sounds at a distance. The last thing I should try is increasing the volume. What I have done in the past was increasing the volume when I am struggling, so this is good to try! Also, I feel more in control with my speech processors with having to use the remote instead of doing it manually like my old speech processor.

After the programs were set, the battery life was assessed in my processors. On my new left ear there are 20 hours with the rechargeable batteries and 44 for disposable batteries. On the right side there are 19 hours with the rechargeable batteries and 40 for the disposable. I am able to see the batteries levels on my remote as well. Another neat feature on the remote is it will detect if something is not working with the implant. I did order compact rechargeable batteries, but I plan to return them for regular ones because the battery life was only 11 to 12 hours.

Other things I learned was when I remove a disposable battery from the pack I should tap it on the table then wait a minute before putting it in my processor. This is only for implant specific batteries. Also, it is recommended to change the filters every three months along with putting them in a dehumidifier kit every night to be sure the moisture stays out of them.

The most exciting thing that happened was when my hearing was tested on my left ear, it looks like I still had most of my residual hearing! This means I will benefit from using a speech processor / hearing aid hybrid unit to have high and low sounds. Very cool!

Overall, things have been going well. The ring is not constant and will show up in different settings, so I feel it might be some environmental sound that I haven't been able to tune out yet. I recently started riding my bike in the past two days because I feel more safer being able to hear sounds on both sides. It's really amazing when I hear something loud, I can tell which direction it occurred.

On Tuesday night, I went out for dinner with three awesome friends, one can sign and the other two are working on it. We went to a noisy place. I did alright in this situation, but of course I forgot my remote at home so I didn't experiment with the different programs. I have learned my lesson to always have remote with me!

The best part was when I was walking to the restaurant, it occurred to me after two blocks that I had everyone on my left side instead of my right and I was able to follow the conversation! My doctor described it well... having two implants is like when you have cataract surgery and only one eye is doing the work and it's hard to focus, then when you have both eyes you have depth perception again. So, when I had one ear working, I could only focus on one thing at a time; now I have distance, localization and can hear multiple things at once. It can only get better from here...

Thanks for reading! Third mapping appointment will be on August 23rd. I will likely get a speech recognition test on the left ear at that time. Keep you posted!