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Hi everyone! I am a 26y old living in the UK, having been profoundly deaf in my right ear since I was 18 months due to meningitis. I have never had any corrective/treatment tech for my hearing but recently have become aware of CI implants for SSD. This isn't offered on the NHS but I am lucky enough to have private insurance so went to an implant specialist recently. He advised me that because the duration of deafness in my right was over 10 years that a CI wasn't a good idea and so I should explore CROS hearing aids or a BAHA. I have seen some posts on this forum where people have had CIs with deafness >10 years, but wanted to know anyone's experience, particularly if they have had a CI implanted in the UK. Maybe this is a long shot but I had been so excited about the CI that I wasn't really prepared for the letdown from the consultant and have been quite sad about this for the past few days - maybe it isn't suitable but would like to know others' experiences, just in case. Thank you!

I really like how seamless and easy the waterwear for Rondo 3 is compared to the Sonnet 2. Wishing there was a better fitting cover for Sonnet 2 coming in the near future. 🤞

Some things just never get old… 😊 Rondo processors in waterwear covers at the beach. 9 years and counting. I LOVE hearing the ocean while I ride the waves! So happy that Rondo waterwear covers are so comfortable and sound great. I don’t even change the volume. Very very thankful. Thank you @MED-EL Moderator

@MED-EL Moderator Gordana Will health plans supporting supplies reimbursement if purchased from a certified Medicare supplier, such as Med-El, provide reimbursement if I buy batteries from your shop and submit the invoice to them?

I haven't worn head phones but I've been to several very loud events where sounds are over 100dB for extended periods in my normal CI setting. For things like an NHL playoff game I could hear normally right after. For garage concerts sound was muffled for a bit after but I could hear normal the next day - next time I'll wear earplugs to see if that prevents this. When you say you had your compression turned off can you elaborate on what you mean by that?

LOL yes i was doing that and it does sometimes seem to make a difference but im sure my audi turned compression off as I asked hime too. Loud sounds like trumpet sections I play in do distort so maybe their is some compression but not sure if they have control over how much compression or knee is used?

@Rob Gellner Since you are still so early in your journey it could just be a sign that you need some changes to your MAP. If you gently slide your finger over the mics while wearing it, does the sound return to a better quality immediately afterwards?

A couple questions. Im paranoid that I could damage my hearing in my CI ear from listening to music on headphones? Is this possible. I don't find the music painful to listen to. Secondly Lately Ive been finding the sound a bit muffled, like my ear is plugged up a bit or my ear hasn't popped from coming down in a plane. My its compression that is super slow to release. I have my CI in OMNI mode. things just don't sound as full to me. Now its only been 7 weeks since activation so maybe I'm expecting too much at this point. I am able to play in the bands I used to play in and Play my chapman stick and some things sound great. Speech still sounds a bit lower pitched or like a slowed down record with low voiced people. I have my next Audi appointment in a month so will talk to him about what I can change but if anyone has experience with what I have describe Id love to get suggestions to pass on to my audi. Maybe I just need more time for my brain to sort the strange muffled sound out. I did take my sonnet 2 mic cover off to see if it was plugged but no change in sound. Thanks everyone

I'm glad I'm not the only one that finds the windblock to not be very effective. In the winter I use a toque to do that. I might get some form of a headband to do the same in the summer.

Think outside of the box and use a waterwear cover on your Rondo processors without the seal. The seal is needed for waterproof protection but not needed for blocking wind. It makes a huge difference for me.

Sonnet EAS is able to function as EAS or CI only. Sonnet is only able to function as CI only. Some audiologists always order Sonnet EAS if there is any chance at all that residual hearing will be preserved and fall into the EAS parameters.

That makes sense. My surgeon did say I'd most likely lose my residual hearing - if not from the array insertion from ossification in the weeks after. She was correct.

Last time it went down and came back I looked to see if anything was new or different. Just saw the larger travel pack which I got in addition to the items I was wanting to order in the first place. The pack is much larger than the little cases I got with my kit!

@Kilgary I would not say that they ordered the EAS by mistake. My Audi said that they always order the EAS Sonnet 2 when there is a possibility of residual hearing being retained on the chance that it might be useful since the cost (at least after insurance?) is the same in the US and the EAS works perfectly fine in non-EAS mode. In my case, I also retained no useful residual hearing and have never used the EAS functionality of my Sonnet 2 EAS. I have always had the fully closed clear hook on my Sonnet 2 EAS and never unboxed or tried the green EAS hook.

Interesting. I got an EAS model on activation day (I guess by mistake because my residual hearing went away after surgery). I noticed because of the green ear hook. I requested a clear hook because I didn’t like the look of the green tip. Did the right thing for my processor by accident! My Sonnet 2 sounds identical to my Rondo 3 so you can certainly use it without the ear mold like a non-EAS Sonnet 2.

I saw a post on Facebook where a guy says he regularly goes swimming with his Rondo 3. Just puts it under his swim cap and doesn’t bother with Water Wear. I know it has an IP68 rating and the product page says it can be underwater at 1m for 60 min. Is this a thing folks regularly do? I’m 17 months post activation and am paranoid about anything happening to my processor. I don’t necessarily want to take mine swimming but I wouldn’t mind having it in my spa without constantly buying pricey Water Wear plastic wraps. I used to regularly play music while hanging out in my spa before I lost my hearing on one side and it would be nice to get that back. Is this a safe activity with my Rondo 3 without using Water Wear?

Looks like it’s back up now. Weird it just goes offline for days. Never seen that with a major business.

Ah yeah. Apple doesn’t use ASHA so not something I think about much. Knew the BT in the AudioLink was old but I’ve not the foggiest when it was even released. BT 3.0 is way past its prime. Lol

While they are updating the US Web shop, we can contact our customer service reps by phone or email to place orders.

I meant ASHA as a whole was intended to be phone only then music became an after thought. As for the AudioLink, the MCU they used is the Silicon Labs WT32i-A-AI61 which is Bluetooth 3.0 (yikes!). The worst part is that they could've done general Bluetooth to Bluetooth streaming, not just phone calls only.

They keep closing it a lot it seems. Bad timing for me personally. Oh well.

BTLE which is what the AudioStream supports has a limit itself on what is can support, add in that the sleeve hasn’t been updated (outside firmware) so it’s a bit outdated by like, 3 or 4 years. Newer BT standards can support a higher rate. I also highly doubt they designed the AudioStream solely for Phone calls knowing MedEl with Music an afterthought. Most likely whatever the industry standards were when they released the AudioStream they went the Apple route and released them with a slightly older version of BTLE. (Apple only recently began using current BT chips in new models and was well known for being behind in lots of hardware areas.) AudioLink… I keep wanting to say it’s BT 4.2 but I don’t use it so not interested in much info. Only know it was rushed and even employees are not keen on it as a whole.

I don't know what the AudioLink streaming specs are. I think it should be roughly the same. My guess as to why it sounds bad is improper grounding within the processor that introduces a ton of static. The reason why the bitrate and codec was chosen was because it was intended for calls only but decided that it wouldn't make sense to block other streaming. Frankly, Google should roll out a revision to ASHA that uses LC3 since it would blow G722 a kilometer (0.6 mile) out of the water from what I can tell 😆. Bluetooth streaming will not be lossless in Cochlear Implants for a longgggg time (10+ years?). If you want lossless then use the 3 prong sleeve and AUX cable.

So you mean AudioStream has twice the bitrate of AudioLink? Now that explains why I found the quality of AudioLink unbearable when trying it out for music streaming. 128kbps is still pretty low for todays industry standards though 😕 I‘m curious why they decided to settle at this bitrate and with this codec. Hoping for lossless support for the next generation / update!

@MED-EL ModeratorCan you answer what the codec and bitrate of the AudioLink is? @Julius Also, I mixed up the AudioLink and AudioStream when I typed my last reply. I don't get why Med-El didn't name them StreamRemote and StreamSleeve since these both satisfy the German/Austrian tradition of smashing words together but in a way that makes sense. I digress. The AudioStream uses G722 and the standard sample rate is 16kHz with each sample being eight bits so that would be 128kbps. I guess G722 is intended to not go above 64kbps since it's a phone optimized compression codec but there's nothing preventing it from being higher. @John F you were right! https://source.android.com/docs/core/connect/bluetooth/asha#audio-packet-format-and-timing