Leaderboard

Hi everyone i just wanted to thank everyone for sharing your experiences & advice! It really helped me to make an informed decision! I had my pre-op appointment with my surgeon & audiologists yesterday. In 2 weeks from today I’ll start my new journey & be implanted with a Med-el Synchrony with Sonnet2/Rondo2 processors! Yeah!!😀 getting nervous but I’m sure it is going to be great! thanks again Rick H

Hi everybody. Just thought I'd share my situation with you in case it's of interest. I'm a bilateral CI user, had right ear implanted in 2000 and LE in 2010. My RE failed this summer whilst I was on holiday in Rhodes. My implant (well, I thought it was my processor) started switching off at random. I changed batteries a few times, then (using my left processor for spares) I switched the wire, coil, battery pack one at a time. After randomly switching off, the implant would come back on maybe 10 minutes later with a staticky sounding popping nose. After half a day of this, it pretty much stopped coming on altogether. When I got home later that week, my clinic sent out a new processor and I went through the process again of testing all the spare parts, finally switching the processor itself over: no joy. I went for tests the following week. I had my reimplant surgery less than a month later, on Wednesday 2nd October. My activation is next Thursday. I am excited to get back to stereo... and I wonder how different this new implant will sound. I've gone from a COMBI 40+ with standard electrode to a Synchrony II, so quite an upgrade! I've always found my left ear to be the 'weak ear' due to the 10 year gap. Using only my left ear since August has really strengthened it, I reckon. I'd love to hear the experiences of others who have had long gaps in sequential implantation, or have had to rehab following a reimplant. I'll update this following my switch-on. Ruth 🙂

Yesterday was probably the most intense listening day I have ever had. After a full day of work, I participated in a large group meeting for over 6.5 hours. Fourteen people.....many times there were multiple conversations happening at once....intense debates. I never would’ve been able to participate equally before getting my CIs. It is perfectly fine with me if I never put them to this kind of test again. Smile. But they did not let me down. And I am thankful that my hearing no longer limits my ability to participate equally in groups. Thank you Med-El!

Hi @imran khan, we've sent you a private message for more information Best regards, Verena

Hi everyone, So after a long wait, my Rondo 2 finally activated on Monday I've introduced myself on another topic but let me do that again. My name is Evren, I'm 35 and my implant is Synchrony ST /w flex28 electrode array. This is my first implant and I'm currently using hearing aid on my other ear which is slightly better (about 10%) than my implanted ear. Wish I'd say I had an amazing activation but I unexpectedly fainted after testing out the higher pitched sounds. I have to talk to my ENT about it on my next appt, but weird that, I've not read anywhere that something like that would happen, nor my audi encountered it before. My Rondo 2 didn't stay on my head so my audi switched to 4S magnet but still it fall down sometimes. Guess, I have to wait for the swelling to heal. Fortunatetly, things only got better after first mapping is done. I scored 65% on my first speech discrimination test with Rondo 2, and it's up from 6% w/o hearing aid and 14% with hearing aid. The first sounds I heard were really funny. My audi clapped his hands and I was not expecting to hear pair of "beeps" instead of regular clapping sound. I think it will go more natural in time. At home, I've tried out some familiar tunes on Spotify. It's nowhere near perfect but I can hear vocals so that's something! Day 2- I can understand my wife better even without the hearing aid. Being invaded with so many f, s, h letters help maintaining better speech perception I guess. Sniffs and inhales Light switches, office equipment, peeing etc. sound fuller and richer than before. I didn't even know clothing make so much sound as well. In the afternoon, I was at my regular cafe and I heard the ambient music and made out the soft vocals in it. That's a new! Day 3- Hello birds (lots of birds) I still have loud ringing post-op tinnitus (newly developed) on my ear, and Rondo 2 didn't help much to reduce it. Hopefully it will fade away in time and I will keep you updated

Hey @Michael Drury Saw that Med-El put a post of you on Facebook. Nice to put a face with the name 🙂

Hi Lorna and Mary, I have both ears blugged in with med-el and I have both sonnet and sonnet 2 and the rondo 2 also. They all work absolutely great. Feel free to ask me any questions at all. I have only had sonnet 2 for two days now. Which i am the first one in Australia to have the sonnet 2. Sonnet 2 works bloody awesome best sound quality the app on my phone is very easy to use. Like I said feel free to ask any questions and I hope I can answer your questions well.

Thank you @Mary Beth! I am going to treat myself to a swanky new pair of wireless headphones... They'll help with rehab, right?! 😉

Hi Marybeth I do!! Yahoo!!

Hi to all here at hearpears I would like to say I received as of last Thursday from Boston Medical Center that I now have a date along with four others out of state. My date is November 19th, 2019. I am going first out of us four. I am somewhat nervous but all can hear in my voice that I am now gaining excitement! Yay! I will keep all of you here on hearpeers updated on all. Thank you Lori

@Nischal Koirala Prices vary depending on country. Contact Med-El in your country for current prices. If you need help contacting them. @MED-EL Moderator can help you.

@Evren I am so happy for you! YAY!

@Nischal Koirala Congratulations on your new CI. Are you looking for comparisons between Rondo 2 and Sonnet or Rondo 2 and Sonnet 2?

Thank you. The ThinkLabs One looks to be quite good.

@karenRS, @Mary Beth. I use the stethoscope with the DAI red jack cable and the audio quality is really much better, I would even tell you that better than a bluetooth connection. I suggest you look for a stethoscope with generic audio output and always use it with the DAI red.

Hi all, To edit your email notification preferences please go here: https://forum.hearpeers.com/notifications/options/ (make sure you are signed in). I have not been able to work out why some of you don't always get emails, but I will ask our support team for more info. But please do let me know if this problem stops once you have changed your settings. Kind regards, Mary

Hi All, I'm the developer working with the Hearoes app and wanted to say thanks very kindly for posting this @Mary Beth along with everyone's feedback. It is much appreciated. Personally, I found the rehabilitation side of auditory feedback quite challenging, which is why I originally developed Hearoes and have ended up releasing it for free to help others who have faced a similar challenge with training. As I'm always looking to improve the experience and help those with the auditory training process, if you had any feedback or any challenges you're facing with training, please don't hesitate to let me know and you're welcome to reach out here, by DM or via our website https://www.games4hearoes.com/ as I would love to hear from you and how we can help. You're feedback is invaluable as I've been able continually update the app to address a lot of the bugs (such as the sign in process) as well as the addition to new content based on the feedback from those experiencing Hearoes. Elliot

Hi everyone & thanks for checking in Mary Beth! Yes I had my surgery a little over a week ago (October 4th) but I just didn’t post anything yet as it was so uneventful! That is, not much to report, so I figured I would post after my activation. I have to admit this was one of the best surgeries I’ve ever been through. Everything was pretty much what I expected or less! My surgeon Dr Trac Duong , & the surgical staff at Overlake in Bellevue were fantastic! The surgery was just over 3 hours & they implanted a Medel Synchrony with flex 28 electrode array. All electrodes got inserted & the doctor turned it on during surgery to make sure it worked. I went home that day & was surprised at how little pain or discomfort I experienced. The hardest thing was the plastic piece over my ear for 2 days riding on my ear lobe! Lol. I took all my pain meds & antibiotics as instructed but really the pain was never more than a 2 out of 10. I had a little pain in my ear when chewing at first but that went away before I finished my first meal! The other things were pretty much all the normal things we read about with this surgery. A little discomfort in my throat from the breathing tube that went away the next day & my sense of taste was gone on half my tongue which is getting better also. The good news is now my cooking is only half as bad! Just kidding! As expected there was some numbing on my implanted side & I expected My tinnitus to increase which it hasn’t at all. In fact the only difference I noticed is since shortly after surgery it has changed to a constant oscillating ringing which is slowly going away. At first I thought I might have retained some residual hearing as I didn’t notice any difference in my hearing right after surgery but as the swelling kicked in the hearing went away in that ear so time will tell when the swelling goes completely away. I didn’t really notice how deaf I am since the surgery until a few days ago when I took one of my cars to the store. I’ve always been a car nut & people at work know me as the guy with the nice cars. But with my hearing loss I’m a little reluctant to drive them as they draw so much attention! When I came out of the store there where already 3 people waiting to talk to me. Even after telling them I had ear surgery a week ago & couldn’t hear them, they still kept asking questions. I felt really stupid having to asking them 2 & 3 times to repeat themselves. I guess until I’m activated I’m going to have a hard time understanding people! Oh well again expected that also! the only other thing I was surprised about was the level of vertigo was almost nothing until 2 days ago I had one strong episode that was so bad it made me sick & lost my dinner ! & when I got sick I heard like a wind chime going off in my implanted ear that changed to a loud ringing that lasted about 30 seconds. The doctor said it was nothing to worry about & I should take my nausea meds. I don’t know what brought that one episode on but other than that I’ve had almost no dizziness or nausea at all. So over all I’m very happy with the way this surgery has been. They did move my activation up to October 29th, so I’m really looking forward to getting my Rondo2 & Sonnet2. If activation goes even half as good as this experience I will be happy as can be! Thanks & wishing everyone the best on the journey! I’ll post again after activation! Rick H

@Rita Marquez Our audiologists have multiple ways to give us perceived loudness in addition to just increasing the MCL settings. -wider pulse width -adjusting threshold settings (quietest sounds we hear) -changing MAPLAW setting -turning off electrodes that are not able to be perceived loud enough and shifting those frequencies to other electrodes -using triphasic pulses instead (This is only available to Med-El CI users.) -and probably even more ways that I have yet to learn about Hopefully you, your audiologist and the Med-El regional team in your area can help you get the perceived loudness on your new side soon.

The second implant is progressing. In one of my maps I tolerated too much bass when doing the threshold test and it didn’t sound good. I gave it some time thinking that maybe my brain would get used to it but it didn’t. I have another mapping next week to try and balance things out.

@Mary Beth thanks. I actually got an email notice for this tag. I checked my account settings and all are in order, so have no idea why I wasn’t getting notices earlier.

@karenRS @Esteban is a pro at using a stethoscope with the DAI red jack cable. Here is a link to his wonderful guest article. https://blog.medel.com/deaf-vet-with-cochlear-implants/

@Mary Beth It is a small device that uses VOIP, Voice over Internet Protocol. For a relatively small annual fee (USD39.99) you can make unlimited calls to the US and Canada. You can can call other countries too for a small additional charge. I have used it for the Cochlear line and to call Med-El as the regular landline prices here for international calls are expensive. I got mine at Walmart. I think Americans probably use it for free local calls.

@Jewel https://www.phonakpro.com/us/en/products/wireless-accessories/roger-table-mic/overview-roger-table-mic.html

@Jewel Look at my post directly above this.

My GoTo ALDs were Artone 3 Max for webinars and Skype plus my Roger Pen for meetings at work

Hi Mary Beth I will actually get my date here shortly. I will diffiently keep you posted! Lori

@imran khan I am sorry to hear that your son’s processor went through the wash. Have you tried putting it through the dry kit for several cycles to see if it still works? Sometimes people get lucky. The warranty varies from country to country. I will tag @MED-EL Moderator so they can assist you.

iAngel sounds a lot more sophisticated. Enjoy Peter

I recently had an opportunity to review the AudioLink with my Sonnet processors. Today I asked Med-El if I could join in conversations here about the AudioLink or if I should wait until they use my review. Med-El said I could join in conversations about the new AudioLink. AudioLink works with Sonnet and Sonnet 2 processors. For bilateral Sonnet/Sonnet 2 users, the sound is heard on both sides. It is very easy to sync the AudioLink to our processors. Very similar to pairing the FineTuner remote. We can use the AudioLink three ways: 1) use the AudioLink by itself as a remote mic worn by someone or set on a table 2) use the AudioLink with cables for true stereo music (separate left/right instrumentals), listening to all audio from any headphone jack, connected to the TV via the dock 3) use the AudioLink with BlueTooth. There are two ways the AudioLink works with BlueTooth. One way is directly for phone calls. The other way is through a BT converter app (A2DP blocker) that runs in the background and allows streaming of music, audiobooks, etc. The AudioLink is not supposed to be used on planes. (Just like the Roger Select/Pen are not supposed to be used on planes.) My favorite features of the AudioLink are: * True left/right stereo for music IF the AudioLink is plugged directly to the sound source * The ability to adjust the mixing ratio * Access to a 100/0 mix ratio (sound source only) * No need to switch to MT or T so never encounter electromagnetic interference Hopefully Med-El US will soon announce a release date and price for AudioLink.

Circle versus triangle markings on magnets must match our internal implant. Synchrony types of internals use triangle marked magnets.

@Evren I know! It’s quite unbelievable. Our brain’s neuroplasticity is amazing!

@Michael Drury Let’s use this new topic so people can find this info. What do you like about Sonnet 2 compared to your Sonnet? Curious minds want to know! Smile.

@pdk Indeed Peter, I've listened to same tunes over and over on week period and noticed the improvement on music perception. I was skeptical about training my own brain before the implantation and now I'm amazed with how things improve so fast. The hype is so real

Most days I put on my CI processors when I wake up, give thanks for this gift of hearing and go about my day never thinking about my hearing. Today I focused on my hearing. Here are my WOW moments of today. A conversation with a coworker as we were moving opposite directions on a staircase which continued even after he turned the corner to a different hallway. Multitasking in high school English and Social Studies classes, which enabled me to work on writing review sheets while also listening to the class lecture and student comments without ever looking up. Enjoying an audiobook while traveling between schools. Jamming to music in the car even with the volume turned down. Enjoying a movie at the theater and noticing how loudly popcorn crunches when the theater is quiet. Enjoying the sounds of nature with the windows open. It has been over 4 years since these Med-El CIs have returned hearing to my life. They amaze me every single day. Thank you Med-El! What have been your favorite sounds of your day?

Will definitely share my thoughts when I get my hands on it I'm eagerly waiting to reach to the point that I can listen to audio books. There are tons of exciting stuff to do out there.

Thanks Mary Beth & Mary Featherston! Ill keep you posted

This morning my 10 year old son tried to sneak up on me while I was getting dressed. It's a game he plays sometimes when I think he's still asleep. He even put socks on to dampen his foot steps. But I heard him and caught him first! It was so funny!! I never used to hear him with one working ear.

@Jewel Yes it does.

@Jewel The AudioLink can act like a remote mic on a table. We can control the mix ratio of sound through AudioLink versus sound through Sonnet/Sonnet 2 mics.

Thanks for all your input, I am going ahead on 4 October - I am deaf on the left - the Audiologist & Med El spec has recommended the Sonnet and Rondo 2 - so, fingers crossed! I am in South Oz, it seems to be more Cochlear than Med El and AB used here.

Hi Evren Just thought I’d check to see how your activation went, I know you said you were getting activated on Monday! Wow sounds like your experiencing a lot of new sounds! That’s really exciting! Sorry about the fainting spell but maybe you were just too excited by that much new sound! I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about! Of course I don’t know yet but everything I’ve researched about it sounds normal, the odd sounds, & increased tinnitus. All that should calm down in the coming weeks & you will begin to progress to the point where things seem normal! I’m still about 6 weeks behind you. I get implanted in 2 weeks. Can’t wait! How is your wife liking you hearing her better? I know my wife can hardly wait to be able communicate better with me. I’ve been with her almost 35 years so she’s used to me using her as my own personal interpreter! Lol. well wishing you the best my friend! Keep us posted on your progress! Rick H

@Evren Wow! You are hearing so many things so soon! That is terrific. Sorry about the fainting. I had loud strange tinnitus at first and it settled down over time. I hope the same happens for you. Looking forward to reading your updates! Enjoy!

@Mary Beth I don’t think you forgot anything. Good analysis.

My audiologist recommended it when he did the post-op Bonebridge setup.

I think I just stumbled on it while I was researching the three brands.

Looks like someone has done a lot of work.. Definitely worth going through. The ah, ss exersize was too easy. But that's for me. Certainly worth using.

Thanks @Mary Beth. I was able to access the app via the website. Strange that it wouldn't show up in the App Store otherwise.

@Jewel Here is a link to their website and contact info https://www.games4hearoes.com/