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I enjoy meeting other Med-El users in person, especially new friends I have made through social media forums. Some ways I have been able to meet others so far..... -I traveled to NC for a Hands On Hearing workshop. We organized meeting up for dinner the night before. Great times! -I travel to NYC for my CI appts. We organized meeting up for dinner and a group of us from NY and NJ had a great meal together. -I live in a rural area but there have been a few Med-El Mingle events within a 3 hour radius. I have attended 2 so far. It’s great to meet other Med-El users. -One of the first Med-El users I met traveled a couple of hours from her home to meet up while I was on vacation in Florida. A fun afternoon on the beach. Some of these friendships have extended way past our shared CI experiences. We continue to get together as friends and share good times. Some dear friends and I are still awaiting our first in person meetings. I am looking forward to those. After spending 3 days at the Med-El Meetup last month, I am reminded of how powerful and meaningful these in person meetings can be for us. I encourage you to reach out to others (through HearPeers or other forums) and meet for coffee or dinner or a walk at a park. We have a lot to offer each other on our journeys. I hope you make some lifelong friendships this way too. And maybe post a picture to share. ?

Hi @Daniel the Stranger and @Jewel

Thanks all!!:) I’m really glad to have found this group!! Definitely nervous about getting a CI, but it is good to know there are lots of people to bounce questions off of!!💛💛

Welcome to the group @NurseNavyNat (Canada)!! I got my CI done at Johns Hopkins 😁 it’s been 2 years. It’s been a crazy ride and I hear the best I ever have! I lost a good amount of hearing due to childhood illness. I highly recommend Johns Hopkins their otolaryngology Department. Are you working with any doctors yet? Also, I have the Roger 21 and it’s a wonderful compact assistive listening device. However, it does drain faster than normal the battery due to it being so powerful. I have no complaints about my Med El CI 😁 I’m reminded everyday how well I chose when I listen to music and it sounds amazing!! You'll have to keep us updated on your journey! Best wishes!

I LOVE how active HearPeers has been lately! Just moving this up to the top so everyone sees it. We have a good sized group trying to attend so far.... @Dave in Pittsburgh @Mary Beth @Mary Featherston @Megan L. @Jewel @Kara of Canada @Carolmarie @mgfiest The more the merrier. If you know other Med-El users who are not on HearPeers but may be interested in attending, please share.

this sounds interesting... will have see if I will be available that weekend.

@Jewel this is the one: https://www.amazon.com/Kitty-Cat-Klock-Classic-Black/dp/B00GNJ9I5K/ref=asc_df_B00GNJ9I5K/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=191970712264&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14339294448992550955&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9019644&hvtargid=pla-300946248453&psc=1

I never knew that the timer for my oven beeps when the time is up until yesterday when I was cooking and had my CI on! I love my Sonnet!

Anyone who wants to order skins for your CI, today's the day. Skinit is having a 40% off sale.

As many of you know I have had problems with the Sonnet falling off my ear since activation. . The part that connects to the magnet usually stays put. Only the part that rests on my ear is the problem. It has been two months and it still falls off at least once a day. I have not been able to order the Med-El huggie so I'm not sure how well that works. Yesterday, I tried out wig tape. This is the second time I'm trying wig tape. The first one was no good, but this one, Topstick, is excellent. It is actually men's grooming tape. I just put a piece on the battery cover as well as the part between the earhook and the battery cover and voilà problem solved! The ear piece stayed put the entire day! I even took off the sonnet for two hours and left the wig tape on and was able to put it back on and it continued to stay put on my ear! I don't think I would put it in the dryer though. So I removed it from the Sonnet before placing the processor into the dryer and I was pleasantly surprised that there was no sticky residue to contend with. I live on a tropical island and it was hot yesterday so my wig tape passed the test in hot weather so I bet it will do fine for colder weather too. I bought Topstick on amazon.

Happy holidays everyone!

Hi, I'm Jess and live in Perth Western Australia. I have a daughter who was implanted at the age of 11months with bilateral implants. We have used the OPUS 2, Rondo and now the sonnets which are our processor of choice. My daughter is now 7 and has very fluent clear speech. We still have all the usual issues in day to day life, missing processors, broken parts but in general extremely grateful and blessed to have such a wonderful product. Thanks Jess

Hello Caroline and Mary Beth and others I am now a recipient of a CI (about 2 months ago) for my single-sided deafness. In response to Caroline's queries, I can only relate my own situation but here goes. My audiologists gave me a 'trial' BAHA for a couple of weeks. This was held against the skull with a tight headband. It only marginally improved hearing in the deaf ear, but not enough for me to notice any improvement in noisy restaurant/pub situations. You might like to ask about this. So I made the decision to go for a CI. The CI is working well and has already improved things for me, although I am expecting 6 months or more before it reaches its peak performance. Or should I say before my 65 year old brain reaches its peak performance, because that's what it is all about - the brain has to adjust to the new signals coming in. It has not been an easy process and I have had to put considerable time into exercises, but that pays off. The surgery was ok and I felt well soon after. However, in my case the recovery then became slow as after a couple of days I developed severe dizziness - which has improved but I am still working on, with help from neuro physiotherapists. I say 'in my case' because the severity of this is not at all normal but you should talk with your ENT specialist about that. Despite the setbacks, I am convinced that it was the right thing to do for me. Hope that helps a bit!

I'm veterinary doctor and finally can use the electronic stethoscope with the red cap cable (90% audio and 10% Mic). The stethoscope is a Japanese one and very old but with an incredible sound quality (so sensitive that it also picks up noises of friction with the skin and even voices of the environment).

Just came home from California the audi called this morning to tell me the rondo 2 is here and my appt is next Tuesday cant wait still haven’t heard from the email about the cost foe extra covers

Hi @Mary Beth, Thanks for checking in on this. Right now we do not have any solid plans to do this but we still think it would be great idea and will see what we can do... I will let you know if this is possible. Thanks, Mary

Nice @Matt!! you are most welcome here! Adelaide is such a nice place to live. If you have time maybe we can meet when you come back next year?

Does his owner also like to play feather toy?

Welcome to HP this is a very informative site.We are Hear to help. I am a MEDEL CI patient in fact I am bilateral.I had mt first surgery a year a go and second surgery in March of 2018 .MEDEL customer service dept is tops very responsive toyour needs.It was a wise decision that I made. I have the the Roger 21 and love it. I have the Sonnet In fact our group is meating on Sat Sept 7 in Niagra Fall you can see it on HP heading reads MEDEL NORTH MEET UP we are planning to arrive on Fri evening September 6 leave Sun. We all have CI and on Sat evening 430-730 we are having a MEDEL REP in for show and tellThis is self pay you and yours are most welcome.Any question lets hear it I am Dave in Pittsburgh

Tentative plans include.... mid to late morning Maid of the Mist boat tour in waterwear! hop trolley to Cave of the Winds in waterwear! lunch afternoon is open hopefully a Med-El Meetup/Mingle event ( @Dave in Pittsburgh is trying to arrange this with our Med-El rep ) possibly at Panera Bread dinner at Panera Bread All events and meals are self-pay. Join for the whole day or parts of the day as you wish.

Thanks Mary! Finally came up with a custom design adding my email address to the back of the Finetuner for when I finally leave it in a restaurant or some other place like the doofus I am😀

Oh boy this is close to me only about 20 minute drive i better put it on my calendar thank you very much for the information

Hi @Little_chooky Caroline, Happy to reply! :) Oh well, browser-stuff like that happens every now and then... (btw: a little later it turned up again but I had already rewritten it ;) ) Yaaay, so you now some German, that's awesome! :D Well our official language is also "German" but "Austrian German" - and our German is quite different than the German's German - at least spoken. Written it's quite the same and we understand them easily when they talk but our many different dialects kind of give them a hard time! ;) I sort of hear regular on my right ear - I say sort of as I also have tinnitus on my right ear (due to acute hearing loss in my right ear in 2016 which happened due to Lyme's disease, no detectable tinnitus on my left ear) and, simliar like yours, it reacts to noisy environment, so I'll include tips for that in my top 5 for SSD (for that I am not considering the CI, but rather how it is without it): 1. when talking to people I like them to be opposite or on my right side (so that my "good" ear is closer to them speaking), I am also aware of lightning (wanting there face to be nicely in light, so that I can do lip reading more easily as well as better reading their body language, which also helps), the room itself, carefully choosing where I sit or stand when talking to people (also, like when going to a restaurant I like to be proactive and choose the seat that's best in regards to hearing) 2. letting people know - I feel that trying to understand in noisy environments often is quite difficult at itself and I feel that when I let people know they are more understanding but - somewhat even more important - it eases my personal stresslevel in these situations (however: for important talks I would carefully chose the sound setting, I would not have important talks in noisy environments, or with a lot background noise or in rooms with bad acoustics) 3. In Austria we have a hearing aids and hearing protection company called Neuroth - they make these amazing hearing protection pieces, that are custom made to fit your ear and then you can put little filters in these pieces that will for one protect your ear and eardrums from too much noise and two (which is the amazing thing) will also help with understanding, as they sort of turn down nasty noises while still letting you understand speech clearly as well as letting you enjoy music or so. I use these a lot (I also have one set for my deaf ear, as I feel that I still want to protect my eardrum - this may sound weird to some people, but it's just my way of taking care of my deaf ear too, which is important to me :) ) in like restaurants, in loud cars, when on a plane (not while starting / landing due to the changing pressure, but when at flight hight I like them), train/bus stations, etc. -> AND: for me they come in super handy with my tinnitus, as usually when I'm in loud hearing situations my tinnitus turns up afterwards. When using these for me the tinnitus doesn't get as loud later. -> These handy little Neuroth-Protection-Pieces were somewhat pricey but I love them. Maybe that is something that could help you cope with your tinnitus as well? I'm certain that Australia would probably have something simliar! If you want, I can photograph them for you so that you can get an idea of these things. :) 4. Taking care of my hearing ear. Protecting my hearing ear from loud noises is very important to me. But also taking care of it in the way of getting some "hearing rest" during the day. Like for example when I am on a full day training course, where I have to listen a lot, I like to take the breaks not to talk or listen to others but rather to relax my ear, go to a quiet room, go out in nature (I find the calm of nature and nature sounds very relaxing to my ears), or whatever feels comfortable. 5. Being patient with myself and my hearingloss and aknowleding that with it a regular day takes me more energy than it may take a person with regular hearing. So I like to make sure I get enough "hearing-breaks" and relax my hearing so that I have enough "listening-strength" throughout the day. I hope you find these top 5 useful - let me know, if you'd like more info (for example on strategies I use to sort of be able to detect the origin of sounds, cell phone, etc.)! :) In regards to CI stimulus/regular stimulus and how my brain copes: it does just fine! ;) Yes, left cI-ear is a little different but me and my brain don't mind - I feel it even helps me in telling where sounds come from. Also it's not like super-duper-different, it's just that - to me - on my left ear I don't just "hear" sounds I also sort of "feel" them - but it's hard to describe. I know that there still are many concerns out there about SSD and CI and how does it all work - I can only speak for myself, but all I can say is that it work's just awesome and I personally love my CI and would every day choose it again! :) cheers from Graz, Veronika

Oh, and now I just saw, that after rewriting the post I added it to another topic than intended, sorry...? This post of mine was meant for the Australian new post...but maybe it'll help here as well?however I will ty to get it to the other post as well...?

Oh no. I just wrote a nice reply and now it's a gone! Hm. Will start again.... So: Welcome @Little_chooky to Hear Pears!! I'm sorry to hear about your sudden hearing loss!! As @Mary Beth mentioned I am single sided deaf (SSD) on my left ear as well. I was born with regular hearing, turned deaf around age 3,5 (unknown virus) and was not fitted with hearing aids for the next 18 years as it was believed that my hearing nerve is damaged.long story short: my nerve is fine and thus I got my cochlea implant aged 21 and am a very happy CI user since 2011! ? So I know both sides pretty well - living with SSD with no assistance as well as using a CI. So what are you most interested in at the moment - getting to know more about coping strategies I use(d) or how and to what extent the CI is helping me in my daily life? Just let me know and I'll do my best to assist! ? However I am Austrian - as Ausreians we often get confused with Australia so there is a habit of t-shirts saying "no cangaros in Austria" ? - so please bear with my english... ? Cheers & all the best, Veronika