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Hello all, @Dave in Pittsburgh had the idea to organize an opportunity for HearPeers members and other Med-El users to meet in person. Saturday September 7, 2019 Niagara Falls, New York Some of us are coming from out of the area. Tentative plan is..... Maid of the Mist late morning Lunch together somewhere Afternoon is open for suggestions Hopefully a Med-El Meet Up or Mingle event possibly at Panera Bread (starting somewhere around 4:30). @Dave in Pittsburgh Is in contact with the Med-El rep and trying to set this up. Followed by dinner at Panera Bread Who wants to join in? The more the merrier. All activities and meals are self pay. You can participate in the entire day or select parts of the day. Meeting other Med-El users is fun. A group photo with waterwear covers on Maid of the Mist sounds awesome! Thank you to @Dave in Pittsburgh for suggesting an in person meet up. Thanks to the small group who worked out a date together... @Kara of Canada @Megan L. @Mary Featherston @Jewel

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

Hello Mary Beth Thanks for taking this another step. Sounds good Dave

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