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Squelching along thank-you. Only joking. Small improvements. Speech is really good. Frank Sinatra sounds a little better, but Susan Boyle has not improved (wild horses ). Went to a concert and the cello concerto was bad. Percussion great. Listened to young persons guide to orchestra and enjoyed it, very good to relearn all the instruments. Went for a walk up Chapman's peak drive houtbay where I live and listened in amazement to the waves crashing in, perfect. All in all, going great. It's now 3 months since activation. Peter

Freshly activated, so I started with my expectation super low. All 12 electrodes are in good health and active. Currently, I hear everything super, super high pitched, like everything is beyond helium. I can detect syllables, but can't differentiate speech or distinguish different layered noises yet. Time to learn how to hear all over again

signed up as well

The student I was working with when my processor flew off my head and magnetically dangled from the metal cabinet is a CI user too. Her eyes were huge and then we both cracked up. However we both respected our distance from that cabinet after that!

I have forgotten to attach it a few mornings at school and I feel lost without it. I try to wear it all waking hours. It only comes off right before I go to bed and it is back on after my shower in the morning. It just brings awareness to how much you miss if you are not wearing it.

It's great to hear that others are doing well with Med El. Looking forward to this journey....

Today while I was walking through a courtyard up to a school, I heard a bird chirping. I looked ahead in the direction of the birdsong and saw two trees spaced quite a bit apart. One tree to my right and the other tree to my left. The bird continued to sing. It seemed strange to me that the birdsong sounded like it was coming from a high location between the trees. The bird continued to sing. There was a very tall sculpture located between the two trees. When I looked way up to the very top of that sculpture, I saw the bird singing its heart out. My CIs were right! The birdsong was coming from between the trees! Sound directionality is so much fun!

Thank you Mary. As the Artone is relatively inexpensive as compared to other devices I am going to order a second one. I love it and become annoyed when I have to wait to reboot. I seem to be wearing this when ever I am home. Music never sounded so good. I find it much easier than Rogers and definitely much lighter.

It's weird, though, because in my experience the Rondo2 brings me a little more sound than the Sonnets. @Dave in Pittsburgh, did your audiologist do a separate mapping for the Rondo2 or copy the Sonnet MAP over?

SSD right side, Synchrony PIN. Loud tinnitus but doing fine. Activation scheduled for June 27 with Rondo 2. Very hopeful!

Surgery went well yesterday. Got my bandage off today. Not much pain today just a little ‘full’ feeling. Activation July 1st.

Yes and I feel like a new person thank you very much just one more month until activation

Thanks so much for asking! Since I have good hearing in my right ear and used to ignoring tinnitus in my left ear, I'm finding it's easy for me to ignore the computer type tone and echos that are coming from the left implant. My audiologist said my job for the first week is to wear it as much as I can and get used to the input coming into my left ear. This has not been a problem. I do feel like I'm ready for a bigger challenge, tho and look forward to whatever instructions she gives me next week! I have played around a little with wearing an earplug in my good ear. Will keep you posted.

Things are going well @Mary Beth I can't complain, I'm really happy with my CIs. Communication at work has improved heaps and I'm not scared anymore to interact with students and staff. I don't forget that this is a long process, my Audiologist can't believe how patient and positive am I.

You might recognise one of the surnames in the link which is my very clever daughter who is off to Innsbruck as a prize for inventing this. Unfortunately the development costs will be astronomical and far too much for us but we are in touch with a couple of other clever people who are looking at developing similar things. https://www.ideas4ears.org/meet-the-inventors/ As things stand, I know people have used baseball batting helmets although being UK based I have no idea how good a baseball helmet would be on a bike! Better than nothing though I expect.

Day 2 bandache off no pain around the ear throat still sore but I feel great

Well I've just come back from a hiking/camping trip... I walked partly along the West Highland Way in Scotland. With tent up and me inside, sounds that I heard were interesting as I wanted to know who or what was outside.... Sheep! and I'm sure that if you listen long enough you can get to recognise the different 'Baa's' from the different animals, the lambs especially.... and yes, I did 'Baa' back to them, they answer too! Hahahahah Another particular sound that was noticeable to me this week. I have a homebrew beer on the go, it's fermenting away nicely and bubbling away through the air lock, sometimes just one bubble then two or three... you get listening for the next, will it be two? three? One? Four?? so on. My favourite listening thing is my old vintage valve radio.... just so nice and mellow to listen to. I have a small extension speaker added to it, also vintage, but it is a much higher frequency. The set up is positioned so that my ci hears the higher frequency small extension speaker and the conventional hearing aid hears the main radio. Sounds complex but it works for me.

@Mary Beth Wind Block doesn’t work foe me

I attended this MeetUp in Rochester, NY today. We had about 16 Med-El users, candidates & parents. It is always so much fun to meet other Med-El users in person. Lots signed up for the new US HearPeers community.

great thanks for taking the time to repost the review of the Artone Mic it is very informative and helpful!!

Thank you so much, Thursday is the big day for me....

@mshaley2

@mshaley2 yes. I use waterwear, EarGear covers with tether and clip and a Nammucap at the same time with my Rondos and it works great.

Thanks, @Mary Beth - I already have that. 🙂 Just need to work on speech in sound.

Right after I got my first CI I was in a conference room with a couple of co-workers. The room happened to have a metal shelf in it, and the shelf was behind me. I leaned back in the chair and the shelf acquired a CI.

Hi @carmella416@hotmail.com - I didn't have a buzz, but yes, the Sonnet sits right on the incision and it's tender for a while. What I did (not at work, but at home) was take a bandanna and fold it so it's a triangle and then fold it in half a couple more times lengthwise. That leaves you with a piece of fabric that's about an inch and a half wide, and because you folded it you have an opening along one long edge. Tie the bandanna on your head and then position the magnet over your implant - and then instead of hanging the processor off your ear, tuck it into the folded opening. It will stay there and your ear won't hurt.

Will do! Thanks!

@Mary Beth I had forgotten how “easy” level 1 was. Well, I guess it wasn’t easy when I started! i can come a lot closer with identifying the words at that level with my eyes closed.

@pdk The brain is really amazing. How are you doing on your journey?

I am 7 months post and I promise you music will sound great. I have the artone listening to classical every time I can plug in or should I say plug out

Hello everyone, My implant surgery is June 20, 2019 at University Hospital in London Ont. I am trying to decide on the Sonnet processor or Rondo 2 that I do hope is available. Any advice would be great. Thank you Sandy

@Mary Featherston Hope you're rid of the cold soon and you start hearing as you did before.

Thanks, @Mary Beth - it seems to be clearing up a bit (as is the cold).

@thomseabrook Thanks for the last email Thom. That is very clever. By looping at the hinge of rubber port there's little tension on the port cover. Thanks a whole bunch. C T Lex cc: @Mary Beth

@thomseabrook So you just create a loop inside the processor and the lid holds it. Great, thanks for the input.

@Mary Beth after putting it under brighter light and magnifying glass, diameter of an eyelet is 1/8" and the opening is about 1/16". Regardless it is quite small. After playing around with a broken leash, an eyelet stretches to a diameter similar to its width. Just need the right tool. C T lex

I was at the clinic yesterday for routine check over and we got talking about this. Not necessarily about the breaking as I have not had that issue but the fact that it is very difficult to get the leash back on wen you change covers. The 'solution' (which should address breakages too) they use is to go back to the old fishing wire type leash (a la Rondo 1), make a loop in the end and loop it round the comms port cover, then close it. Working fine so far and won't come of when the cover needs changing.

@dave and mary beth - I am so glad to have joined. I am hearing some great things - I know its lots of work - but some of my anxiety is put aside for the moment - until they call and say - I am next. Thank you both.

Hi everyone. I attended my first concert since getting my CI last year. It was a couple of local musicians as well as Air Supply. I decided to wear my Sonnet to this outdoor event. There were over 1500 people in attendance. Some of the performers I was hearing for the first time ever, so I wasn't acquainted with their music. The first one I could hardly make out the actual lyrics but I was able to make out the music. Maybe I couldn't make out the lyrics cos the performer had the mic so close to her mouth. Things got better with the male performers, and I recognised some tunes. When Air Supply came on they had some strong electric bass guitars that kinda drowned out the lyrics sometimes. And sometimes it took a while for me to figure out which song was being sung. I had to keep my Fine Tuner out and keep adjusting to see which setting I heard best in. I think Natural and Omni were best. When the MC and others on the platform spoke I heard them loud and clear. Note I was sitting maybe in row 30! I was pretty pleased how things went as this wouldn't have possible had I not had my CI. I just hope my audi can tweak things so next time the experience is even better! What mic setting do you use for concerts? And what has been your experience?

Thanks, Mary Beth and Mary!

I got a letter from my insurance for approval for two boxes of rondo2 covers great news don’t have to worry about paying for the covers

Hi @GraniPeggy I have Sonnet and Rondo2 and definitely prefer Rondo2 most times. I don't like Rondo2 in noisy situations but recently I have been adjusting the sensitivity on such occasions and it seems to help. So do a bit of experimenting and see how you like it.

Awesome! I'll wait and see how to acquire this then. 🙂

https://www.audiologyonline.com/releases/med-el-launches-first-spotify-17140

https://open.spotify.com/user/medelcochlearimplants?nd=1

Thank you for your response, Mary. I purchased four leashes as back ups, with no clips. The eyelets at each end of the leash are identical in size, so forcing one eyelet through another is daunting. These eyelets are very tiny, and I have no forceps this small. I suspect I'd break the leash if I did. Thanks, but spare leashes w/o clips is not a solution for me. C T lex

Way to go @Jewel!

Hi @C T lex, I heard back from our experts here and they advised that most people prefer to replace the whole Attachment Clip rather than just the Leash. However, if you want to replace just the leash you can do the following: 1. Pull one end of the leash through the loophole of the clip 2. Using forceps, carefully open up the loop on one end of the leach. 3. Pull the other end of the leash through the open loop. Kind regards, Mary

Hi @C T lex, thanks for your question. I have forwarded your question to our experts here at MED-EL HQ, and I will get back to you with an answer asap. @Mary Beth thanks for the feedback, I have passed it on Kind regards, Verena

My first CI (right) didn't really take to music until month 3 or 4. My second CI (left) loved music by week 4. I listened to familiar music and just enjoyed whatever I could get from it. Great percussion, more and more instruments, a phrase here and there, etc. I approached music as something I would have to train. I listen to music often. I listened whether it sounded good or bad. I exposed my brain to the way music sounds through my CIs and let my brain figure it out. Now I can learn new lyrics just by listening to new songs. I am also finding out that some lyrics I thought I knew are incorrect! I attend musical shows and in fact will be attending a concert tomorrow. Exposure, patience and plasticity! Smile I love music.