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I'm still super new to my CI but my first WOW moment was literally after my audiologist put my Sonnet 2 processor on and I realized that I couldn't hear my tinnitus. Considering how much depression it caused me for nearly four years I am pretty sure it goes way beyond WOW! It's so nice to have something to feel so grateful for each and every day. My 2nd WOW moment came when I realized I could localize sound and especially when I am working this makes me much calmer as my brain doesn't have to frantically scan to "find" where sound comes from and honestly if I can't figure out where the sound is coming from I'm not worried about it. Maybe 2 months after activation my next WOW moment came when streaming to my CI and I realized that I could hear people's accents especially for example someone from the UK, etc. I look forward to a new WOW moment soon!

I wore my Audiostream all day while running errands and food shopping today. I enjoyed listening to podcasts and understanding the vast majority of the dialogue! It feels like 'free' rehab time 🐵

@Mary Beth Been on my CI journey for seven years now and it amazes me that WOW moments continue to happen! My most recent…thought I had lost a small earring, then later changed my shirt. Although I didn’t see or feel it, I actually heard the earring when it fell from my shirt and landed on the carpet! Love my CIs!😊

Hi all, Just thought I would share with you my latest Episode that just went online. Hope you enjoy... Any questions feel free to ask away. Regards John

Please stay safe everyone! Looking forward to our January GoogleMeet chat. Thanks for joining in our 2020 chats! @Jewel @Mary Featherston @Kylie @Dave in Pittsburgh @Joan @Megan L. @phobos512 @Valentin @Tracey_66 @Nischal Koirala @KittKatz @Nikki @Kirk S. @MallaRuth @tmscarlett10 @Marion nancy @Neil

I’m new to hear peers! I’m not new to the world of implants, just never knew this site existed. Anyhow, I have a cochlear implant, it was done nearly 7 years ago after suffering in silence for nearly 25 years. My experience gave me my life and career back! I’m 51 year old mother of three from Ontario who works as a Broadcast Journalist.

Top line review: this is the accessory I've been waiting for! Super easy streaming that I always have with me. Sounds perfect! I'm streaming with it for several hours a day, whereas I rarely hook up my cable and gave up on the Roger Pen long ago. I still have some things on my wishlist, but this knocks out most of them. Not sure the price, but if it's inline with some of their other accessories and I had to pay for it, I'd definitely spend the money. Pros: Streaming that you always have with you, no other accessories needed. No. Wires. Streams from all apps on the iPhone/iPad. Connection is generally rock solid, range is good - still works 30 feet/10 meters away from my phone with a wall in between Audio quality is very good, on par with Direct Audio Cord, much better than AudioLink or Roger! Audio level goes as high as DAC streaming. Not that big, same size or slightly smaller than DAC cover or Roger cover. Will keep it on all the time. Battery life seems about the same (my routine is off working from home "these days", so I can't say for sure) Can actually stream at the same time as the AudioLink! (Yes two simultaneous streams!) So I use the AudioLink to stream from my computer (audio cable from computer to AudioLink, not Bluetooth) Cons/could be better: Doesn't stream from my Mac. Doesn't use Sonnet (1 or 2) mics for phone calls, uses the phone's mics. Sometimes needs to be power cycled to reconnect to phone if they've been "apart" for a bit. Quickly reconnects though. My Sonnet mics are still on while streaming, audiologist couldn't find option to turn them off while streaming, and I don't see a software option. Would be nice if iPhone's quick access Hearing Device controls in Control Center could change Sonnet settings and presets. Still need to use AudioKey 2 app or remote. Narrative: I was lucky enough to time a processor upgrade to pretty much the exact day AudioStream became available. I think MedEl actually slowed things down so that the timing would be right! It arrived Tuesday last week along with all my other new gear - the whole box was the size of a microwave! The AudioStream itself was in one of the small accessory boxes, like a battery cover or mic cover. It included the AudioStream itself and a new battery frame for disposables. The battery frame is marked with a tiny "fan"/wifi icon and it is imperceptibly shorter than the old frame. I tried sliding the AudioStream over my old battery on my (old) Sonnet, and it almost fit, but there's still a >1mm gap. I use rechargeables, so I had to open the new set of rechargables that came with my upgrade and grab the new RCB frame (also marked with a fan/wifi symbol) - I swear, it's impossible to tell the difference to the old one. So note: if you use rechargables and get the AudioStream, beg and plead for a new rechargable battery frame, or suck it up and buy one. Once I got the batteries sorted out, I got started setting up on my old Sonnet. So... my situation with my iPhone is... unique... let's leave it at that. I'm 99% sure you won't run into the issues I had. (Oh! I have no idea how any of this works on Android! )Once I retried on my iPad (and later back on my iPhone with things cleaned up), I got the proper experience. I installed the AudioKey 2 app, launched it, signed in with my MedEl account (account registration requires a processor serial # to verify you are a recipient). Allow Bluetooth (obviously) and Location Services (for "Find My Processor") when prompted. Once you're in, you can then bypass everything else and click the 🍔"hamburger"/menu button in the upper left, and choose "Connectivity Options". Click "AudioStream" > "Configuration" > Pick Left or Right, then Next. Slide the AudioStream onto the processor to power up, hold close to the iPhone/iPad, and click Next. Patiently wait, you may have to retry the power up, scan step (I did). You'll be prompted for a name – in iPhone settings this becomes "<name>'s hearing device", so just give it a short simple name (I think it's max 8 characters). Now wait again... this part also timed out on me on some of my reconfiguration attempts. You'll be prompted for a "pairing request", click Accept! It'll say "success". At this point, you *should* be ready to go. Back on the "Configure/Update/Reset" page, don't bother with "Update" at this time, I assume the v1.0 firmware is up-to-date. OK, time to stream... I had some music queued up, so I swiped down to get Control Center, and noticed my volume control had an Ear icon in it. When I pressed play, there was a delay, and the Ear icon went back to a Speaker icon, and the playback was paused. On my iPad, I pressed play again, and it hesitated, the Ear icon came back, I heard a faint "thunk" from my processor, and the streaming began! So from first setup, it may take a few seconds for the system to get everything setup to stream. Be patient. On my finicky iPhone, it wouldn't work straight away. Maybe I wasn't patient enough. I had to go to "Settings" > "Accessibility" > "Hearing Devices" and wait while it briefly scanned for devices. "Justin's Hearing Dev." appeared, cycled through a few different statuses and finally was "Connected". Tapping on "Justin's Hearing Dev." gives me a page with an option to "Stream to right hearing device" which should be on by default. At this point, streaming/listening to audio worked! In regular use it mostly "just works". If I haven't been streaming for a while, it usually starts streaming again without issue. But sometimes the audio won't start - seems this happens when the AudioStream and phone lose connection for a bit due to turning off Bluetooth or physical separation. It'll think it's connected, but it's not. Powercycling the AudioStream solves the problem, but a handful of times I need to powercycle twice. Reconnection can be immediate, or sometimes it takes a few seconds. What do I use it for? I'm streaming podcasts and web radio stations to it while I work and do chores. I used to want to do this, but hated setting up and tangling with the DAC cord, now it's just a few taps on my phone. I use it to watch YouTube videos (usually don't need captions) without bothering my wife and searching for headphones. I'll probably listen to more spoken content this way than any other moving forward - it's so convenient and I get rehab at the same time! I listen to music (mostly for the rehab benefit). I've tried some Zoom/WebEx calls, works great but my good ear is much better suited for that. I'm SSD, and phone calls are infinitely easier and less annoying to the other person if I use my good ear. But I have tried a few calls and it seems to work well. Just have to remember to keep the phone close because it's using the phone's mics. On one call, I tried to switch audio to NOT use the AudioStream, but it kept toggling back to the AudioStream. I think this is an iPhone bug not AudioStream. Another cool iPhone feature is "Live Listen" (I'll explain in another post how to set it up). This feature streams the iPhone's microphones to the AudioStream, and can be quickly accessed from Control Center. The audio pickup streamed this way is amazing! It can really amplify sounds, and background noise is greatly suppressed. It's like having a zoom lens for sound. It blows away the quality of audio from the AudioLink remote mic... by a lot! There is a slight delay however, and since the Sonnet mics are still active, it's a bit like an echo. Perhaps it'd be best to turn the mic sensitivity all the way down if you want to use this feature. Or hopefully MedEl can give us a way to control the audio/mic mix from the AudioKey 2 app. I won't use this feature a lot, since I have one good ear, but maybe I will find a use for it - it's fun and impressive to play with though! Anything else?! Physically, it's a little big, but I don't notice at all. I have a large head with proportional ears, so it's still hiding behind my ear lobe. I don't have to look at it! For the benefit it gives, I'll trade-off anyone else's opinion of how it looks. It doesn't add perceptibly to the weight of my processor. I'll be wearing it 99% of the time vs regular battery cover. Alright, I've said a lot (way too much). Let's conclude: It's awesome, I love it, you should totally get one! I don't know what it costs since I got it as the connectivity option on my upgrade. But if I were to pay out of pocket, say it was in the ballpark of $500 - I would absolutely spend that to have this. That might be a good chunk of money, but I've been waiting and dreaming of having something like this since before I got my implant!

I LOVE the AudioStream! Thank you to the Med-El engineers who designed AudioStream! @MED-EL Moderator Terrific audio quality and music sounds amazing! Phone calls take precedence and then we return automatically to whatever we were streaming. There are audible “thunk” sounds when it connects and switches. This is a fabulous connectivity device for Sonnet/Sonnet 2. I am using Power One implant disposable batteries. The slightly longer battery cover does not bother me.

Wow it's hard to know where to start... it's really changed my life and I can't believe you can't always get CI for SSD everywhere in the world because one ear is 'enough'. It's really not, if there is a choice of having 2. I can locate sound and orient to it. Useful for safety like crossing roads, and people calling me, and my kids creeping up from behind, and playing hide and seek, and being able to track objects that aren't in my vision. My sound booth testing for sound orientation went from 0 to perfect in 6 months and I really notice it in daily life. I can hear and understand things behind me, like conversation, quiet noises and music. My favourite use for this is when I'm driving - I can now hear my kids talking to me and hold a conversation, but when SSD I could not at all understand what they were saying - too quiet and distorted and no facial expression/lips to help. Now we can chat and sing like before! I can sit anywhere, instead of manipulating the room to sit people on my good hearing side. And my friends and family and colleagues can sit anywhere too, instead of having to ask me 'is this the right side? can you hear me here?' Also I can sit further away - instead of having to sit at the front row of every meeting and concert. I can hear in noisy environments, that I was otherwise avoiding. I struggled at restaurants, weddings, funerals, parties, pubs, quiz nights - pretty much tried not to go out because I could hear soft babble but not understand it. I started to feel very isolated and disengaged from group settings, either not attending or sitting quietly out of the way. Now I can go anywhere and hear (nearly) anything over the din. I can sing! I mean, I could still sing but I couldn't be sure what I was singing - not sure about volume and tone especially. Pitch was OK interestingly. As I sing in a small choir, the whole package is very important. I spent the time pre-CI constantly checking with my singing buddies how I sounded - am I too loud? can you hear me? did I get that expression right? Now I can tell for myself. However this remains the hardest aspect of my hearing - I do still struggle a bit to hear myself clearly (my voice sounds different to before) and my buddies on my CI side sound different to my 'normal' side. But I'm still getting used to that and hoping it continues to improve. I can talk to people at a pleasant volume. Everyone tells me I tended to talk too loudly pre-CI, but I only found out after my activation - they were all too polite to mention it before that! I am happier. Just all the time. I guess a cumulative effect of all the above! My husband says even when I was newly activated and frustrated, I was still happier than pre-CI. I am looking forward to others' responses too! This is a great idea @Mary Beth, it would have been very useful to me pre-CI too to get such targeted feedback. I did find bits and pieces throughout the forum though.

Happy International Cochlear Implant Day!! I am so very grateful to Med-El for enhancing my life in ways I never dreamed possible, for making it possible for me to hear so much better in my 70s than I ever did even as a preschooler. I was born hearing but with some hearing loss. The loss was progressive. I finally began wearing hearing aids in my late teens (stubbornly refusing to do so until then) and by my late 30s could not hear at all without them. Over the next 30+ years, my hearing aids needed more and more power; however, my ability to understand what I was hearing continued to significantly decline. Ultimately, this was the cause of my early retirement at age 60. The stress of struggling to understand all that was necessary to perform my duties was just too overwhelming and utterly exhausting. In retrospect, I wish it had not taken me another 12 years to decide to be evaluated for a cochlear implant. But, in fact, it did. At age 72 I received my first implant and, six months later, my second. I had bilateral hearing and it was awesome! What an incredible new lease on life I received with those implants! One of my greatest joys is the second chance I received as a grandparent. Two of my grandchildren were already teenagers by the time I was implanted, and I had struggled mightily to converse with them as they grew up. Then, as luck would have it, I was blessed with an infant grandchild who celebrated her first birthday one week before my first implant. She and I have conversed nonstop since she said her first words! Not a day goes by that I don’t appreciate the gift of exceptional hearing I have received from Med-El. I am forever grateful to my family for all their loving support of me, both during my many, many years of struggling to hear and understand, and, more recently, during my incredible hearing journey. My thanks to Med-El and my clinic for providing this unbelievable journey is beyond measure!

As we celebrate International Cochlear Implant Day, I find myself thinking back over my hearing journey. It has been a wild ride. I heard fine from birth until age 13. Then I started with a progressive bilateral conductive hearing loss, which made everything sound quieter and quieter. Next came a progressive mixed hearing loss, which had both a conductive loss making everything quieter and a sensorineural loss making everything distorted due to missing sounds. After that came a series of failed ear surgeries trying to repair the conductive component in my right ear which ultimately led to the complete loss of hearing in my right ear. So I spent the following 24 years hearing only with my left ear using stronger and stronger hearing aids as my loss progressed. Until no hearing aid could help me hear well. My life had become reliant on speech reading and having one on one conversations. I was so tired by the end of every day. I missed so much of what was said. It was frustrating. That was when I explored getting a cochlear implant in my right ear, which I had been calling my dead ear for decades. And my life changed. Initial static and beeps turned into real words and everyday I heard more and more. I loved training my brain to interpret the sounds delivered by my cochlear implant. I woke up every morning excited to put my processor on and experience new WOW moments. The CI journey was life changing. Eight months later we implanted my left ear and hearing with two balanced ears is terrific! A lot of people helped me on my CI journey and I am thankful for everyone’s support and encouragement. A special thank you to: my two CI surgeons; my amazing audiologist who has guided my journey with such dedication, skill and care; Med-El who made my cochlear implants, introduced me to so many wonderful people and gave me an incredible experience in Innsbruck; and all of the people I have met online and in person who share their CI journeys so openly. My deepest thanks go to Jill who has made my CI journey, as well as my life, the greatest gift of all. Happy International CI Day to all! Thank you @MED-EL Moderator

This is an excellent description of what I heard after my first activation. I called them "the beepies" but it was also somewhat reminiscent of Minnie Mouse. I was glad when that went away! And it will, it's part of learning to hear when the input goes to your brain via electronics instead of an eardrum and a cochlea. My second activation wasn't quite as beepy but it wasn't normal voices either. It all works out in the end!

The best Christmas present of all times -- Rondo 3 was just delivered by FEDEX and I am unpacking it. Next week I have scheduled an appointment with audiologist, but for now, just looking at it and putting it altogether (#4 magnet) thrills me to no end. Finally no more batteries, stereo sound and double microphones. I will share with you my experiences as soon as I have the processor programmed. I must really tell you how great, helpful, courteous and efficient was the Medel staff. Thanks to all.

Within 6 months I could close my eyes and not miss too much, if I concentrated very hard, though it sounded very tinny and electronic. Now at 18 months it sounds way better, more like voices than robots, but still definitely an electronic sound overall. Don't need captions now, can listen to any audiobook etc.

Have safe and Happy Holiday HPs Crew!!! By the time I see everyone again the new year....I'll have a new ear and maybe even be activated depending on when we have our coffee chat!

Well I lost my hearing back in May 2019. It was due to the mumps which was sudden and very painful, I got high fever and ran to the hospital. The day I went to the hospital, I only had fever but no symptoms of hearing loss but the following day I found out I was hearing significantly less than the day before. I told that to my family and they said it may be temporary and you will be fine in a day or two but the other day my hearing was zero in my both ears. It was such a sudden thing. Then we visited sooooo many clinics,hospitas, doctors but there was no sign of getting my hearing back! Then after 3-4 months of research, we found out hearing aid. I wore the hearing aid for 2-3 months . After 6 months we finally found the thing called Cochlear Implant which was totally a new thing for us. I had no knowledge about it . There were no distributors inside the country,we had to bring it from foreign which took 2-3 weeks. After the implant arrived, we did the surgery immediately. (Implants: Synchronory Flex 28) After that my recovery took again 2-3 weeks. Then it was finally the time to get activated and get my hearing back! I am only implaned in one side but also 'better than nothing' 🙂. And also I use the Rondo 2 processor which I chose because of it's bulit in rechargable battery and it's physical body . It is very good in terms of it's body,it is very lightweight and comfortable and also good in terms of sound but found out from you guys that other processors sound better than this but no worries Since then the journey has been magical!! Very happy sharing with you!😁 (Sorry for the late reply. Was busy with my exam!)

Yes I was fine, just had a big coffee on the way to work! Worth it to talk to everyone!!

Excellent November HP chat today! 10 members participated, including 3 first time chat participants! Great seeing you all @Dave in Pittsburgh @Tracey_66 @Kylie @Nischal Koirala so nice to meet you! @Joan @Nikki @tmscarlett10 so nice to meet you and we look forward to your activation in a couple of weeks! @Megan L. Keep us posted on your second surgery plan! @MallaRuth thank you for joining in! We had participants from Spain, Nepal, Australia, UK and US. Topics focused on connectivity options (music link silhouettes and Artone). Experience as single sided CI with an acoustic ear. Long term CI experience. Experience with reimplantation and the brain’s ability to improve what was a non-dominant ear. Improved speech in noise. Apps and activities post activation. Wow we covered a lot! Great chat everyone. Stay safe. Next chat will be in January.

Hi Everybody. Can’t quite see Mt. Fuji in this photo from Saturday, but it’s there in the distance. Nice sunset nonetheless, I think. Will send another once the peak is covered in snow. A classic. Cheers!

Just left the audiologist and finally have the Sonnet 2 with EAS processor. Also had another electrode finally turned on as it wasn't causing twitching anymore. The difference is subtle and I can't quite articulate it but there is a difference between the EAS vs no EAS. Some music already sounds better, however I also had another electrode turned on finally as well so need to keep that in mind for things sounding differently. Also did additional mapping and the CI and HA are more equal now than they've been since the beginning. I was noticing more with both. Hasn't quite been an hour yet so I'll get some more listening in and hopefully have more to report, and maybe even a WOW moment. Currently wearing Sonnet 2 EAS with ActiveWear so it does "stand out" a bit more from conventional CIs but its way more comfortable having the battery portion off my ear. Bummed as I am about the ear mold part, its not too bad (so far).

Hello everyone. I am very new to this journey. Sudden right side hearing loss Aug 2020 and implanted June 11, 2021. I will be activated July 9 and will be using the Rondo3. Married mom of 4, grandma of 6 soon to be 7 YIPPEE!! Learning a lot of new things and hopefully in the future will be able to help others with their journey.

EDITED on 11/18/2020 after learning that Rondo 3 battery life is now being stated as “over 18 hours” instead of “up to 24 hours”. This was disappointing. We also heard that a lot of streaming can reduce Rondo 3 battery life by 20%. I have spent a lot of time lately pondering which processor to choose as my next processor. I have decided on Rondo 3. Thank you to all of the happy Rondo 2 users for your posts. It really made me consider choosing the Rondo family. Many people who are fortunate to have both Sonnet 1 or 2 and Rondo 2 processors have commented about choosing to use Rondo 2 except in noise where the dual mics of Sonnets are helpful. So many people have chosen this same thing. Now that Rondo 3 has dual mics and uses the same adaptive intelligence as Sonnet 2 (ASM3), it should perform just as well in noise as Sonnet 2. There will be no need to switch. At first the lack of an internal telecoil in Rondo 3 gave me pause. But then I saw a picture of the telecoil adapter and learned that our audiologists can set up a telecoil only program. This relieved my concerns about being able to use my beloved Artone neckloop on 100/0 mix ratio. I look forward to trying the AudioLink with Rondo 3 and hope it works well. I am thankful for the increased battery life of Rondo 3 (up to 24 hours). (See EDIT at top) And the ability to charge it while wearing it if needed. And very happy that an indicator light will let me know remaining battery life. I like the new secure attachment brackets. Still not a fan of a small alligator clip for hair attachments but think I can swap that out with a clip. I love the look of Rondo 3. Smile I am thankful that Rondo 3 can use an app as a remote. That’s convenient. I still wish for direct streaming of all phone audio to Rondo 3 and hope that something similar to the Sonnet 1 & 2 AudioStream cover is in the plans for Rondo 3. It could plug into the port just like the telecoil adapter. Thank you Med-El @MED-EL Moderator for all of the cool features of Rondo 3. As soon as ASM 3 is FDA approved, I can not wait to upgrade to Rondo 3 and experience adaptive intelligence. It is really exciting to have all these new tech features available. It makes my CI journey so exciting!

@Mary Beth@Jullannie@Jared Charney@karenRS Hello friends. I have also this problem with my iPhone 11. I contacted with MED-EL. They said, that they know about this problem and it happens because of iOS 14.5 and newer. Now they are working on an update, what can fix this problem. They wrote me, that in a few weeks will come an update for our Audiostream for fixing this problem. I have uploaded also the mail from MED-EL specialist and this translation from German.

Its only been two weeks but I'm hearing birds I previously wasn't able to hear and the lane departure alert in my car. For the former, I was competing for window space with my cats to oogle at the birds. For the latter if I wasn't used to seeing the HUD visual alert I might not have been able to place the sound. As for tinnitus, I still have it but its blessedly lower in pitch/tone and softer/quieter.

This is so settling to hear. Congratulations on these amazing moments and pushing through for some relief in your mental struggles with what impact tinnitus can have on us. So great to "feel" the excitement in your words and I look forward to these moments also and perhaps having that WOW where my tinnitus may be distracted or turned off momentarily also. I have struggled heavily with anxiety, depression and recently have been diagnosed Bipolar 2. My activation date is still 3 weeks yet but I am so excited to see. The healing has been an exciting enough step, my sons think it is so cool their dad is super hero with bionics in his head <3! take care, be well! And don't forget You are enough, you deserve this, you can do it & I know you can!

Hi Mary Beth. Thanks for sending this along. It's very helpful, though I'm not sure I understand all the technical details. I'll give it two or three more listens and hopefully it will sink in. In the meantime, I'll send it along to my audiologists here in Japan. I'm sure they'll struggle with the English, but they may follow some of the charts and technical terms. I have an appointment next week, so I'll let you know. Thanks again for being so thoughtful, and I'll look forward to seeing you (and Kylie!) at our next chat. Best, Kirk

1. Opened a can of ginger ale and then some serious fizz-fizz-wow it was so loud, at this point I find it hard to believe I have disregarded or didn't hear it in the past(????!!) 2. Today at work, making software adjustments to very large database (task requiring concentration) while listening to funny podcast on spotify (roger pen plugged into same computer). Had some good laughs -don't think I missed any. Can't recall when was the last time listening in background was so effortless and enjoyable.

I have been using CIs for six years already. Time flies! Recent WOW moments for me; -identifying the direction of loud firecrackers even though at first family members had difficulty knowing where the sounds came from -hearing well with Rondos in waterwear under a Nammucap during eye surgeries

Won’t be able to attend. I’ll be in Oregon visiting my daughter 9am eastern is 6 am Pacific. I don’t do 6am in any time zone.

Hello, my name is Kerem, after using hearing aids for 14 years, I had a cochlear implant surgery. I have been a right ear CI user for 13 years. I have been using Med-el Sonnet 2 for 1 year. Before, I was constantly following the forum. I wanted to rejoin with a membership from scratch. I have mentored many users in my country. I have a YouTube channel. I am shooting promotional videos in Turkish about CI. I am planning to translate into foreign languages soon. I'm 30 years old. and I am single. I started to follow the site closely. I will be pleased to meet you. Thank you for reading.

I've been using Audiostream for just over a week and I can't believe the difference it makes. I don't think I've heard music this good since I was 15 ( a long time ago) and it's so much better for use with the phone.

This reminds me of when I got my BOSE QC35 awesome headphones and spent the entire day listening to music and just loving it! I have accomplished nothing today! Except jamming to music with AudioStream! Love them!

Do you know that feeling when you get a new speaker system or awesome headphones and you spend hours and hours jamming to music? That is me with the new AudioStream connectivity device for my cochlear implant processors! Loving AudioStream!!

No. When anything starts playing however, there is a noticeable “thunk” sound and THEN the mics are softer (even if I turn the volume down to one tiny bit above mute). Seems they are actively engaging the mic attenuation when streaming starts, rather than passively engaging it all the time. When streaming stops there’s another “thunk” and the mics come back on 100%. The “thunk” sound is quirky but not bothersome at all.

Good morning. My name is Bill. I was implanted on Feb 12 in Tucson. Activation will happen TODAY😊 with a Rondo 3 on the right side and my Costco Resound Preza HA on the left. I've been using HA's since the early 90's and my hearing gradually got worse to the point that my lack of speech recognition was unacceptable. Couldn't comfortably (or uncomfortably) participate in group conversations. One on one interactions were tough as well, especially with my wife. This forum has already made my CI journey less stressful. I will report back in a day or two after the activation today.

Hi all, I was implanted Nov 30th 2020, switched on Dec 15th. So much to learn, and even thought the journey to surgery was long, wow post switch on I am realizing the rehab journey may be even longer. I have a Live Production / Pro Audio background. when my journey began I regrettably couldn’t find you all, so began a VLOG documenting my own. if your interested here is the link and little snippets of my journey thus far. My Cochlear Journey VLOG video series Now post surgery I’m exhausted, a little devastated but incredibly determined. So many questions, so many emotions. thank you for sharing your journeys , I’m looking forward to reading here as much as I can find. Thank you In Advance John

Sure! I will keep it brief, and if you want more details, I am happy to fill them in. I am Single-Sided Deaf. I lost all hearing in my right ear quite suddenly at the end September of 2017. I struggled for a while with various treatments - Injections into my ear, steroids... nothing worked. I wore CROS hearing aids for two years, but they didn't really help. In fact, they kind of made things worse. My ENT suggested I look into Cochlear Implantation, but it was not yet FDA approved. He had me trial BAHA.. not really better than CROS, and definitely not worth surgery for me. I bounced from surgeon to surgeon trying to find someone who could help me. Oddly, it wasn't my insurance that was the issue. The surgery was so new for SSD, that most hospitals wouldn't allow the surgeon to do it! I was referred to Dr. Wackym at Robert Wood Johnson in New Brunswick NJ. He got it done! I was implanted on September 21, 2019. I love my CI...was really a life changer!

Thanks I'll be there! It will be lovely to start at 9pm for me, just a little more civilised LOL. Though I'd come anyway whatever the time - I do enjoy our chats so much.

@Mr-LJ and @Jared Charneythank you. I really appreciate the feedback a ton. Does help the journey and understanding of what is going on as well as having like people understand the journey too. Def hard to explain to "hearing" people what's happening, and I wished there was something for them to listen to, to be able to "hear" what we are going through. I look forward in seeing everyone on this platform, it will def make me a lot happier to know I made the right choice and have real humans to interact with

Sonja, there's such a great supporting network here, I was just activated in December and def. things are slow but I feel progress slowly in the right direction. I love that people like Mary Beth are so knowledgeable and sharing of time and it really makes a huge difference. I especially appreciated all the other insights I can get and not just rely on my audiologist etc.

I was due my microphone cover change in a couple of weeks too, so I did that as well. AND of course that meant I was due a decal change... so here it is today!

thanks Mary Beth for putting it all together, this morning was even more informative than I could have imagined and it was really nice meeting everyone!

@John R I watched your vlog - nicely produced and you speak like a pro announcer! I do hope you keep making the videos. A few particular things resounded with me from your content: the desperate hope that tinnitus would go away (mine is much reduced when I'm wearing my processor - is yours?) the hearing effort is exhausting when you are impaired, and is always underestimated hearing impairment can indeed be lonely and isolating from family/friends, but being honest with what you need from them is so helpful. I myself have also had so much support from my social and work circles, that has helped me make it through these tough times.

Hello HPs Crew 😁 Sending an update here. Hope everyone who celebrates had a wonderful Christmas 🎄🎅 Surgery went good on Monday, YAY. The anesthesiologist gave me a TON of anti nausea medicine and adjusted a few other things, so I felt pretty good after surgery. I did throw up 2x in recovery but just a little. This time has been a complete 180 from the first CI. But still taking it easy!! Activation is set for January 11 🦻 Maybe I’ll be switched on for our January coffee chat 🤓 wouldn’t that be fun?!

Hey all! Sorry I've been away for a while! I tried to log in several times, and it seemed like the website was down or something, it was really weird. Then I got busy lol, and forgot to try again. So, looking at these updates, @phobos512, so glad your therapy is going well; it seems that both your CIs are pretty in sync with one another. @Megan L., good luck on Monday! Just enjoy the weekend, and mentally prepare. ❤️ Also, welcome @Lynda!

@Mary Featherston Its crazy isn’t it?! I guess for so long it was a struggle to understand people let alone on the phone...and now every time a zoom meeting or a Teams phone call goes well and all is understood, it’s like, “WOW!” It amazes me every time 🦻😊

Yes. Hoping to make the January chat. Keep safe everyone.

Hey guys, I hope you're okay. Best wishes for the Christmas days. I hope to see you at the January meeting. Take care!

REMINDER Last virtual monthly chat for 2020 Sunday November 15 9:30 am New York time start time chat opens at 9:15 for socializing Google Meet with free live captioning All are welcome. Smile Reminder: There will not be a chat in December. We will start back up again in January. Invites will be sent on November 15 by 9:15. November’s chat includes: @Dave in Pittsburgh @Kirk S. @Tracey_66 @Mary Featherston @Kylie @Jewel @Mary Beth @Valentin @Nikki @Joan @Megan L. @phobos512 @KittKatz Laura from the UK (first time) @MallaRuth from the UK (first time) @tmscarlett10 first time (awaiting activation) @Nischal Koirala from Nepal (first time) Evelyn first time (deciding on CI) If you are not on this list but wish to join in, let us know. See you all on Sunday.