Here's a story of a Bonebridge recipient on the MEDEL BLOG. Enjoy

[Adam]

http://www.medel.com/blog/bonebridge-nicole-rousselles-bone-conduction-implant/

[Ivana Marinac]

       

 

(Hope they don't count smileys also... )

[Adam]

Thought you might enjoy it.

[Kara of Canada]

You're not so alone now Ivana!!!

[Ivana Marinac]

You're not so alone now Ivana!!!

 

Oh! - But I can never feel alone with you!

[Kara of Canada]

Aw thanks Ivana!!

[Adam]

One thing about the hearing loss community. It may be an invisible disability but we are many and we are here for each other regardless of the type.

[Sandy]

So true, Adam.

[Ivana Marinac]

Yes - one for all and all for one!

Three musketeers!

[Nicole R]

Hi there!! Thanks for reading my blog!! I'm Nicole from Northern Ontario Canada and am so happy to have found this group!!

It has been a few weeks now since I've been activated! I absolutely love it!

There will be a second part of my story soon which will be post activation. I have nothing but great things to say about this implant!

I do have a few questions and hope some of you can help me!

Now that my hair I growing back on my implant side,do you keep shaving or cutting the hair around the implant for better hold?

Also, sometimes I find the noise do overwhelming that I mute my processor. Do you ever get used to these noises? For example, over my desk, there a huge "intake fan" that never, ever shuts off- so I mute my processor.

Does anyone have the Bluetooth remote? (I have the Samba). I haven't heard great things about it and I was going to wait till a more "advance" one comes out.

Thanks again!!

[Ivana Marinac]

Hello Nicole

 

Once again - welcome to the Hearpeers. 

I am unilateral Bonebridge implantee due to the similar congenital birth defects like yours: microtia and atresia bilaterally; I have been implanted now little bit more than 2,5 years.

It was one hell of the roller coaster's drive of my life which I would not change for anything in the world.

 

Get back to yours questions

1. No, you do not need to shave your hair - that's the beauty of BB If you think that your outer unit fall down to easily the magnet which secure the connection can be changed for a little bit stronger, but this depends a lot on what is your present status.

2. If I understood you well, a fan is too loud for you? You are still adjusting to the new circumstances so your volume should be elevated slowly - talk with your audiologist: he or she will know what to do. Here we come to the most important thing - keep your diary each day: what bothers you, what you like, what do you think that could be different. Your audiologist will respond based on your experience.

 

Also - do you use your programs at all? There are various programs which can be shifted with the remote control. One of programs can isolate background noise so that fan can be quieter while you are adapting. With time and practice you will acquire ability to sort all your experience and function in the noisy environment - just, adaptation should go slowly. Usually, passing through the different adaptation levels require time from 2 to 6 months. You will know when you are ready for next level when you start sense deterioration of speech intelligibility. But this can be fixed by additional remapping with your audiologist until you do not reach full potential of the device.

 

The remote control actually works very well just - it has to be put pretty close to your outer unit. My remote control is set up so I can change my programs and I know exactly how many times I can raise the volume if I need that but I do not use this often. Talking about the volume, it is better to keep yourself at certain level so you can reach next level.

 

Samba has just been released last year so I do not expect there will be refresh of the model soon. I like my Samba a lot - it is pretty different than previous model Amade. 

 

So, enough rambling by me - please, if you have any other question - ask.

And keep your notes for your audiologist - they can adjust your Samba in numerous ways.

[Nicole R]

Hello Nicole

 

Once again - welcome to the Hearpeers. 

I am unilateral Bonebridge implantee due to the similar congenital birth defects like yours: microtia and atresia bilaterally; I have been implanted now little bit more than 2,5 years.

It was one hell of the roller coaster's drive of my life which I would not change for anything in the world.

 

Get back to yours questions

1. No, you do not need to shave your hair - that's the beauty of BB If you think that your outer unit fall down to easily the magnet which secure the connection can be changed for a little bit stronger, but this depends a lot on what is your present status.

2. If I understood you well, a fan is too loud for you? You are still adjusting to the new circumstances so your volume should be elevated slowly - talk with your audiologist: he or she will know what to do. Here we come to the most important thing - keep your diary each day: what bothers you, what you like, what do you think that could be different. Your audiologist will respond based on your experience.

 

Also - do you use your programs at all? There are various programs which can be shifted with the remote control. One of programs can isolate background noise so that fan can be quieter while you are adapting. With time and practice you will acquire ability to sort all your experience and function in the noisy environment - just, adaptation should go slowly. Usually, passing through the different adaptation levels require time from 2 to 6 months. You will know when you are ready for next level when you start sense deterioration of speech intelligibility. But this can be fixed by additional remapping with your audiologist until you do not reach full potential of the device.

 

The remote control actually works very well just - it has to be put pretty close to your outer unit. My remote control is set up so I can change my programs and I know exactly how many times I can raise the volume if I need that but I do not use this often. Talking about the volume, it is better to keep yourself at certain level so you can reach next level.

 

Samba has just been released last year so I do not expect there will be refresh of the model soon. I like my Samba a lot - it is pretty different than previous model Amade. 

 

So, enough rambling by me - please, if you have any other question - ask.

And keep your notes for your audiologist - they can adjust your Samba in numerous ways.

Hi Ivana.

Thank you for answering my questions!!

My audiologist lives 5.5 hrs away...which is a bummer

I do have 4 programs on my remote - one is my normal the other two a just slightly lower volume and the 4th one is for isolating the background noise.  The volume control on the remote only lowers the sound at this time

thank you for suggesting the diary! I'll definitely start jotting down things.

that fan is a noise I'll never get used to.. so I've been putting headphone on and listening to music instead.  The headphones are my work telephone headphones and have powerful volume control.  It can be used for the telephone or for listening to webcasts/music on my laptop.  When I do use the headphones, I mute my Samba.

or sometimes I just take it off. 

 

I work in a cubicle so not much interaction with others unless we are at meetings.  This is where I found the Samba's potential!! 

 

I think I will ask the audiologist to turn up the volume a bit on the Samba - or do you suggest I wait?

 

I so appreciate all the info that you gave me and hopefully we can keep in touch!!

 

Nicole

[Kara of Canada]

I know you have BB and I have a CI. I had issues with noise in the background too. I was told I just had to train my brain to tune t out. It's getting better. Ivana will know better.

[Ivana Marinac]

I know you have BB and I have a CI. I had issues with noise in the background too. I was told I just had to train my brain to tune t out. It's getting better. Ivana will know better.

 

Yes - I would recommend this also just in some extraordinary circumstances raising volume have its advantages, but it depends on a situation. I would advise it as an mid-experienced user not to mess up a lot just when a pupil really can not sort the hearing input.

[Ivana Marinac]

Hi Ivana.

Thank you for answering my questions!!

My audiologist lives 5.5 hrs away...which is a bummer

I do have 4 programs on my remote - one is my normal the other two a just slightly lower volume and the 4th one is for isolating the background noise.  The volume control on the remote only lowers the sound at this time

thank you for suggesting the diary! I'll definitely start jotting down things.

that fan is a noise I'll never get used to.. so I've been putting headphone on and listening to music instead.  The headphones are my work telephone headphones and have powerful volume control.  It can be used for the telephone or for listening to webcasts/music on my laptop.  When I do use the headphones, I mute my Samba.

or sometimes I just take it off. 

I work in a cubicle so not much interaction with others unless we are at meetings.  This is where I found the Samba's potential!! 

I think I will ask the audiologist to turn up the volume a bit on the Samba - or do you suggest I wait?

I so appreciate all the info that you gave me and hopefully we can keep in touch!!

Nicole

 

Not a problem - I like to participate at this forum to share my experience but also to learn from others who do have CIs but I can extract similarities and differences.

My work is not static; I work evenly in a consultation or operating room or at a ward, circumstances can be loud or silent or muffled by the operating mask so I really had to try all kind of settings.

 

Let`s get back to the topic:

1. ok, your audiologist is pretty far away of you but, can you send her or him an e-mail to ask certain question? My Samba is always fitted by Med-EL`s clinical engineers who are approximately 3 h away from my living place.

2. as I already said, I do not advise constant changing of given volume (that`s what my engineers recommended me) so your process of adaptation flow undisturbed; just to have a "life-saving" option at certain circumstances when you really need it.

3. I have 5 programs / these are mine settings regarding the setting of mics: 1. omnidirectional: this is program where background is more quiet but also voice in the first plan, 2.Directional - Adaptive: quiet background - automatic speech tracking 3. Speech tracking 4. Automatic directionality 5. Music program. I use mostly music program where everything is equally loud, when I am in noisy environment I use 2nd program which is very nice even if background noise is as loud as 100dB like restaurants. 3rd and 4th program are more for bilateral users.

4. your audiologist can boost your ability to raise volume over the remote control - for instance I have possibility to raise the volume for 20 db, 4x press the button up and down. So I know where I am at the scale.

5. Regarding the possible confusion at meetings, you should know that for better hearing we need bilateral BBs so we could evolve our ability for holo-location.

5. I am here all the time - so jump in whenever you can

[Kara of Canada]

I agree with you there Ivana. I wait until it becomes dimmed or quiet to turn up the volume or change the program. To allow my brain to adapt.

[Ivana Marinac]

I agree with you there Ivana. I wait until it becomes dimmed or quiet to turn up the volume or change the program. To allow my brain to adapt.

 

 

At certain point, while I had Amade it became obvious limitations of that model due to my extent of my hearing loss; so in order to hear I needed to accept constant tinnitus over 6 months which was made by my device due to the fact that an audiologist to whom I was referred didn't know how to resolve it. My instant half-solution was either to accept it or to change the program.

This is the moment when I understood the value of consultation with clinical engineers of Med-EL who resolved the problem as soon as they heard for it.  

We put few limitations to the device until I didn't get Samba and finally got rid of crazy tinnitus feeling when I entered into a quiet place. This was not a problem. The real problem started in the moment when I needed to be "on call" in the hospital during residency - I couldn't stand silent places because of tinnitus. On the other side, I shouldn't switch my device off because I couldn't allow to myself to oversleep the emergency bell.

 

I wanted to describe a typical episode when you just don't have choice and need to help yourself but - as Nicole has Samba, all she need to do is to ask her audiologist more clarifications how to deal with her implant.

[Kara of Canada]

Well your lucky then. I still get it. But not as much. And only when my implant is off.