Why does everything sound so muffled?

[Guest]

My left ear was implanted in late November and then activated on December 17, 2012.  I have been to the initial activation and then one mapping session.  My next mapping is scheduled for February 25th.  I am becoming quite frustrated because in the past 10 days or so voices are extreemly muffled and I am having to request that folks repeat themselves 3, 4 sometimes 5 times before I am able to understand them.  It seems as though my progress has stopped and I am fighting to communicate.  I've tried different settings and am not sure why I am not able to understand speech now as well as I did three weeks ago.  Does anyone have any ideas?

 

Thank you,

 

Annie

[JOHNALAW]

Assuming it's the tech itself, have you tried resetting your processor to the mappings stored in your remote?  I remember one time my processor settings had gotten jumbled up although both my audiologist and I are still at a loss as to how I managed that.  It looked to be pretty easy to reset by just putting the coil on the remote and then powering down and powering up the processor (at least that's all I saw her do).  Everything worked fine after that.

[hadron]

Annie,

There are many reasons why it may be muffled. Contact your audiologist.  She will recommend solutions (such as resetting the processor as John described). If none of them work she will reschedule you with an immediate appointment and reprogram your processor. 

[Guest]

Thank you for the replies.  I've reset my processor many times.  It hasn't seemed to help.  Can a head cold affect the sound of incoming speech?  I've had just a slight bit of stuffiniess and have been taking Sudafed for it, but I still have the muffled voices even when I am taking the meds.  I have to wait until late February to see my audiologist, as I have to travel to the Lower 48 for those appointments.  There are not any CI audis in Fairbanks.

[Sid]

Annie,

Do you have a back up processor? Does it performs the same as the one you are experiencing?

I had a bad head cold a month ago and it compromised my hearing , too. Sounds were muffled and sounded distant. Have you recovered from your cold now? Another thing to check is find out what are the side effects of Sudafeds. I've tried Sudafed and it made me feel weird and affected the sensitivity of my hearing.

Hoping you're feeling better and your hearing crisis clears itself soon.

Sid

[JOHNALAW]

Sid raises a good point about bad colds.  I had to get a new map option put in when a bad ear infection messed up my residual hearing on the non-implant side.  Everything was so badly muffled and it took two months to completely clear.

[Guest]

I still have a bit of a cold...  I have ongoing sinus issues that were being worked on when I suddenlty lost my hearing this past September.  Hearing then became the priority.  This will be a problem for me until I can have the sinus surgery I need next summer.  But I know that this isn't the whole problem with the muffled sounds because I've had several weeks of mostly clear hearing.  I've taken the processor apart and cleaned it, and am now putting it in the dryer every night instead of every other night.  Fairbanks is very dry, and inside the house we usually are running at about 18% - 20% humidity.  Where I work is even more dry. 

 

Thank you so much for the tips.  I will keep plugging away on trying to get this hearing straightened out.  I'm looking forward to my next visit with my audiologist.

 

Cheers!

 

Annie

[violinmemories]

Annie:

I have heard from other CI users that a head cold can affect how well a person can hear with a CI, I'm guessing anything that alters the status f your brain (temporarily) can impact how well a CI does. But that is just my thought. Even though Fairbanks has little humidity, it's always a good idea to use the box to clean the CI from dust and dirt every night.

 

Mere