CI Quality of Life Study by MUSC

[Martin]

I received this email and figured I would share. See attached flyer.

 

 

Flyer.pdf

[Mary Beth]

I heard about this from my audiologist too.  But your attachment says not available for this account 

[Valentin]

Be cautious. Document could be a virus.

[David]

This is genuine. I signed up some tine ago to permit the Med-El Research Team to contact me about participating in research studies. I received an email with a one page pdf file attachment today about this.The pdf file is safe.

[Mary Beth]

Yes it is genuine and the PDF file is safe but the link doesn't work in the original post so no one can see any info about the research opportunity.  Maybe if it is uploaded as a picture file instead, it will show up for others to see?

[David]

Mary Beth,

I just sent them an email confirming my willingness to participate.

David

[Mary Beth]

@David

 

I emailed them yesterday too. Always happy to help out research.  Thanks for posting the picture.

[Martin]

Thank you David for posting, I am not sure why my attachment doesn't work. It won't let me see or edit it either.

[Mary Beth]

@Martin This site has some limitations with attachments.  It can be frustrating.  Don't worry about it.

 

I have not received a response to my email yet about that survey.  Have any of you heard back yet?

[hadron]

Hi David,

You mentioned signing up to allow you to be contacted by the research team. Where did you sign up? Thanks.

[David]

@Mary Beth

I received an unsigned email today advising "a personalized link to complete their online survey will be sent to me soon." The survey includes questions about my most recent word recognition test scores, which I may be able to get today during my highly anticipated second implant activation appointment.

 

[David]

@hadron

I do not recall signing anything, but did authorize Med-El that they could contact me about participating in research opportunities.

[Mary Beth]

Best of luck today at your activation!  Can't wait to read all about it.

 

@David

[David]

@Mary Beth

Thanks. Just on my way out the door. I'll keep you posted.

[David]

@hadron

There is a form to sign that I forgot about. If you are located in the United States and, as a followup to my earlier reply, you can contact Med-El's research team at 1-888-633-3524. The form is included in their kits, and they can probably send it to you for completion.

[David]

@Mary Beth

 

All of the electrodes were operational so, by my definition, the activation could not have been better. Now it's time to begin the exciting rehabilitation journey once again.

No date yet about when the second microphone and ASM 2.0 will be available in my area.

Surprises:

My new kit order placed in February included two Sonnets. Med-El's order form was updated effective April 3rd, which was the date of my second implant surgery. The following information pertains to new kits as presented in the new order form, and as heads-up for newly implanted individuals.

Sonnets now are automatically shipped with an EAS earhook attached to the unit as the default option, however the standard earhook is also included. The EAS earhook has a hollow tube that enables a user to attach a hearing-aid type earmold or dome, and is of benefit for patients who have retained some low frequency hearing, which is not relevant in my case. I replaced the earhook on the new processor I'm wearing this morning with the standard version, and immediately noticed a reduction in the annoying effect of ambient noise and interference.

For bilateral users, there is a bilateral cable option that must be selected with either the 50/50 Mix or 90/10 Ext in lieu of the two Adapter Cables supplied to unilateral users. Bilateral users will not receive the individual cables.

A Roger Pen and X Receiver are listed as an alternative option to Quattro 4.0.

My original order included 2 Battery Pack Frames, 3 Battery Covers, 10 packs of Mercury Free Batteries, and 1 Rechargeable Battery Kit with 3 Standard Rechargeable Batteries. Instead, I received 1 Battery Pack Frame, 2 Battery Pack Covers, 1 pack of Mercury Free Batteries, plus and the Rechargeable Kit and Batteries as ordered.

None of these surprises were catastrophic, but it would have been nice to know this in advance.

 

[David]

@Mary Beth

I received an email with a link to complete the survey online. It took about 15 minutes

David

[Mary Beth]

Thanks @David

I received an email today too.  Will do that tonight.

[Jdashiell]

I received a letter in the USMail from MedEL announcing this.

Seemed legit so I emailed MUSC and joined up. Waiting on scores from my AUD to move forward with the survey.

 

[Mary Beth]

@David

 

I believe the battery pack and the battery pack cover that are attached to your Sonnet count in the total because when it is shipped every little piece is separate.  After going bilateral, I have never used the unilateral DAI cables.  I prefer to train with BlueTooth connection via an Artone neckloop.  I may have used the unilateral DAI cable in the earliest days of training the second side but I didn't need new ones because I already had those from my first kit.

 

I don't know what the policy on disposable batteries is now that the rechargeable kits are available.  Before the reachrgeabke kits were available, Med-El gave us a lot of batteries.  I thought that was temporary until the rechargeable kits came out because when I received my first CI (Opus2 and Rondo), I did not receive a lot of batteries since the Opus2 came with DaCapo rechargeable batteries.

 

If you want additional DAI cables, check with your CSR.

 

Did you choose the Roger Pen and Roger X receiver over the Quattro4?

 

 

[Mary Beth]

@David

 

I am confused about why you were given a Sonnet EAS earhook which must've had the HA component active since you noticed a change in sound by attaching the CI earhook, if you do not have enough residual hearing to benefit from the EAS?

 

If the EAS has the acoustic component active, that tends to mean that the electric CI component has a different frequency range since the low frequencies are being handled by the HA component.

 

Maybe I am not following this correctly.

[David]

@Mary Beth

EAS:

I was also confused, and really do not know why the ambient noise caused interference. I only know that when I switched out the EAS earhook for the standard, the interference disappeared.

EAS is apparently the default option for all Sonnets. The only change required to change from EAS to CI is switching the earhook and in the case of EAS, also obtaining an earmold, It looks like you have already seen what I posted on Cara Mia's recent EAS posting that explains this further about.

[Mary Beth]

Yes now that the Sonnet EAS is FDA approved it seems that all Sonnets will have the ability to function as Sonnet EAS.  You were not activated for EAS, correct?  Why didn't the audiologists switch out your earhook for you?  If you notice a better sound using the correct Sonnet CI earhook, it seems to be an important thing to do.  What about young kids who can not report that?  or users who are not able to think about changing the earhook?  If Sonnets are to use the CI earhook when functioning as CI only, I think the audiologists should make sure the correct earhook is attached right away.

 

I am glad you figured this out.  It just seems like it is something users should not have to figure out.

[David]

@Mary Beth

Battery et. al, DAI and Roger.

Yes. every piece is separate. I believe discrepancies between what I ordered, and actually received, was due to the timing. My surgery was April 3rd, the same date Med-El's new order form became effective in the US, and my original order form was completed February 2nd. In either case, all of this is minutiae compared to being able to hear.

I received a rechargeable battery kit voucher with my first implant, have used the standard rechargeable size, and like them. In my business environment, however, I simply cannot accept the 9 hour battery life, so I use zinc air batteries during the week, and rechargeable batteries on the weekend, unless we are traveling.    

I tested both DAI cables included in my first kit supplied with the first implant. The thing that threw me was when my audiologist emailed asking which bilateral cable I wanted with my new kit, which wasn't included in my original order. I had no idea what she was talking about, and everything finally got sorted out over several days. I have no need for additional unilateral DAI cables

I had already selected Med-El, and first saw Roger products at a Phonak exhibitor booth during a 2015 HLAA conference in St. Louis one or two weeks before receiving my first implant. Although I did not care for their use of a non-industry standard 2.4 GHz. communication protocol, I found product concept interesting.

I tried the Quattro 4.0 provided by Med-El and, like other telecoil dependent products, did not care for it, especially when communicating with certain cultures. I started looking at Roger reviews, which were divided, got sidetracked, and decided to wait until after the second implant and a few months of self-training to buy one. Lo and behold, Med-El offers it as an option for new systems, so I selected it and should be getting it sometime in the future.

[David]

@Mary Beth

You are singing to the choir, and I couldn't agree more.

First and foremost, I emphatically believe this is not Med-El's fault.

If you consider the EAS earhooks were already on my Sonnet's, and the packing list included with my kit stated they were EAS processors, then by my definition all I needed for total EAS activation was an earmold.

Why I had to personally take the time to investigate this, or why the audiologist claimed there wouldn't be any difference using the EAS earhook, or why the earhooks weren't switched with the standard model included in the kit belies belief.

Your astute observation about children particularly, and users who are unable to change their earhook for whatever reason, is sadly, spot on.