Sound Quality of CI

[danelleslc]

Hi!  I'm new to HearPeers and this is my first post.  I'm a late-deafened adult with a progressive hearing loss.  I received a Med-El implant in April 2012 and was activated a month later.  While I'm very grateful for my CI and the improvement in my ability to hear, the sound quality is still not as natural as I would like.  It is still somewhat "tinny," high-pitched, and hollow. In the 6 mappings I've had since my activation 11 months ago, my audiologist has tried pretty much everything she can think of.  Has anyone else had a similar experience with the sound quality?  Do you have any suggestions for us to try when I go in for another mapping in a few weeks?  I would welcome any ideas!

[Matt]

Hi Danelle,

Welcome to the forum.

I've been activated for a little over two years now and luckily for me the hearing you describe lasted only a couple of months.

In my mapping sessions my audi kept the overall volume down a little which helped with the tinny sounds.

Do you do any hearing rehab? Do you actively go out and challenge yourself with hearing?

12 months is still early in your hearing recovery, keep practising and hopefully things will improve.

Good luck,

Matt

[Adam]

Danelle,

Matt is spot on. My Audi did the same thing in being pretty conservative with the volume. It did take a while for me to lose the tiny echo effect but it did go away. As matt mentioned, I was very aggressive in practicing all the time. Each person is a little different in that 2 people with same age gender and hearing history implanted at the same time might have totally different progress rates with the CI. I'm sure your audi will get things figured out. As Matt said 12 months isn't very far into it. Try to hang on as it will get better. I have been implanted 2 years this week. The second year making just as many gains as the first.

[danelleslc]

Matt & Adam,

Thank you very much for your posts.  I really appreciate your feedback.  For the first 6 months following activation, I did hearing rehab exercises on the computer almost every day.  I haven't done as much the last couple of months, but I'm getting back on track.  Just prior to the surgery, I still had some residual hearing in the low tones (35 db @ 250 hz, 75 db @ 500 hz) and so my surgeon elected to go with the medium electrode array with the hope of preserving that residual hearing.  Unfortunately, most of it was lost as a result of the surgery.  I'm wondering if the fact that my brain was used to hearing those low tones for so many years when it wasn't hearing the high tones (which it is now hearing), along with the shorter electrode array (medium vs. standard), could be contributing to the high-pitched, "tinny" sound quality.  What do you think?

 

Adam,

Congratulations on your 2nd year anniversary!  It was very encouraging to hear that you've made as much progress in the second year as you did the first.

 

[Adam]

Hi Danelle,

Thanks I was pretty surprised myself. I couldn't begin to venture a guess on the sound quality you are recieving. I would touch base with your audi and run it by him or her as they know your hearing history and could give you a pretty good idea of what to try next.

[jpl2ci]

Danelle,  I can certainly sympathize with your issues. My first implant made everything sound "tinny" but my audiologist and speech therapist worked with me to adjust my programming.  It does get better and remember that we are here to help you! When is your next mapping? When in your position, a MedEl representative came and ran some tests to ensure that the implant was working properly.  This could also be an option for you! Please keep your fellow forum members up to date on your path.  thanks!

[whitecat]

Hello to all ...  I have had my implant for 3 years, and I also wish voices were more "normal" i.e. how I remember them.  Yet the implant has enabled me to do pretty well everything I want or need to.  The telephone is a challenge - I talk to friends on the phone, but for business calls or when detailed information is being given I use a VCO phone (I talk, and the  Bell Relay Operator types what the other party is saying and I read it on the phone in a box like Call Display.  How I wish we had Captel in Canada!  It seems to me that if you get the implant when you are younger, the overall results are better.  I was 80 when I got mine, and I live on my own, so it has been a life-saver for me.

 

I go back to my audiologist approximately every three month or so, trying program adjustments that will make voices better - get rid of the echo effect which I get in many places etc.  I find I make adjustments with my fine tuner depending on who I'm listening to - it would be nice to have one setting that worked with all voices. Maybe this is nit-picking - on the whole I guess I'm doing pretty well.

 

It's interesting that everyone's experience with their implant is unique.

 

Very best wishes to everyone ..

 

Ann

[Leblisa]

Danelle,

I think your guess as the to reasons why you're not getting the low frequencies makes perfect sense.  It's too bad you didn't end up going with the longest array but I can see why your surgeon thought it was worth going with the medium.

 

I have no suggestions other than to ask your audi to boost the lower frequencies as much as possible.

 

Good luck to you.