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Feb/March/April 2019 CI surgery and/or activation


Mary Beth

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@MED-EL Moderator may I ask another Rondo2 question?  I usually wear my Sonnets at work because of the adaptive program and background noise, but I like the Rondo2s for when I come home and particularly when I'm exercising.

But last night I came home and put my Sonnets in the dry box, put on the Rondo2s and they both beeped to be charged before I was finished (and well before I wanted to go to sleep!)  ... so my question is this:  I know that it's better to charge the Sonnet rechargeables and then use them up before putting them back in the charger - that's easy, I just leave unused ones in my battery wallet.  But do I have to do that with Rondo2 as well?  Specifically, would it reduce battery life if I charged them up every night even though I'm only depleting them by about four hours of use?

Thank you!

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@JohnLHang in there ,Don’t Get upset this is a journey and it takes time,and patience.I went thru it twice in  year and a half time.

Both were different.You May hear all kinds of sounds as the processor get program and it may happen in the middle of night.

Good Luck,Keep us posted we are here to help

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@Mary Beth

@Jewel

thanks for the encouragement. But I don’t even know if all the electrodes are working because there is only high pitched noise. And it’s basically all the same pitch  

And I ‘d be happy to hear marimba- at least it’s music 😀

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@JohnL

The audi would have tested each electrode and if you heard when she tested each then they are all working. 

I was disappointed at my activation cos when people spoke the sounds were like the Twilight Zone or something from outer space. The following day when I was in the dining area of the hotel and there was a lot of chatter I thought I was gonna lose my mind cos all I could hear were beeps, whistles, and other strange sounds. But it got better. 

The more you wear the processor the quicker your brain will adjust in my opinion. Please don't get down about this. The best is yet to come. 

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1 hour ago, JohnL said:

Good luck Kylie!

Today was activation day for me. Not what I had hoped for. When the audi turned on the CI all I could hear was high pitch echoing  noise.  She said that was fine and set 4 programs, each with more volume and told me to wait two days and go to program 2, then another 2 days for program 3 etc. But there was no attempt to fine tune and I told her it didn’t help me understand speech one iota, just loud noise. Very discouraging. 

@JohnL  that's normal.  Your brain will soon start to sort the sounds out.  Just getting used the volume is a big step.  Hang in there!  It will get better.

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Thanks Jewel.  I guess she tested them all but she didn’t explain what she did because all she was interested in was the volume. And since all I can hear is high pitch I was thinking she just turned those on. But I can’t be sure. Although I will be sure to ask when I go back next week 

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@JohnL

CI audiologists approach activation differently.  At my activation, my audiologist played beeps on electrodes and we set comfortably loud levels.  Did your audiologist do that at your activation?  So I heard all 12 electrodes as beeps and knew that all 12 were in fact working.  They each had a different pitch.

When speech was turned on, I heard a rush of static and beeps.  As I was speechreading my audiologist and listening to the static and beeps, I noticed that the static and beeps started to line up with the syllables she was saying.

For my left ear, it was marimba.  The marimba did not line up with syllables.  The marimba was soon joined by a humpback whale song.  Next it sounded like I was sitting on the ocean floor, next to a marimba player, listening to a humpback whale song while someone was whispering to me from a boat.  Things improved from there. 

Both ears are amazing listening ears now.  

When do you return for your next appointment?

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John I don’t know where you live I am in Pittsburgh we are having an MEDEL meet on April 22 if you live close I encourage you to atten,MEDEL Rep will be there who is very knowledgeable as well as other C.I individual.

You can go to MEDEL Facebook event and find when one is near you I go all the time very informative and interesting.

The MEDEL Reps are very knowledgeable and help you as you journey thru this.I always encourage this event

You also an call MEDEL and they can tell you when event if going to take place

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34 minutes ago, Mary Beth said:

@JohnL

CI audiologists approach activation differently.  At my activation, my audiologist played beeps on electrodes and we set comfortably loud levels.  Did your audiologist do that at your activation?  So I heard all 12 electrodes as beeps and knew that all 12 were in fact working.  They each had a different pitch.

When speech was turned on, I heard a rush of static and beeps.  As I was speechreading my audiologist and listening to the static and beeps, I noticed that the static and beeps started to line up with the syllables she was saying.

For my left ear, it was marimba.  The marimba did not line up with syllables.  The marimba was soon joined by a humpback whale song.  Next it sounded like I was sitting on the ocean floor, next to a marimba player, listening to a humpback whale song while someone was whispering to me from a boat.  Things improved from there. 

Both ears are amazing listening ears now.  

When do you return for your next appointment?

I return in a week. The audiologist did not test each electrode individually. She simply said I am going to turn on the CI and slowly increase volume, let me know when you can hear a sound.  When I did, I explained what it sounded like and she said she would increase the volume and to let her know when it got too loud. When I did, she backed it down a little and said she would put in four programs that were increasing the volume and I am to switch to program 2 in 2 days, program 3 2 days after that etc. there was no indication of any “fine tuning” or an attempt to get speech recognition. So I can’t tell if all electrodes are working. 

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38 minutes ago, Dave in Pittsburgh said:

John I don’t know where you live I am in Pittsburgh we are having an MEDEL meet on April 22 if you live close I encourage you to atten,MEDEL Rep will be there who is very knowledgeable as well as other C.I individual.

You can go to MEDEL Facebook event and find when one is near you I go all the time very informative and interesting.

The MEDEL Reps are very knowledgeable and help you as you journey thru this.I always encourage this event

You also an call MEDEL and they can tell you when event if going to take place

Dave

I’m in Boston - home of the super bowl champion Patriots and World Series champion Red Sox!!

ive been in touch with the med el customer engagement manager but she won’t be in the area for a few months. But I will plan on attending an event when there is one here. Thanks. 

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@JohnL

That is an approach to activation too.  A flat level of stimulation to get things started.  There is not much fine tuning at activation.  They just start us on our CI journey.  Many audiologists set most comfortable loudness on some or all of the electrodes.  A lot changes in the first days/weeks. I had my next appt one week after activation too.

At my appts my audiologist puts a different coil on my head and runs a test.  Maybe you had that experience too?  It gives our audiologists info on how our electrodes are working.  We don’t hear anything during that test.

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She didn’t put a coil on my head. My wife said she saw the computer screen the audi was using and said there were a lot of lines across it that were all going up at the same time so I’m guessing the lines were each electrode and she was raising all of them at once. 

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7 hours ago, Mary Featherston said:

@MED-EL Moderator may I ask another Rondo2 question?  I usually wear my Sonnets at work because of the adaptive program and background noise, but I like the Rondo2s for when I come home and particularly when I'm exercising.

But last night I came home and put my Sonnets in the dry box, put on the Rondo2s and they both beeped to be charged before I was finished (and well before I wanted to go to sleep!)  ... so my question is this:  I know that it's better to charge the Sonnet rechargeables and then use them up before putting them back in the charger - that's easy, I just leave unused ones in my battery wallet.  But do I have to do that with Rondo2 as well?  Specifically, would it reduce battery life if I charged them up every night even though I'm only depleting them by about four hours of use?

Thank you!

@Mary Featherston Of course, you can always ask us questions :). I am just waiting back for an answer on this and will let you know. Kind regards, Mary 

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Hi @Mary Featherston, I have heard back from the experts. You can recharge RONDO 2 whenever you want, you do not need to wait until the battery is low :). I hope this helps. Kind regards, Mary 

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12 hours ago, MED-EL Moderator said:

Hi @Mary Featherston, I have heard back from the experts. You can recharge RONDO 2 whenever you want, you do not need to wait until the battery is low :). I hope this helps. Kind regards, Mary 

Oh, great, that's excellent news.  Thank you!

@MED-EL Moderator

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@JohnL At your next appointment ask your audiologist to show you a graph of the impedance values of each electrode. If any have very low or high impedance values an electrode may be turned off.

At the end of every mapping session always ask for a copy of the Configuration Report (info on your 4 programs) and a copy of the Mapping Reports (detailed information on each electrode for each program). If a electrode is turned off it will indicate so and why it was turned off.

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All done and back at home! No dressing, just a cool head of staples. Gonna look awesome at work next week! I feel pretty good - bit dizzy and bit achy and my ear is numb, but overall not too bad. Just on panadol, no need for the hard stuff. Now relaxing on the couch watching Netflix 😁

surgery staples - Edited.jpg

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Hi, has anyone experienced problems with the Rondo 2 & change of sounds / hearing later in the evening or after wearing it for the day? 

The last few nights the sound appears to change the longer I wear it and the sound gets “hollowy” & not quite as loud as it was a week ago?

im only on my 2nd mapping & 11 days away from 3rd visit back to my audiologist.

any advice?

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@Kylie

Happy for you. Never seen it done with staples! Cool! You're lucky you don't have much pain. Rest up. Now the countdown begins to activation day! 

 

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@Andy

Sorry to hear about your Rondo2 problems. Do you have any more programs on the fine tuner that will allow you to increase the volume? 

I have been wearing the Rondo2 straight for over a week and I haven't had a volume issue. Hopefully you have another program. 

Let us know. 

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@Andy

Sounds like you may be still early in your journey? If yes, brain fatigue and a need for new MAPpings is very common.

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12 hours ago, hadron said:

@JohnL At your next appointment ask your audiologist to show you a graph of the impedance values of each electrode. If any have very low or high impedance values an electrode may be turned off.

At the end of every mapping session always ask for a copy of the Configuration Report (info on your 4 programs) and a copy of the Mapping Reports (detailed information on each electrode for each program). If a electrode is turned off it will indicate so and why it was turned off.

@hadron

I will make sure I ask those questions. Thanks for making me look smart. 

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@Kylie

glad to hear you’re done and feeling okay. I like the arrow on your neck pointing to the ear. A nice road map for the surgeon. 

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3 hours ago, Jewel said:

@Andy

Sorry to hear about your Rondo2 problems. Do you have any more programs on the fine tuner that will allow you to increase the volume? 

I have been wearing the Rondo2 straight for over a week and I haven't had a volume issue. Hopefully you have another program. 

Let us know. 

I’ve got no other programs yet. Can’t increase volume either at moment.

and the sound coming through has changed earlier today as well (3pm)...so already my voice & other people are sounding different/hollow.. 😞 

weirdly though, TV doesn’t sound different...just not as loud.

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