Bonebridge disappointment!

[Royshaw]

I have had single side deafness since childhood (I’m 75 years of age) and had Bonebridge installed approximately 5 years ago.

Despite many visits to my very helpful audiologist and two consultations with Med el representatives  the Bonebridge has been a disappointment with no appreciable improvement in my hearing. I’ve read the  feedback in this forum - no negatives of which I’m aware. Is there anyone out there who have had a similar experience to me? 

 

[Mary Beth]

@Royshaw

I am so sorry to read this.  I only know a few BoneBridge users and they are all happy with their hearing.

 

Maybe @Ivana Marinac or @MED-EL Moderator have suggestions.

[MED-EL Moderator]

Hi @Royshaw, 

we've sent you a private message about this. 
Kind regards,
Verena 

[Royshaw]

Thank you Mary Beth.

The MEDEL moderator communicated with me but was unable to help.

[Mary Beth]

@Royshaw

I am sorry.  Are you able to meet with your surgeon and discuss the situation?

[Royshaw]

Thank you for your interest. Unfortunately seeing my surgeon is not an option. 

[Steven]

Good Day,  I just joined the hearpeers forum and came upon this topic.  I had my Bonebridge implanted March 26th of this year and received my Samba unit shortly after.  To date I am also very disappointed it the results.  I have been back to my audiologist 3 times for adjustments.  The last time with a Med-El Rep present.  My Main issue is that I see no benefit from the unit when I am in noisy environments.  Also when there is any ambient noise in the room (others talking, TV/Radio playing, machine running, etc) I can not clearly hear or understand the person I am talking with. In calm low noise environments It is slightly better.  I do have very loud Tinnitus in my bad ear.  I met with my Surgeon (Post OP) yesterday and discussed this with him as well.  As I have a slight loss of hearing certain ranges in my good ear, he suggested that I discuss, with the Audiologist, the possibility of a hearing aid in my good ear to help in noisy environments.  I am schedule to go back to my Audiologist July 31st.  They are also requesting a Med-El Rep to be present.

[Mary Beth]

I’m sorry to read this @Steven.  I hope they get things sorted out for you.  Please keep us posted.

Wishing you the best.

[Royshaw]

Hi Stephen. I’m sorry to hear of your situation.

i hope you get sorted with your audiologist.

 

 

 

 

[Steven]

On 7/13/2019 at 2:21 PM, Steven said:

Good Day,  I just joined the hearpeers forum and came upon this topic.  I had my Bonebridge implanted March 26th of this year and received my Samba unit shortly after.  To date I am also very disappointed it the results.  I have been back to my audiologist 3 times for adjustments.  The last time with a Med-El Rep present.  My Main issue is that I see no benefit from the unit when I am in noisy environments.  Also when there is any ambient noise in the room (others talking, TV/Radio playing, machine running, etc) I can not clearly hear or understand the person I am talking with. In calm low noise environments It is slightly better.  I do have very loud Tinnitus in my bad ear.  I met with my Surgeon (Post OP) yesterday and discussed this with him as well.  As I have a slight loss of hearing certain ranges in my good ear, he suggested that I discuss, with the Audiologist, the possibility of a hearing aid in my good ear to help in noisy environments.  I am schedule to go back to my Audiologist July 31st.  They are also requesting a Med-El Rep to be present.

Hello,  My audiologist set me up with a hearing aid in addition to my BoneBridge/Samba as planned from my last post. Have been using it for almost two months.  The results are still dismal. I still have no clarity when out in the real world. It is not even much better using it around the house in normal conversations. The Hearing Aid gives a little added relief but still unacceptable.  I am very disappointed with Med-El and their Samba unit for my situation. The results are negligible and not much better than using no devise at all. Unfortunately my opinion is that the BoneBridge/Samba combination is not the right fit for me.

Hello,  My audiologist set me up with a hearing aid in addition to my BoneBridge/Samba as planned from my last post. Have been using it for almost two months.  The results are still dismal. I still have no clarity when out in the real world. It is not even much better using it around the house in normal conversations. The Hearing Aid gives a little added relief but still unacceptable.  I am very disappointed with Med-El and their Samba unit for my situation. The results are negligible and not much better than using no devise at all. Unfortunately my opinion is that the BoneBridge/Samba combination is not the right fit for me.

What Now!  Any suggestions or am I out of luck?  Should I have waited for the  SYNCHRONY 2?

Steve.

[Mary Beth]

@Steven

I am so sorry to read about your experience.  I am a CI user so I don’t know much about the BoneBridge.  I will tag @MED-EL Moderator to see if they can help you in any way.

[MED-EL Moderator]

Hi @Steven,

thanks for commenting and sorry to hear about your disappointment. 

We've sent you a private message to learn more about your situation. 

Kind regards, 

Verena

[Melissak124]

Hi Steven,

I have also experienced similar results.  I have pretty profound loss in both ears, and until recently, I've been able to wear a traditional hearing aid in my better ear and could manage very well.   This is no longer an option due to middle ear complications.  I was implanted in December and activated (Samba processor) in January on one side.  I will need to get the other side done as well.  While I can certainly hear better since activation, I, too, am finding it nearly impossible when there is any background noise at all to understand speech.   I am also struggling with the quality of the sound--it almost seems distorted at times.  I have been working with my audiologist, but have experienced very little relief.  It is extremely frustrating and disappointing.  I'm not sure what to do at this point.  I was hopeful that getting implanted on the other side would help with the richness of sound feeling, but I am so worried that it will only sound twice as bad and I don't think I can manage that.  

If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them!  

 

Melissa

[Mary Beth]

@Melissak124

I am sorry to read this.  I will tag @MED-EL Moderator in the hope they can help you.

And @Ivana Marinac as she has bilateral BoneBridge.

[Melissak124]

I appreciate it Mary Beth!

[Ivana Marinac]

On 10/1/2019 at 2:02 AM, Steven said:

Hello,  My audiologist set me up with a hearing aid in addition to my BoneBridge/Samba as planned from my last post. Have been using it for almost two months.  The results are still dismal. I still have no clarity when out in the real world. It is not even much better using it around the house in normal conversations. The Hearing Aid gives a little added relief but still unacceptable.  I am very disappointed with Med-El and their Samba unit for my situation. The results are negligible and not much better than using no devise at all. Unfortunately my opinion is that the BoneBridge/Samba combination is not the right fit for me.

What Now!  Any suggestions or am I out of luck?  Should I have waited for the  SYNCHRONY 2?

Steve.

Dear Steve,

If I may ask firstly but enormously important question - what kind of hearing loss do you have? Sensorineural, mixed or conductive.

If it is, what I suspect, the first one - next question would be: what is the extent of your hearing loss?

What I see more and more recently, that even professionals do not understand what each implant can give to certain patient, and what is even more important - what they expected to get. It does not mean necessarily that patient is wrong, just their hopes were not met with appropriate implant.

Kind regards,

[Ivana Marinac]

2 hours ago, Melissak124 said:

Hi Steven,

I have also experienced similar results.  I have pretty profound loss in both ears, and until recently, I've been able to wear a traditional hearing aid in my better ear and could manage very well.   This is no longer an option due to middle ear complications.  I was implanted in December and activated (Samba processor) in January on one side.  I will need to get the other side done as well.  While I can certainly hear better since activation, I, too, am finding it nearly impossible when there is any background noise at all to understand speech.   I am also struggling with the quality of the sound--it almost seems distorted at times.  I have been working with my audiologist, but have experienced very little relief.  It is extremely frustrating and disappointing.  I'm not sure what to do at this point.  I was hopeful that getting implanted on the other side would help with the richness of sound feeling, but I am so worried that it will only sound twice as bad and I don't think I can manage that.  

If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them!  

 

Melissa

Dear Melissa,

at first, can you thoroughly explain, what kind of hearing loss do you have? Sensorineural, mixed or conductive? 

Regarding your observation that you feel lost in a situation of any background noise - if you have one implant and it is not still well adjust on the top of it, here lies the answers of your problems. Two ears or bilateral hearing does not mean that your car only has enough number of wheels - it means that you get directionality, spatial hearing so you can better understand a person in front of you in noisy situation (beating the cocktail-party effect), more efficient speech intelligibility as well as richness of sound. So, it will be a totally different experience.

Kind regards,

[Ivana Marinac]

2 hours ago, Mary Beth said:

@Melissak124

I am sorry to read this.  I will tag @MED-EL Moderator in the hope they can help you.

And @Ivana Marinac as she has bilateral BoneBridge.

As Arnie said once - I`m baaaaaaaack! 😎

[Mary Beth]

@Ivana Marinac

I have missed you here my friend!

[Melissak124]

@Ivana Marinac

@MED-EL Moderator

Thank you for your reply.  I have mixed loss.  I had recurring cholesteatoma in both ears when I was young.  My ear canal in my right ear was closed off, so a traditional hearing aid was not an option for that ear.  I have very little hearing in that ear as well.  I had about 50 % loss in my left ear and wore a traditional hearing aid in that ear for close to 40 years.  I managed very well.  This past summer I got very sick and lost the hearing that I had in my left ear almost completely.  I also now have tinnitus in my left ear.  A traditional hearing aid is no longer an option for my left ear.  Through the past 40 years I really did not have a bilateral hearing experience and was still able to manage very well.  So, I don't think  it's the bilateral experience that I'm missing.

In the interim of trying to figure out what was going on with my ears this summer, I was given a very "basic" bone conducting headband to wear. It, too, only provided hearing through one side, but I could hear exponentially better with it than I can with my new implant and no one can really explain why this may be.  I really have had very poor results with the Samba and it has made every day life very difficult.  Due to the quality of sound I'm receiving, I can't imagine that two would be better than one.  I hope this is helpful!

[Ivana Marinac]

20 hours ago, Melissak124 said:

@Ivana Marinac

@MED-EL Moderator

Thank you for your reply.  I have mixed loss.  I had recurring cholesteatoma in both ears when I was young.  My ear canal in my right ear was closed off, so a traditional hearing aid was not an option for that ear.  I have very little hearing in that ear as well.  I had about 50 % loss in my left ear and wore a traditional hearing aid in that ear for close to 40 years.  I managed very well.  This past summer I got very sick and lost the hearing that I had in my left ear almost completely.  I also now have tinnitus in my left ear.  A traditional hearing aid is no longer an option for my left ear.  Through the past 40 years I really did not have a bilateral hearing experience and was still able to manage very well.  So, I don't think  it's the bilateral experience that I'm missing.

In the interim of trying to figure out what was going on with my ears this summer, I was given a very "basic" bone conducting headband to wear. It, too, only provided hearing through one side, but I could hear exponentially better with it than I can with my new implant and no one can really explain why this may be.  I really have had very poor results with the Samba and it has made every day life very difficult.  Due to the quality of sound I'm receiving, I can't imagine that two would be better than one.  I hope this is helpful!

Dear Melissa,

 

is there any chance that you have copy of your audiogram?

This is not a medical advice, just a help for me to understand where is your problem exactly. Although I am quite satified with BB and Samba, there could be a bigger problem if there is wrong selection of implant at all. There are so many implants on the market, and that is possible. 
 

Kind regard,

Ivana

[MED-EL Moderator]

Hi @Melissak124, thanks for explaining your situation. We've sent you a private message to learn more and help resolve the issue. 

Kind regards.

Barbara 

[Ivana Marinac]

On 2/26/2020 at 10:35 PM, Mary Beth said:

@Ivana Marinac

I have missed you here my friend!

😍🤩

[John Ford]

I have my bonebridge samba 2 implant about a year now. So far I’m kind of disappointed. Find myself not wearing the unit as much as I should. After going back to my audiologist numerous times, I am still having issues with the product. I get a lot of distortion from music and other high pitched sounds. I find the unit is not durable enough. I tried to change the colour of the skin and the unit broke into two pieces. The samba 2 go hasn’t connected properly to the head piece since I have gotten it. I find wearing it outside the wind is just too annoying. Like a someone blowing across a microphone,  I have a shaved head so the unit is exposed with nothing to muffle the wind. I also work in construction and cannot wear the head piece because it is located right where my hard hat band is. Just disappointed. 

[Mary Beth]

@John Ford

I am sorry to read this.  I am sure you must be disappointed.  I am a CI user but I attended a virtual meeting with a BoneBridge user (Kevin V.) who is also a Med-El US employee and he used Samba 2 Go during the meeting and I was amazed at how it worked.  Maybe you can connect to him for some support?