going Bilateral

[ADAVRONBEK]

Need your advise guys: my son been implanted bimodal with MEDEL Concerto/opus2 at 3y old, now he is 3,6y old. Now are thinking to get second one, believing it will be stereo surround effect and helpful. But local AUDI said, that its useless to get second implant for kids development and hearing improvement !? AUDI insists that it will be no effect if we go for second after 6months since 1st implanted. Is it true?? Now confused.

Even if we get a second implant, should it be the same implant type as first one ( both Concerto implant/opus2 or may be different?) ?

Any feedback welcome

thanks 

[Ivana Marinac]

No - this is not like that. Mary Beth will jump in and describe her experience which is absolutely positive.

 

I would definitely advise you to ask for a second opinion. By using second implant, your child will develop hololocation ability, better understanding in noisy environment and overall better understanding because 2 ears are not just 1+1 - 2 ears fulfill themselves. After all, 2 implants allows even development of neural pathways all the way until they reach hearing center in the central cortex. There are lots of study about that - I have put one on the forum, if you like it - use it.

[Ivana Marinac]

I almost forgot - not to mention that your child is still in very active period when his brain is developing enormously.

[Mary Beth]

No, that is definitely not correct. I had a progressive hearing loss and was implanted in my right ear in Feb 2015. It did wonderfully. I was implanted in my left ear in October 2015 and it did wonderfully too. The richness in sound, the ability to locate sounds, the ability to listen in noise with much less effort, the fact that I can indeed hear with each ear alone if needed are all benefits of bilateral CIs.

I was in the ocean with my bilateral CIs the other day. All safe and secure with waterwear covers and tethering system. I was enjoying the ocean in surround sound. It was unbelievable. Then I heard the beep beep beep tone in my left CI, letting me know that the battery was soon dead. A moment later, the left CI shut down. The difference in sound quality was apparent immediately. I could still function fine, but the difference in how things sounded was amazing.

I am so happy that I chose to get two CIs. I wish your son the best of luck.

[Mary Beth]

I forgot to comment on your other question. I have one internal concert implant with a medium electrode array and one internal synchrony implant with a flex 28 electrode array. Everything works great together.

[ADAVRONBEK]

GREAT !

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR REPLIES MARY & IVANA ! IT WAS REALLY HELPFUL INDEED !

HAVE A NICE DAY ! )

[Kara of Canada]

You know guys it really amazes me how we sometimes know so much more than some of the professionals!! Well that wouldn't include Ivana our very own specialist!!!

[Ivana Marinac]

You know guys it really amazes me how we sometimes know so much more than some of the professionals!! Well that wouldn't include Ivana our very own specialist!!!

 

   

Who still learn each day and can thank to all dear people here on the forum which helped me a lot to better understand people with a different kind of hearing loss than mine.... to see more perspectives where this whole big-bang game is going on! 

[ADAVRONBEK]

Hi guys,

 

Question for Mary,

Do you do rehab for second ear (second implant)  separately ? Do you normally remove first implant's audi.processor in order to work on the second one just to catch up the level first implant has ? Or its ok to keep both when there is an audio therapy going on i wonder?

thanks

[Kara of Canada]

From what I have seen/heard you want the second ear to catch up. So separately in the beginning.

[Mary Beth]

Hi,

Each audiologist seems to have their own way of dealing with sequentially implanted people. I will share what I have done, but realize that other people have been successful doing it different ways.

My audiologist has been very flexible with me the entire time. When I was activated for my second CI, she told me to spend a few hours every day with the new CI alone and the rest of the time to be bilateral. So I trained each side separately and I also trained them together everyday. I am still doing that. I spent several hours with my new CI alone daily.

This has worked great for me. My goal is bilateral hearing so training both ears together and spending the vast amount of my time using both has helped reach that goal rather quickly. My new CI is now 5 months old and I am hearing in a very balanced way and each side separately performs almost exactly the same.

For me this process worked well.

[kbetz63]

Hi Mary Beth, I have a question for you.

 

I was implanted for right ear back in April 2011 and just recently went bilateral having my left ear implanted earlier this month. Your posts are really encouraging and I can't wait to get turned on today! My first CI all I heard was squeaking noises, but slowly with the help of music my CI slowly became clearer and clearer. Now I love it and hear better than I have in a very long time.

 

You mentioned above "All safe and secure with waterwear covers and tethering system." Do you only have the Rondo? If not, what waterwear do you use for the BTE system? and what is the tethering system?

 

Sorry I'm still learning. Didn't even know about the neck loop til a few months ago, and with my implant of the Rondo, I got a voucher for the Quartho Neckloop. I can't wait to get and learn how to use it.

 

I have worn HA since I was three and now a CI implantee. I'm happy because I hear again and it's been a wonderful journey. I can't imagine anyone NOT wanting to get a CI or go bilateral. I love hearing and so glad I didn't have to give it up. Anything you can share would be wonderful.

 

thank you, Kristine

[Kara of Canada]

Hello and welcome to Hearpeers! Yes Marybeth has rondo and sonnet. There is now available in the US the water wear. For sonnet for sure and opus 2. Please keep us posted we are excited with newcomers as we all were newcomers at some point. I am six months in since activation on one implant. Man it has changed my life just as you say. Mary Beth and Adam are the two bilateral a here that I know of for sure. So stay tuned they will answer your questions. Good luck.

Kara

[Mary Beth]

Hi Kristine,

I'm excited for you. Going bilateral has been great for me and I hope it is as great for you. Be prepared for an adjustment period as your brain learns to merge the bilateral sound. Today was my 6 month testing of my left CI and it is performing the same as my right CI, which is at 14 months. It is lovely being balanced.

I have the following processors due to falling into two different Med-El promotions:

Right side: Opus2, Rondo and Sonnet

Left side: Sonnets (2) and Rondo

I love them all. My primary processors are bilateral Sonnets. I use bilateral Rondos for water access and if I'm going to be very active or sweaty. It's just more comfortable for me at those times not to have anything on my ears.

The waterwear for the Rondo has been available in the US since summer 2015. I love it and have used it often in pools, hot tubs and recently for a week in the ocean. That is the post you are referring to. I put each Rondo in a waterwear cover, then put them in the EarGears bilateral Rondo covers with tether which I clipped onto my swimsuit (www.gearforears.com) and then wore a nammucap (you can find an article with pictures about Nammucaps on the cochlear implant help website). Safe and secure and sounded terrific! Silver oxide 357 Engergizer batteries lasted 12 hours.

The waterwear for the Opus2 and the Sonnet was just FDA approved recently. Med-El USA has not announced a date when they will start selling them. So keep an eye out for that.

Just in case you are interested, there are many recently bilaterally implanted with Med-El users active right now on the Med El Cochlear Implant Discussion Group Facebook page. You may want to join that too.

Where are you located in the US?

I also did not understand speech at either activation. Understanding speech at activation must be exciting but it does not mean those people will have better success with their implants than those of us who do not understand speech at activation. As you know, training is important in order to get the most out of our implants.

I look forward to reading more about your bilateral journey. Stick around. We are a friendly group.

Best of luck on your hearing journey,

Mary Beth

[kbetz63]

Hi Mary Beth and others

 

I don't feel balanced without both ears, especially since I've worn HA all my life in both ears. I was excited to be offered the opportunity to do my left ear. How do you hear about the Med-el Promotions? I do get things in the mail but nothing like that.

 

I sweat, so I will definitely check out the waterwear, thank you! I actually got a package of the waterwear for my Rondo. I'll be trying those out soon I hope. And my audiologist told me about the special waterproof batteries, also provided in my kit. 

 

Oh I'd love to get on the Facebook page, I'll search for that. I'm located in Norman, Oklahoma. You?

 

I know, I was hoping to hear voices with this activation. I'm happy that I do understand some, like my husband who has a very deep voice. And yes, practice, practice and patience are the key. I took me awhile to understand that with my first CI as I'm not very patient. But I'm learning and I love hearing again.

 

thanks again!

Kristine

[Mary Beth]

Hi Kristine,

I am in northern New York.

There are people from Oklahoma on that FaceBook board and one is having his second surgery as I type this.

Med-El promotions like the Sonnet voucher or the Plus Rondo are rare events and have both expired. Your CI center would know if any promotion was in place. Right now there is no promotion in the US that I am aware of. It was just pure luck that I became eligible for a CI when those promotions were in effect.

The batteries that Med-El includes with the Rondo are the L44 alkaline batteries. I got between 4 1/2-6 hours of use out of those in my Rondos. The Energizer silver oxide 357 gave me 12 hours. Just FYI.

The Sonnets are water resistant so perform better than the Opus2 when people sweat. The design of the Rondo always helped me when I sweat as the sweat slides under the Rondo and not near any seams but that may depend on hair styles.

EarGear covers are supposed to help with sweat. They are not waterproof so you need the waterwear covers if you go swimming.

I do not know anyone who is using the waterwear covers just for sweat because the covers cost $30 US for 9 uses and the batteries last hours instead of days. However everything sounds wonderful in those waterwear covers.

It took about 5 months for me to get to a point that felt balanced with my two CIs. Everyone's journey and timing is different. Once I felt balanced, my ability to locate sounds just took off. It's been great. It no longer matters to me whether people speak to me from the left or the right or where I sit at a dinner table etc. hearing in surround sound is an awesome bilateral benefit.

Wishing you the best.

[kbetz63]

Thanks Mary Beth!

[Kara of Canada]

I have heard Ivana uses water wear for her samba. As she is quite active. For sweat reasons.

[Ivana Marinac]

I have heard Ivana uses water wear for her samba. As she is quite active. For sweat reasons.

 

I use them for running purposes - unfortunately, there is no Ear-Gear solution for the Bonebridge (one more in a loooong row...) regarding the sweat issue so I was proposed to use Waterwear cover. My first processor ever started to act unpredictably - it has squealed a lot and then my technician taught that could be a problem...

[Cara Mia]

My recent news... Last Friday I have started the process for getting the second implant. Despite I was approved for both implants an year ago before my first surgery, I still need to get confirmation from my insurance company that my second implant will be paid. I am pretty sure they will approve it with no problem as my speech recognition is only 10% with the HA. But it will take some time to get their response.

The last time I saw my audiologist in May she told that it is a big chance that the second mic will be available for activation in the US in August. Unfortunately, this have not happened. And this time my audi told me that she has heard nothing from Med El how long we need to wait to get this feature activated.

As to my conversation with my surgeon... mostly we discussed the options for hearing preservation. Everything sounds pretty standard with 50% chance of keeping some ability to hear the low frequencies for sound awareness. About a corticosteriod usage for hearing preservation, my doc administer it intravenously during surgery (no transtimpanic injection). He can prescribe it for post-op period if I want but he thinks it not necessary helps much for keeping the hearing especially considering the side effects that steriods can cause.

This time my doc is going to use periosteal pocked technique again to fixate the implant without drilling the implant bed in my scull - which I like a lot.

So, perhaps in the end of September, beginning of October..... we will see

[Mary Beth]

I'm excited for you!

[Kara of Canada]

Yay! This is awesome news Cara! We have missed you. 

[Cara Mia]

Thank you, girls. Kara, September is almost there. Wish it will bring good news to you. I thought about all of you often. Just a little bit overwhelmed with my beautiful life ?

[Ivana Marinac]

Great news.... With your approach toward a progress, this was just a question of moment...

We were also thinking about you - how are you progressing regarding your present CI?

Just stay - overwhelmed...  

[Kara of Canada]

Well it's definitely in the works!! Thanks Cara,it's an awesome journey!!