The new hearing aid fitting was last Wednesday. The hearing test for this hearing aid showed the worsening that prompted the CI research and candidacy screening. I will continue to wear this aid in my right ear after the CI is implanted in the left ear.
So the new hearing aid was a Phonak Naida, which went into the better ear, the right ear. It's yet another sound processing algorithm to get used to. Seems to be a mixed bag. I was able to make out someone in a meeting at work that I never could make out before (with lip-reading). But I'm still struggling and getting poor results overall, and can make out very little without visual cues. It has some kind of sound processing enhancement which seems to make speech more clear, especially when I have visual cues. Music sounds very quiet and unsatisfying. Things are less distinct in music with this aid than with the Sumo DM. It seems to have very aggressive compression, meaning I am hearing most sounds in a very limited volume range that is soft-comfortable.
On the CI front, I received the AB information packet I requested just last week. It came by Fed Ex! It has a couple of videos in it which I enjoyed watching. I feel more certain about my choice of device now. Also, I have been reaching out to the CI-borg online community. How great that there will be new friends from this journey, too! One by one, the days count down to the candidacy screening.
I've been practicing listening with my left ear, trying to train it to listen. I put on a song I know in the car, and listen with my left ear only, with the right aid on mute. It is very muffled and indistinct, but I can make out where it is in the song. I can hear the lyrics because I know them already. I really tried to focus on nuances of the music and hear detail. It was pretty muddy and muffled, but I was able to get something out of it. I know the CI will sound nothing like this, but the neural synapses need the exercise anyways. :)
6 days to the screening.
UPDATE:
Took the Adaptive Pitch Test with the new hearing aid. To compare, previously I got 7.2 Hz with the Sumo DM.
First time, 21.6 Hz, Pitch Perception Problem. But the dogs were barking, and I got all messed up. So I took it again.
8.7 Hz.. It starts to supports my perception that everything sounds a little flatter with this aid. Thinking I could do better, I try yet again. This time, I really focus, and replay it as much as I can to decide if the 2nd note is higher or lower. This time I got 2.7 Hz! Normal is 1.5 Hz to 6 Hz. So the hearing aid works, but I need to listen carefully.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
More appointments
So, having decided on Advanced Bionics, I used their Clinic Finder to look up surgeons. I saw that the Mayo clinic was listed, so Brian called for me and asked about a candidacy screening. They had an availability the next day! I made an appointment. After I got to work, I told a co-worker, excited that things were moving along. But he warned me that Mayo might not be covered on our plan. Turned out, he was right. I had my second canceled appointment.
Brian and I stepped back, and decided to cross reference the Advanced Bionics list to the insurance company's network. Also, some word of mouth made its way back to me, and it turned out that both of the surgeons I heard about were in-network and implanted Advanced Bionics. So the two surgeons each got a call for a candidacy screening appointment. One is for February 27 (next Friday!) and the other is for March 30, over a month away. I'll go the one next Friday to see if I'm even a candidate.
The candidacy screening will be an evaluation of my auditory skills. I will go through a battery of tests, with and without my hearing aids. My listening comprehension will be tested on each individual ear, as well as both at the same time, while wearing hearing aids. Background noise will be added, and there will be no visual cues (no lipreading). If I do not do well enough, then I am a candidate. If I do too well, then I am not a candidate. I listen to audio exercises now and my listening comprehension is very poor. Sometimes I can't even understand a single sentence, and even though I play it over and over again, I just can't make it out. I'm pretty certain I'm a candidate. I'm going to do the best I can, and if I disqualify as a candidate, so be it. This journey will pause, and I'll continue to learn about this incredible technology. But, if I do qualify, the implant is going in. Maybe by summer, I'll be exploring a new, noisy world.
I ordered "Rebuilt: How Becoming Part Computer Made Me More Human" and "The Practical Cochlear Implant Guide" from Amazon. They should get here sometime after my candidacy screening. One is a memoir that has great reviews. The other is a more mundane, thorough book, covering all aspects of Cochlear Implants. It was first written in 1991 and was recently updated and revised.
Brian and I stepped back, and decided to cross reference the Advanced Bionics list to the insurance company's network. Also, some word of mouth made its way back to me, and it turned out that both of the surgeons I heard about were in-network and implanted Advanced Bionics. So the two surgeons each got a call for a candidacy screening appointment. One is for February 27 (next Friday!) and the other is for March 30, over a month away. I'll go the one next Friday to see if I'm even a candidate.
The candidacy screening will be an evaluation of my auditory skills. I will go through a battery of tests, with and without my hearing aids. My listening comprehension will be tested on each individual ear, as well as both at the same time, while wearing hearing aids. Background noise will be added, and there will be no visual cues (no lipreading). If I do not do well enough, then I am a candidate. If I do too well, then I am not a candidate. I listen to audio exercises now and my listening comprehension is very poor. Sometimes I can't even understand a single sentence, and even though I play it over and over again, I just can't make it out. I'm pretty certain I'm a candidate. I'm going to do the best I can, and if I disqualify as a candidate, so be it. This journey will pause, and I'll continue to learn about this incredible technology. But, if I do qualify, the implant is going in. Maybe by summer, I'll be exploring a new, noisy world.
I ordered "Rebuilt: How Becoming Part Computer Made Me More Human" and "The Practical Cochlear Implant Guide" from Amazon. They should get here sometime after my candidacy screening. One is a memoir that has great reviews. The other is a more mundane, thorough book, covering all aspects of Cochlear Implants. It was first written in 1991 and was recently updated and revised.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Pitch, Rhythm, and Melody tests
Found this great site. You can test your pitch perception, rhythm sense, and melody sense.
Audio tests
With both hearing aids in, I got
7.2 Hz Pitch perception, low-normal.
88% Rhythm perception, pretty good.
58% Melody - barely better than guessing.
With just the left hearing aid, I got 24 Hz on the pitch perception, which is beyond the "possible pitch perception problem" level. I am not sure what kind of accuracy I'll get with the CI.
Feel free to add comments with your scores if you try the tests! :)
Audio tests
With both hearing aids in, I got
7.2 Hz Pitch perception, low-normal.
88% Rhythm perception, pretty good.
58% Melody - barely better than guessing.
With just the left hearing aid, I got 24 Hz on the pitch perception, which is beyond the "possible pitch perception problem" level. I am not sure what kind of accuracy I'll get with the CI.
Feel free to add comments with your scores if you try the tests! :)
Cancelled appointment
I jumped the gun on making an appointment to screen for candidacy. Doing some research, I found a lot of info on the differences between the devices. I changed my mind from Cochlear Corporation, and think I would prefer the Advanced Bionics device. It has "high-def" versus the old technology used by the other two manufacturers. Since the appointment I had was for a Cochlear Corporation-exclusive surgeon, I had to cancel it.
This link really shows the difference.
Here are some audio simulations of 8-channel CI devices. Hopefully I will get better audio than that with the 120-channel Advanced Bionics system.
Now I'm thinking of Mayo Clinic for the surgery. I'll contact them and see. The possible complications from surgery could include facial paralysis and loss of taste. Great. So I'd like to find the best surgeon possible.
This link really shows the difference.
Here are some audio simulations of 8-channel CI devices. Hopefully I will get better audio than that with the 120-channel Advanced Bionics system.
Now I'm thinking of Mayo Clinic for the surgery. I'll contact them and see. The possible complications from surgery could include facial paralysis and loss of taste. Great. So I'd like to find the best surgeon possible.
First Post
My first post here is a repost from my Facebook page.
I was born deaf from medicine my mom took during pregnancy. They didn't know at the time but the drugs she took were ototoxic to the fetus. I have a severe to profound loss, and have enjoyed relative success being auditory with the use of hearing aids. I have been having more difficulty lately and a recent test confirmed a continued erosion of my hearing. The audiologist asked me if I had considered a Cochlear Implant (CI). I had, about 7 years ago, for my left ear which is just about stone deaf, but decided to wait for technology and medicine to advance. The audiologist did mention that insurance will usually cover it, removing one of my primary concerns. He also promised to email me more information. A few days later, he sent information on a seminar just days away.
I was busy at work, and debated taking the time off to go. I clung to the notion that I could still wait for technology to advance. But my eroding hearing changed the equation. Perhaps I had waited long enough. I went to the seminar. It was very informative, and there was one CI recipient there who astounded me with her story and her ability to hear someone without reading lips.
Now I have an appointment for a candidacy assessment. There are certain criteria for determining candidacy, and the audiologist will evaluate me against those criteria. CIs have progressed to the point where people who receive them do very, very well. If I can hear with it like the average recipient, I will hear better than I can ever remember. I am still anxious about my future but I have a lot of optimism and hope for what may come.
I was born deaf from medicine my mom took during pregnancy. They didn't know at the time but the drugs she took were ototoxic to the fetus. I have a severe to profound loss, and have enjoyed relative success being auditory with the use of hearing aids. I have been having more difficulty lately and a recent test confirmed a continued erosion of my hearing. The audiologist asked me if I had considered a Cochlear Implant (CI). I had, about 7 years ago, for my left ear which is just about stone deaf, but decided to wait for technology and medicine to advance. The audiologist did mention that insurance will usually cover it, removing one of my primary concerns. He also promised to email me more information. A few days later, he sent information on a seminar just days away.
I was busy at work, and debated taking the time off to go. I clung to the notion that I could still wait for technology to advance. But my eroding hearing changed the equation. Perhaps I had waited long enough. I went to the seminar. It was very informative, and there was one CI recipient there who astounded me with her story and her ability to hear someone without reading lips.
Now I have an appointment for a candidacy assessment. There are certain criteria for determining candidacy, and the audiologist will evaluate me against those criteria. CIs have progressed to the point where people who receive them do very, very well. If I can hear with it like the average recipient, I will hear better than I can ever remember. I am still anxious about my future but I have a lot of optimism and hope for what may come.
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