Hi Gaylehere

I for one would be very interested in your experience of cochlear implants

I wear hearing aids, and have what I would describe as, clumsy fingers

I have managed to destroy three out of four (self paid for), expensive hearing aids

I now use el cheapo hearing aids from EBay, as I still manage to destroy them

I made enquiries a few years ago about cochlear implants, but was informed that the hearing had to drop to a certain level, before they will fit them

I will assume that I will have cochlear implants sometime in the future

We have two Granddaughters that are profoundly/totally deaf (since birth) 2yo & 5yo. They both have been fitted with cochlear implants at two months old, and it is almost impossible to detect any imperfections in their speech and enunciation - this is due we are sure to the speech therapist that has assisted both of them since original surgeries.
It has been explained to us that the "electronic voice" that they experience is totally different to usual speech. This being the case I would wonder if a normally hearing person would become confused with electronic speech and sound being received in conjunction with their current hearing when implants are added to enhance volume.
Irregardless, they are one of modern medicine's greater achievements and Dr Graeme Clark is one of Australia's great inventors.

Would love to hear about it, Thank you
Dave

Hi again,

Dave as I see you are from Brisbane I'll say that I had my surgery at Greenslopes Private Hospital and the surgeon was Dr. Anthony Parker who has a practice in Wickham Terrace. We (hubby and I) have private health insurance so I am going through the private system. Dr. Parker does surgeries at Greenslopes, the Wesley and both Mater private and public. Just a by the by I am 62 if anyone was wondering about age. Originally I was to have my surgery back in February, in Toowoomba, but the surgeon up here left so I was referred on to Dr. Parker. Fees wise there was a great difference between the two. Up here, verbally, I was told around $3,000 for the surgeon but Dr. Parker charges $250 up front for the surgery and follow up consultation this coming Thursday. My initial appointment with him and I only had one was $225. I had had comprehensive audiology tests - 3 hours over two appointments with and without hearing aids , balance tests, psychologist assessment wanted by the Toowoomba surgeon but my GP said whatever for, done prior to February and to my referral to Dr. Parker. Dr. Parker wasn't happy with the level of balance testing done so I had more and very different testing through Neurosensory. Dr. Parker works with Neurosensory for audio and balance testing. The testing with Neurosensory consisted of some hearing tests and the balance tests, 3 hours, cost me $230.58 after the Medicare refund. As Neurosensory has a practice in Toowoomba these tests were done up here and the switch on and follow ups will all be in Toowoomba. All being well that will be on the 7th June. Today I have been feeling somewhat off colour. I guess the effects of the anesthetic etc has worn off. No trouble with my balance. Balance issues can be a side effect that's why all the testing in that regard before hand.

Tony, I am only having one implant on my left side as that ear was a bit worse than the other. I am getting the Nadia 90 implant and hearing aid combination by Advanced Bionics. Not getting all the extras as I will have to learn/get used to this first lot and I have been told it will take work to get the best benefits from the system. The Nadia 90 can be upgraded with add ons and as technology advances. The hearing aid and implant processor will work together as a team effort that's why I say "Wired for sound" It's the two working together for the best results. Well that's what I hope will happen and believe will happen. I'm being positive.

By the by, the wound is tucked in neatly behind the ear. Hardly lost any hair, but I did look a sight yesterday morning with a bandage around my head to hold the dressing in place and the hair around the sight gelled up stiff and sticking up and out at all angles from the bandage. Looks somewhat better today as I was able to comb out most of the gel stuff. I did/do have a dressing and bandage on last night and tonight for sleeping but not on during the day. My husband is to check the wound daily just to make sure everything is looking good and they haven't given me dressings for any further days.

Cheers for now. Gaylene.

Thanks for the feedback, Gaylene

Hope that everything works out, and that you are back to normal, very quickly

Thanks Gaylene
I'm interested mainly for my wife. We are both in our 70's but reasonably fit. She has two hearing aids but has constant tinnitus and she finds it harder and harder to hear certain frequencies so we are very interested in how you go. I assume that we are similar as we have private insurance so the financial parts are also of interest. So please keep us informed and once again thank you very much
Dave

Dave, I too have tinnitus in both ears and have had for many years. It is no worse or better than before. It did seem a bit louder the day after the surgery but has now gone back to it's usual "normal" for me. Gaylene.

Hi all, It's been a couple days since I had "Switch on". As stated above I had the implant on my left side. So now I wear the processor behind my left ear with the headpiece above and have a new hearing aid in my right ear. Switch on was a 2 hour appointment as the audiologist put everything together and had to do mapping. Basically you sat there and listened for sound while he did things on the computer. And he had to get the magnets right so the head piece stayed in place on my head. I have thick hair and he had to increase the magnet strength a few times to get it right. He also said there could still be some swelling there as well. Then you had to practice taking it off and putting it back on. I still have one little tender spot behind the ear and the top half of my ear is somewhat numb so I was not feeling if I was getting the processor hooked on the ear. The surgeon told me last week the numb feeling may or may not go away. I can feel when I touch the ear but it's like when you've been to the dentist and you've had the needle to numb your mouth and the numbness is wearing off but hasn't quite gone away.
So what do I hear. A noise. What does it sound like he says. I said "woodland creatures" and he said that no one has described it as that before, but to me it sounds like when you camp out in the bush and night time is coming and the night sounds start up. Anyway that is my sound. Now you must remember I can still hear what I could before with the right hearing aid. So I have a noise in my left ear and hearing in my right ear so I know when someone is talking (though I don't always understand what is being said), the kettle is boiling, the TV is on etc. but all these different sounds is only the one noise on the left side. The brain has to learn that these are all different sounds. This will take work on my part and can take 12 months to sort itself out. I was told the best thing I can do to help the brain along is to read aloud. Talk. So if you see a 62 year old walking around talking to herself it's probably me and no I haven't overdone it during happy hour. The processor takes "one use only - non-recharagable" batteries and "rechargeable" batteries. In my kit I got 2 rechargeable batteries so you can have one in the processor and one on the charge. A recharged battery only lasts a day, so you need to get into a routine of putting the battery on the charge each night. The" one use battery" of which you use 2 at a time only last a couple hours.
There is also a TVLink which you connect to the TV but I haven't worried about that yet and a Compilot which you can wear around your neck. This is to do with Bluetooth and this has been set to my mobile phone. This can be set to my laptop too and other devices which I don't have. There is also a Zephyr Dry and Store device where you put your processor in overnight so it captures both moisture and odor. That's what it says on the box. This is also run on electricity. So overnight you have the battery charger, the TVLink into which the Compilot also fits into and the Zephyr all doing their jobs whilst you are asleep. I have a user guide which I have started to read. My next audiologist appointment is in 3 weeks time.

I must say that all the people I have dealt with over these past few weeks have been lovely. Professional yes, but kind, understanding, easy to talk to, have answered my questions etc.
I found having a notebook good to write things down. Like I had a heap of questions written down to ask my surgeon the first time I saw him. Wrote down how I was feeling for the first couple days after surgery. Had a few questions for the audio appointment. etc. Just a by the by - on the first day after surgery I was one a high. Felt really great. The second day I felt not so good, on and off (even repacked my bag just in case) and the third day was somewhere in between and after that back to how I usually feel. Also I didn't need any of the medications (pain killers) given me to take home from the hospital. I have had no pain, no headaches. All is good. Cheers.

All good news Gaylene - note Costco have a good deal on all batteries. Worthwhile getting a few in for when you don't have power to recharge when camping out.

Thanks Gaylene. Glad to see you are recovering. All the best for the future hopefully now

Hi all, I'ts now been 6 weeks since turn on and I've had a couple visits to my audiologist and he is happy with my progress. He re-maps things when I go in. This time I think I have it set too loud though. I think some subtle changes are happening with my hearing with the implant. I've mostly been wearing the Compilot around my neck as well, of late, so it's easy to adjust the volume which I need to do to hear speech from my computer and TV and turn down the general volume. The hearing aid and cochlear volumes adjust together. This might sound silly, but I have no problem with wearing the headpiece and processor and people seeing them but feel self conscious when wearing the compilot which hangs around my neck down to chest. Being winter I usually wear it under a coat or drape a scarf over it. It's silver and has two little flashing lights on the top of it - one to show power and the other audio. I don't have to wear it, but am experimenting with it and different sound situations. It's no use having these things and leaving them sitting in a draw somewhere now is it? Overall I'm happy with how things are going and don't regret having the implant. Cheers Gaylene.

Good on you Gaylehere. I'm glad it's all going well
Dave

Thanks everyone. Much appreciated. Cheers Gaylene.

Hi All, After reading a thread by another forum member getting hearing aids I thought I should write up something on my implant progress. It's now 9 and a bit months since I received my implant. I'm not there yet but getting there. As I probably said previously when you have switch on you get a single noise for all sounds and the brain has to learn that the sounds are different so you can hear the different sounds. I wear the Compilot around my neck just about all the time (sometimes I don't worry when at home but it's easy to put on if I need it to adjust volume) but I feel lost without it if I go out and forget to have it on. I still have regular visits to the audiologist and he remaps every time I go in. Usually upping the sound a bit each time. When I go in we do "word" games to see how my word recognition is progressing. I'm pretty good when I have a list of words to choose from (he says a word and I have to pick the right one) but I'm not so good yet in the "repeat the sentence after me" where I have nothing to go on. But I'm getting there. Without the hearing aid and only relying on the implant I can mostly follow the news stories on my TV, particularly if the presenter is male, but I can't follow my husbands speaking or what's being said on his TV. I have a set up that connects to my devices, TV, mobile and laptop. At the moment the ear piece of my hearing aid is away being repaired (trouble with the receiver) and I have one of those little silicone cone things that goes into the ear and I'm loosing volume(down to next to nothing) as the day progresses so it needs remapping/adjustment but the audiologist is hoping the repaired ear piece will come back soon (been 3 weeks away) before getting me back in. I don't know who gets more frustrated by my lack of hearing/understanding, me or my husband. Everyone is different when it comes to how long it takes the implant to fully kick in, in the sounds and word recognition. It is usually faster in younger people or those who have lost their hearing over a short period of time. I also live in a fairly quiet environment (I've never been one who has a radio or TV going in the background all day) and I get slack sometimes when it comes to reading aloud which I am to do regularly. I was told it would take a good 12 months to fully kick in, but I've been told by someone, who has an implant, not long ago it took them 2 years to get fully there. Do I regret getting the implant - NO. Like I said I'm getting there, but at times it can be frustrating.

Just a by the by - we have been away on a couple short trips (3 weeks away each time). One a holiday and one an unexpected trip interstate because of a death in the family, and I must say I have had no problems with the rechargeable batteries for the implant processor. I have three so when we are hooked up to power I recharge all 3 overnight (you don't sleep with the processor behind the ear overnight) and they stay charged when not in use. Then we free/low cost camp without power for a couple nights then have a night on power again. This is our usual pattern anyway. If we were without power for a longer length of time I would have to get a heap of single use batteries or get some more rechargeable ones or see what other alternatives are out there.

Anyway, cheers for now, Gaylene.

Nice to hear all is going well Gaylene. Amazing it's always the poor old husband that is not understood. Lol. Same at my house. Keep up the good work,
Dave