Another thread about...

[TheWriteAlex]

Losing more hearing and the Phonak Naidas. LOL! Is it getting monotonous around here or what?

So I had an audiogram today for the first time in a year. As I suspected, I've lost a bit of hearing. the levels on 750hz dropped from 55db to 80db. I haven't lost that much hearing over one year in a long time, and I'm kind of puzzled about it, since I haven't gone to any loud concerts or anything for years. I guess this makes me pretty much deaf past the 500hz frequency. I'm not really bummed about it, since I was expecting it, and since I've already accepted the fact that I'm going to be completely deaf in a relatively short time, but it was still a little shocking to see that 25db drop in a key range.

What's funny, though, is that when we did the pre-recorded speech testing, we turned the volume down 15db, and I scored about 15% better. So my WRS speech discrimination scores were around 20% this time.

We then tweaked my Naida V SPs. At first the audi tried to just make changes without asking me, but I said, "What are you doing? tell me cause I want to know." Surprisingly, she was very open to it and allowed me to make my own changes. First thing I had them do was turn off all gains past 1500hz, since all I get in those frequencies is tactile response. It was just useless to have these on and I think it was causing a lot of distortion. Then, we turned off transpositioning. I now notice that I'm not hearing tons of annoying little environmental sounds like doors slamming and objects being placed on counters. WTF needs to hear that crap anyway? Then we boosted the mids to compensate for the new loss in hearing. After this we went and retested my hearing with the aids on.

The aids brought me a diagonal cross through the speech banana, so even though I'm still missing a lot, it's a big improvement. My WRS scores improved to 40%.

I then went and taught two classes. Can't say I heard my students much better, but it wasn't worse either. LOL! Obviously, I still rely completely on speechreading to communicate. We'll see what happens when I'm in a noisy situation.

[DeafDoc1]

Maybe we can start a chatroom for "Naida sufferers"

[Bottesini]

Originally Posted by DeafDoc1

Maybe we can start a chatroom for "Naida sufferers"

No please!!!! You would take half of AD away.

[faire_jour]

Miss Kat got her new Naida's today. I worry that they might be unreliable, because I've heard so many complaints. We'll see if she likes them. We are just using them until she goes bilaterial, hopefully this summer.

[Bottesini]

Originally Posted by faire_jour

Miss Kat got her new Naida's today. I worry that they might be unreliable, because I've heard so many complaints. We'll see if she likes them. We are just using them until she goes bilaterial, hopefully this summer.

Naida's plural? Is she wearing one in her implanted side too?

[JennyB]

Originally Posted by DeafDoc1

Maybe we can start a chatroom for "Naida sufferers"

My name is Jenny, and I am a Naida sufferer. It began in April 2008 and has been ongoing since then. I have tried to "detox", even going "cold turkey" but then I broke my glasses this afternoon and since my vision is 20/120 without glasses the inability to communicate was too frustrating to cope with and I was once again pulled into the use of the Naidas to help heal my increasing pain. Like always, the relief was calming at first but quickly became a frustrating addiction that could not be filled as they began to cut in and out. My name name is Jenny and I am a Naida sufferer. Thank you for letting me express myself as it is the first step in healing.

[TheWriteAlex]

Originally Posted by JennyB

My name is Jenny, and I am a Naida sufferer. It began in April 2008 and has been ongoing since then. I have tried to "detox", even going "cold turkey" but then I broke my glasses this afternoon and since my vision is 20/120 without classes the inability to communicate was too frustrating to cope with and I was once again pulled into the use of the Naidas to help heal my increasing pain. Like always, the relief was calming at first but quickly became a frustrating addiction that could not be filled as they became to cut in and out. My name name is Jenny and I am a Naida sufferer. Thank you for letting me express myself as it is the first step in healing.

Welcome, Jenny. You're among friends here. You're safe.

[faire_jour]

Originally Posted by Bottesini

Naida's plural? Is she wearing one in her implanted side too?

Nope. Typo, sorry!

[inmate23]

Originally Posted by JennyB

I broke my glasses this afternoon and since my vision is 20/120 without glasses the inability to communicate was too frustrating to cope with and I was once again pulled into the use of the Naidas to help heal my increasing pain.

Do you no print on palm or tactile sign?

I no

[JennyB]

Originally Posted by inmate23

Do you print on palm or tactile sign?

I no

visual ASL most of the time. Without glasses either clear exaggerated basic ASL or today (the person I was with doesn't know ASL) I was listening as best I could since I am familiar with her voice and if we were really stuck large print block letters for me to read with the paper an inch from my face.

[inmate23]

Thanks just thought I had

[set2]

Jenny, Are one of the signs of this affliction pulling on the earmold to see if feedback occurs? I seem to be doing this since I got the naida a few days ago.

I am now playing a game in the morning that I like to call "Beat the Beeps". The object is to get the Naida in your ear before the beeps.

Faire Jour, keep us posted on how Miss Kat does with the Naida. So far I don't think mine adds anything to what I hear with the CI as far as speech. I have found some music is a bit better (more drums and bass) with the naida/CI but in most cases there is not much difference. I go for a mapping soon so we will see how things test out.

[deafdude1]

http://www.alldeaf.com/hearing-aids-...ead-spots.html

I assume youve read that thread? Lots of helpful advice there. Also still curious how you do on the piano thud test.

Originally Posted by TheWriteAlex

Losing more hearing and the Phonak Naidas. LOL! Is it getting monotonous around here or what?
So I had an audiogram today for the first time in a year. As I suspected, I've lost a bit of hearing. the levels on 750hz dropped from 55db to 80db. I haven't lost that much hearing over one year in a long time, and I'm kind of puzzled about it, since I haven't gone to any loud concerts or anything for years. I guess this makes me pretty much deaf past the 500hz frequency. I'm not really bummed about it, since I was expecting it, and since I've already accepted the fact that I'm going to be completely deaf in a relatively short time, but it was still a little shocking to see that 25db drop in a key range.

How much hearing did you lose in the other frequencies and do you have any audiogram scans?

What's funny, though, is that when we did the pre-recorded speech testing, we turned the volume down 15db, and I scored about 15% better. So my WRS speech discrimination scores were around 20% this time.

Last time at 95db HL, you scored 4%. With sounds this loud, it was amplifying well into your cochlear dead region and causing distortion. If you get tested at different volume levels, you may find a volume that gets you even higher than 20%. Id also try speech discrimination using low pass filters with different cutoff levels and find that cutoff level that maximizes your speech. This will give you a good idea at what point your cochlea is dead or too damaged to help any in speech. In my case, it's around 600Hz.

We then tweaked my Naida V SPs. At first the audi tried to just make changes without asking me, but I said, "What are you doing? tell me cause I want to know." Surprisingly, she was very open to it and allowed me to make my own changes. First thing I had them do was turn off all gains past 1500hz, since all I get in those frequencies is tactile response. It was just useless to have these on and I think it was causing a lot of distortion.

That's a certain sign of cochlear dead regions. You may also want to set the SPL/MPO down as low as itll go so your HAs don't amplify in your dead regions which just increase distortion.

Then, we turned off transpositioning. I now notice that I'm not hearing tons of annoying little environmental sounds like doors slamming and objects being placed on counters. WTF needs to hear that crap anyway? Then we boosted the mids to compensate for the new loss in hearing. After this we went and retested my hearing with the aids on.

What's your aided audiogram like?

The aids brought me a diagonal cross through the speech banana, so even though I'm still missing a lot, it's a big improvement. My WRS scores improved to 40%.

Which is more in line with what others with your degree of hearing loss are scoring. I mentioned in another thread that others were scoring over 50% sentence(note that sentence is way easier than words) and that I thought once your HAs get reprogrammed, your speech would go way up. Glad to hear(pun intended) that it's working out great for you! Hope all this helps and looking forward to audiograms, it'll be a learning experience for everyone.

[DeafDoc1]

Originally Posted by JennyB

My name is Jenny, and I am a Naida sufferer. It began in April 2008 and has been ongoing since then. I have tried to "detox", even going "cold turkey" but then I broke my glasses this afternoon and since my vision is 20/120 without glasses the inability to communicate was too frustrating to cope with and I was once again pulled into the use of the Naidas to help heal my increasing pain. Like always, the relief was calming at first but quickly became a frustrating addiction that could not be filled as they began to cut in and out. My name name is Jenny and I am a Naida sufferer. Thank you for letting me express myself as it is the first step in healing.

omg, Jenny, hysterical!

[DeafDoc1]

Originally Posted by set2

Jenny, Are one of the signs of this affliction pulling on the earmold to see if feedback occurs? I seem to be doing this since I got the naida a few days ago.

I am now playing a game in the morning that I like to call "Beat the Beeps". The object is to get the Naida in your ear before the beeps.

Faire Jour, keep us posted on how Miss Kat does with the Naida. So far I don't think mine adds anything to what I hear with the CI as far as speech. I have found some music is a bit better (more drums and bass) with the naida/CI but in most cases there is not much difference. I go for a mapping soon so we will see how things test out.

I agree. I even contacted the Phonk rep to see if the beeps could be disabled. They can adjust the volume, I believe. Once you lose enough hearing, they become inoffensive.

[SkullChick]

Originally Posted by faire_jour

Miss Kat got her new Naida's today. I worry that they might be unreliable, because I've heard so many complaints. We'll see if she likes them. We are just using them until she goes bilaterial, hopefully this summer.

If that doesn't go well, try oticon sumo its very reliable hearing aid

[faire_jour]

Originally Posted by SkullChick

If that doesn't go well, try oticon sumo its very reliable hearing aid

We were with Oticon until yesterday, it was a great aid that lasted through 5 years of a little kid without a single repair! We thought about the Sumo, but we are hoping the transposition will help, if not, we will go back to Oticon.

[Lissa]

It's great to hear that Miss Kat may be going bilateral! My Hearing aid is Spirit 3SP(Sumo Dm) and I'v never really had a problem with it

[faire_jour]

Originally Posted by DeafLissa90

It's great to hear that Miss Kat may be going bilateral! My Hearing aid is Spirit 3SP(Sumo Dm) and I'v never really had a problem with it

We just have to wait until summer and switch insurance programs. Her speech perception with the CI is 90% but the hearing aid is only 25%, so let's bump the other ear up to 90% too!

[Lissa]

That would be great for her! I read your latest blog update, sounds like she's doing AMAZING

[deafdyke]

We just have to wait until summer and switch insurance programs. Her speech perception with the CI is 90% but the hearing aid is only 25%, so let's bump the other ear up to 90% too!

Hmmmm, that's a tough one. Don't forget to ask her what she wants. She is old enough to help make that decision. On one hand, she does qualify easily (with speech perception even when aided) On the other hand the benifits of bilateral CI aren't as drastic as the first one. It's basicly "sound localization" and better hearing in noise.She IS getting a combined benifit from a bimodal approach which is good. I know people with uneven losses (ie a moderate loss vs a severe or profound loss or poor speech perception in one ear vs the better ear) and they're aided in both ears and they do awesome!
I also have heard (on a dhh nonbiased parent's listserv) that kids with bilteral implants have stopped using the second one. On the other hand, this might mean NO MORE paying out of pocket for hearing aids! It also may be A LOT harder to get the second CI, unless you have VERY VERY good insurance. I have a feeling that with health insurance companies getting overhauled, it is going to be VERY difficult to get a second CI except in " no benift from aiding" cases.
Actually wait.....she has a progressive loss right? That might be the right thing to do.
Please be careful that you're not looking at the AG Bell overacheiver types as a guide in what to do. (they tend to be coming out the walls in oral and CI programs) I'm NOT attacking you....at ALL! A second CI might be right for Miss Kat (might be like the difference between ITE and BTE aids for a hoh person) Hey....has she tried the SUMO aid in her aidable ear? That might be an option

[ljjehl]

Originally Posted by set2

I am now playing a game in the morning that I like to call "Beat the Beeps". The object is to get the Naida in your ear before the beeps.

Unless you like this game, you can extend the time it takes before the hearing aids activate. There are two more settings besides the default, adding 5 or 9 seconds (think that's the time) to the time before startup....

[ljjehl]

Originally Posted by DeafDoc1

I agree. I even contacted the Phonk rep to see if the beeps could be disabled.

There is a current update that can selectively remove the beeps you find offensive. I think the battery warning and startup beeps are the only ones that can not be silenced......

[JennyB]

Originally Posted by ljjehl

Unless you like this game, you can extend the time it takes before the hearing aids activate. There are two more settings besides the default, adding 5 or 9 seconds (think that's the time) to the time before startup....

Is there a way to get rid of the start up time and have them start right away? I don't like them coming on when they are in my ear. I prefer them to be on first and the wait is annoying.

[ljjehl]

Originally Posted by JennyB

Is there a way to get rid of the start up time and have them start right away? I don't like them coming on when they are in my ear. I prefer them to be on first and the wait is annoying.

The minimum is the 3-5 seconds before bootup (forgot the exact timing...) There are three settings in the adjustments, none are immediate bootup.

You can minimize the bootup sound to where you would not be able to hear it......

[deafdude1]

I see you are online now, TheWriteAlex. See my long reply to you in post #13

[TheWriteAlex]

Alright DD, so I had a follow-up on Monday. I've taken the Piano thud test, and I've got the new audiogram. Let's begin, shall we

First, my results of the piano thud test indicate that I am not hearing tones above 880hz. I hear a weird clicking/buzzing sound, but it's not useful sound information.

Second, my new audiogram is the same as previous, except I lost 25db in my right ear at the 750hz level, dropping it from 55 to 80db. for the rest of my audiogram, both left and right ears are exactly the same.

My aided audiogram: 1000hz: 50db, 1500hz: 60db 2000hz: 70db, 4000hz: 80db

Looks a lot better on paper than it actually translates into speech perception. My speech scores with aids improved to 36% at 65db. This is up from an average of 22% unaided at 80db.

We made a few more adjustments on my aids to give me some more midranges in the left ear to balance out the high gain that is now in my right aid, but I'm not completely satisfied with the programming yet. My audie is very patient and willing to make any changes that I suggest, but I think she's clueless when it comes to programming an aid for my loss. Need to keep experimenting...