bbaseballboy123

Hello, I am Patrick, aged 16 right now.
Backgrond history: I was implanted on my right at age 2 with advanced Bonics, a year later, I was re-implanted the same side because it broke internally.
At age 15, I got another advance bonics implanted on my left side
And toady... guess what, My right broke again after 14 years!

I guess you could say i have bad luck!

But I went to google "harmony vs nucleus 5" and found this site.
Those are my 2 options, go with AB again, or go with cochlear, and I have to make this decision by friday next week...

Deafness

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Bottesini

I think AB isn't being done right now because of some recalls, so I guess you are Cochlear material for sure.

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bbaseballboy123

This is what my doctor told me, but he said I can wait a few months if I want to go with AB again.

AB is not on the market because a few people got shocks from the "90k" series I think its called? I actually have it installed on my left

Bebonang

to AllDeaf forum. Oh, bummer. I am sorry that you have problem with your CI. Well, you can have an hearing aid as it might be a little bit cheaper than the CI device that broke after 14 years.

Enjoy reading and posting all the threads here. See you around here.

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I HAVE BEEN DEAF SINCE BIRTH, AND IT IS STILL AWESOME TO BE . (thumb up) (very happy)

bbaseballboy123

I cant go with hearing aids since I am profound deaf with 100% deafness in both ears.
CI damages the inter cochlear so either way hearing aids would never work for me.
So only options are CI, AB or cochlear

Thanks for the welcome tho

deafdyke

Bbaseball boy that sucks that your CI broke. I'm not a CI user, but isn't Coachlear the most "universal" implant? Meaning the most commonly seen/used? Meaning if you went on vacation or switched audis or something, you could be seen by an audi who was used to servicing coachlear?
Also, stick around.....we do have at least one or two other regular teen posters, and there's lots of great info here!!!!! Don't worry we don't bite.....and there is SOME debate about CIs, but virtually everyone here is OK with CI. (and before I get piled on, it's true....its just that other people misinterpret what others are saying, and just claim we're anti CI or anti oral b/c they just want to generalize)

posts from hell

4 implants? wow. talk about a tapped market.

Welcome along.

Edit: I got a few PM's regarding this... -- The reason I said the above is in this link: http://www.facundoelement.com/articl..._Series/2.html

Frisky Feline

welcome..

just read everything what this forum says, and don't take it too personally.

enjoy!

Lissa

Have had my CI 10 years now, it is YOUR choice whatever brand you want. But if you went for AB, you would possibly have to wait longer.

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lissa, 23, profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss.
http://bioniclissa.blogspot.co.uk/

LoveBlue

I know nothing about CIs, but, if I kept having problems with one brand...and it's currently recalled, I'd go with another brand.

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Severe-to-profound hearing loss in both ears.
SD @ 100db L-88% / R-96% - unaided
Phonak Naida IX UPs

Lissa

All brands are recalled at some points in their production I guess.

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lissa, 23, profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss.
http://bioniclissa.blogspot.co.uk/

Hohtopics

Hi,

Welcome to the Forum! Sorry to hear of your CI troubles. I'm a Cochlear user myself. There's also an "Hearing Aids & Cochlear Implants" section in the forum whereas you could ask questions or have discussions about the CI.

Sarfarigirl2011

if I were you, I would stick with another brand

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18 yr old girl with a moderate loss in the right and moderate/profound on the left.
currently wearing purple Oticon Safari P 600s

shel90

to AD. Not a CI user here and sorry for all of your CI troubles.

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"Wine improves with age. The older I get, the better I like it."

--- Anonymous

GrendelQ

I'm so sorry your first CI has broken -- and twice, too! You must have been one of the pioneers of AB's CIs -- I think they received approval to implant children in '97 -- were you part of a special trial for the Clarion? Did they give you any indication of what was causing the failures?

I hope your newer CI is working great and making the loss of the other less of a shocking change. Best of luck with your decision -- that's a tough one. On the positive side, no matter which you opt for, you'll be getting technology that has come such a long way since your early generation implant.

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bbaseballboy123

I was actually one of the first few babies to be implanted in the country! A girl who lives a few miles away is 2 years older than me was implanted a year before I was first implanted.
I was implanted in 1996 after being FDA approving implants in babies.

I don't recall any "special trail" for clarion, I doubt my parents would have wanted me to be in a trail testing.
When they pulled it out, they confirmed that one of the little wires was crack in half, who knows why it broke though.

And my new CI will most likely to be the Cochlear with the new Nucleus 5. I hope I am going with the best decision because not only its "9 out of 10 recommended by audiologist" (including mine lol) but I am taking a risk with a new system that my brain would have to get used too after 14 years of AB system.
Also the harmony has a t-bic which is very critical for me since I wear headphones a lot, and AB has it patented so Cochlear can't make a "t-bic"


But I must say (without any rudeness) I am very lucky to even have the technology available to me so I can easily communicate with the mainstream education.

bbaseballboy123

That is one of the best decisions I am making. Its hard to move to a different company after being with a company for 14 years (using their implants+my brain adapted to the implants).
But again I think I am going to ditch AB (i do have AB on my left which will still be supported of course) and go with Cochlear for my right. Its just amazing that after 14 years, I am going to go with a different implant in a few weeks...

bbaseballboy123

Hey I just read your sig. I am hoping you would not mind if I PM you with a few questions regrading the new N5 processors?

GrendelQ

Any time! Although I can't compare them to the AB products, we only have Cochlear on both sides.

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bbaseballboy123

Oh I know that. I am just wondering about the processor itself. There is something that is somewhat hindering me from wanting the N5.

Edit: I actually can't PM you since I am new to this forum, I am very active over at overclock.net and they have the same forum set up.
I was hoping you can help me with the mics on the N5.
Since I had BTE and harmony with my right (strongest hearing), I had a "t-bic" which is a mic that is near the ear canal. Obviously, AB patented this so Cochlear can't create a mic similar to the "t-bic"
This is the harmony with the t-bic (labeled)

Now the N5 has 2 mics ON the processor on top. This made me somewhat in disgust with the design of where they placed the mics because I really do depend on the t-bic since I wear headphones a lot at home and always have my cell hold like natural.
The headphones I have arent just headphones, theyre around the ear headphones: (picture of what I actually use at home)


My question is, would the headphones make it much harder to hear since the cushion would be pressed on the N5?

GrendelQ

You may not be able to PM yet, happy to answer here on the forum if that's the case.

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bbaseballboy123

http://cochlearimplantonline.com/sit...els-only-2.pdf
I think this link will surprise you! I did for me, Look at all of the recalls AB had to make, and compare to Cochlear who been in business for much longer...

Hohtopics

From what I've gathered, the N5 has the remote whereas you'd be able to adjust the settings without having to take off your CI. I could see it coming in handy in places whereas there's a noisy background, such as in Restaurants, etc.

UptownG54

Hi I am hard of hearing i am surprise to read this guess that up to for every one but i glad my parent would not do this to me i rather not want CI at all i have a friend have one and i saw that break my heart cause i don't feel normal with that there was man try to push me to get one i gave him an answer No i told him don't feel like a robot chip that not for me .... i do have hearing aid i only wear it around with my parent now they are gone other wise i happy who i am without it ...... so be what you want to do it will make god happy do the right thing.

GrendelQ

A lot of CI users just use the earbuds that come with many devices, and tuck them behind the ear, using the t-coil setting to pick up the sound, which I've heard is excellent. The N5s have an auto t-coil detect feature (we don't use it ourselves: with a 4yo, it's too easy for her processors to switch over without us realizing it, leaving her on t-coil when she shouldn't be)

My daughter has recently been using TecEar's induction microphones when listening to music on iphone and ipad (she's bilateral, so we use the dual set for stereo sound). These have been great, because she doesn't typically wear her processors on her ears: they don't have a cushion, just a hook and can be placed next to her processors atop her ponytail holders near the top of the head.

She's used noise canceling headphones with the around-the-ear style (vs the compact cushion on-the-ear styles) when we're in crazy noisy places, like on an airplane or a train -- either attached to a DVD player or just to block external sounds when we're using the lapel mic (which we've done very infrequently, and only on a couple of long car rides). When she uses the cushion headphones, she wears her processors tucked into the headphones, placing the headphones on her ears or hanging just behind them, with processors inside. I haven't noticed that she was experiencing any dampening of the sound because of where the 2 mics are located on the processor.

You may want to check with the folks over on cochlearimplantonline.com where there are quite a few HS and early college CI users sharing tips and tricks.

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Anij

GrendelQ

I'm wondering - is there a reason you don't use the Personal Audio Cable (which seems to be the same as the DAI cable on HAs - which is what I use to listen to music etc since it directly connects, thus eliminating all background noise when listening)

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Hoh/Deaf ~ +120db deaf right , mild/mod flux left & APD
English & ASL ...PAH!!


Ignorance is NOT Bliss

GrendelQ

We have used the PAC at home, with the television -- sometimes. Not often though, bc my daughter is pretty active and tends to forget she's wired to the TV and wander into the bathroom or across the house, and she'd likely take the TV with her But it's also less necessary at home -- we can control the noise -- not a lot of jet engines and train whistles .

It's got a really a long cord, so she would need to stash all that excess wire somewhere when listening to iphone, and it only delivers sound to one CI, rather than providing stereo sound to both CIs, as the Tec-ear does. The lapel mic I described does plug directly into the processor. Also, some of our accessories are for the Freedom, we just upgraded to the N5 this past year, so for the PAC, we'd have to use a very small connector to make it compatible -- no big deal, but just another piece. we might lose when out and about .

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Speedy Hawk

Welcome to AllDeaf. Bad luck to have AB broken twice. That is rare, once is more common than twice. 4 implants in total. Wow.

Smithtr

welcome to AD
nice to see moved on cochlear implant

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Sosie

to AllDeaf forum!

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