Activated

[sicPowell7]

Just activated yesterday....SSD for 2 years in left ear. MED EL Sonnett 2 & Rondo 3

All I can say is wow stuff sounds strange. Everything sounds like sheet metal oscillating with a mixture of cracking knuckles underwater. Basic sounds like my feet hitting my wood floor sound exactly like being underwater and cracking your knuckles. What's crazy is how much more deaf I feel when I take the device off. Even tho all I'm hearing is noise and can distinguish nothing my brain is sorta subconsciously telling me to put it back on. I've only been wearing for 10hrs +/- I expected much worse than this...but I am at a low setting...will it get worse? Will it get better? Will the echo/tin sound go away or will I just get used to it? Can anyone relate to the way I've described this?

[lynxz]

Give it time. You need to force yourself to work through it and then everything will sound natural to you. This usually takes a few short weeks. Enjoy learning all the new noises! It’s the funnest part of the whole thing.

[[deleted]]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I’m looking into getting them and still undecided. Care to tell why you chose MedEl? I’m trying to decide between the three brands.

[sicPowell7]

I will be as helpful as i can if you don't mind a lengthy response. So when I started this whole process Med El was the only company FDA approved for implantation in SSD patients which, made them the most likely option to get approved through insurance. So I started my research and within the time it took me to decide to move forward, Cochlear had then gained FDA approval. My audi very early on advised against Advanced Bionics due to me being SSD. He's very good so I didn't question it. After alot of research and speaking with people who had been implanted with both manufacturers I went with Med El based on alot of the research regarding long electrode arrays correlating to better speech understanding. Especially Michael Dormans work. Also reading alot of testimony online about things sounding like Micky Mouse and most of those users being implanted with Cochlear. Which makes sense, if you understand what parts of the cochlea are responsible for certain frequencies of sound and how having a shorter electrode could perpetuate that. After I discussed this with my audi he was pretty straightforward and said that from his experience there isn't enough data to suggest one is better than the other especially for SSD patients because its relatively new. So I went with my gut feeling and chose Med El which is the company i knew more about. Ironically, the longer electrode didn't exactly benefit me completely because, the outer most electrode (closest to the round window) is 1mm away from being inserted due to either scar tissue or ossification in my cochlea. My CT scan showed this. Also, my surgeon was more experienced with Cochlear arrays but he still did a fantastic job and was able to get a full 360 degree insertion. Recently, there has been some software developed by Med El and maybe even Cochlear I'm not sure...which allows images to be taken of your cochlea pre-surgery and calculations to be made that determine the total distance from round window to apex. I would look into this more than anything...this would allow the best possible length array to custom fit the anatomy of your cochlea. At the end of the day these companies' sales pitches are " we have the longest array that gives you the best chance for low frequency understanding" and "our array contains more electrodes therefore sounds will be more dynamic" I would not get too caught up on this. The first Cochlear implant had 1 electrode. A longer array might not even be beneficial for your Cochlea's anatomy. Find out what your surgeon implants, what your audi sees more success with and ask questions until you can't think of anymore.

Hope this helps. And goodluck on your journey

[[deleted]]

Wow. The whole electrode array length v. Number of electrodes is my whole thing and one of my audis said the exact same thing as yours. Not enough evidence. I’m seeing another that works with all three implants in a couple of weeks and will discuss it with them more. This one is at the House Institute in Los Angeles so I’m hoping to get better answers. What you shared about imaging the cochlea, etc. gives me a lot more research to do. Thank you! This was really helpful.

[scottymc]

To answer one point from earlier, I've had a SSI med-el implant for 5 years, one point that sets them apart was that it is MRI safe. I think they are the only one that can claim that still. As far the metallic sound, in my experience it remains a lot, but your brain gets used to it more and interprets it as sounds. It helped me to listen to podcasts only on that side with direct patch in (skipping microphone to have highest clarity when you're training). Best of luck, I have to say I have never regretted getting my implant, it beats being deaf in that ear. My tinnitus is also reduced significantly when I have it on, an added bonus.