Cochlear Announces FDA Approval of the Cochlear™ Nucleus® 5 Rechargeable Battery System

Yay! Now an environmentally friendly option for the US. Granted these batteries have been available in non-USA markets, but FDA finally approved the Rechargeable Batteries.

Source: http://www.cochlearamericas.com/News/2468.asp

Also, I mentioned about my experience with the pool earlier this week... The is an email I received from cochlear announcing the batteries and then also takes about the flexibility of being water resistant.

Rechargeable Batteries Approved for Nucleus® 5 Sound Processor
We are happy to announce that the rechargeable batteries for the Nucleus 5 Sound Processor recently received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This news regarding rechargeable batteries for Nucleus 5 is especially exciting because in addition to saving money and being more environmentally friendly, our engineers have achieved an exciting industry breakthrough - when using rechargeable batteries, the Nucleus 5 Sound Processor is the world's ONLY submergible sound processor. So you can be confident around water!

What does submergible sound processor mean?
When using rechargeable batteries, you can play by the pool, take a bath, or sing in the rain. And if the sound processor gets wet, no problem!

Are there any restrictions?
Yes, Cochlear™ recommends that you avoid any swimming that involves going under water, showering under a high pressure nozzle, putting soap or shampoo on the sound processor, or exposing the sound processor to moisture without microphone protectors in place.

What about underwater swimming?
No underwater swimming is recommended. But if the Nucleus 5 Sound Processor with rechargeable batteries falls in the pool or bathtub, just pick it up and wipe it off. Pool and bath time just means keeping your head above water.

If I already have the Nucleus 5, when will I receive my batteries?
The priority for these shipments has been determined based upon the original order date. This method helps to ensure that those who have been waiting the longest for their batteries receive them earliest. We anticipate the rechargeable batteries to be shipped over the next 12 weeks.

As part of the shipping process, Cochlear has been making phone calls to verify shipping addresses. You may have already received this type of call. If so, there is no need to do anything else at this time.

However, if you have not verified your shipping address and are eligible for rechargeable batteries, please contact customer service at (877) 523-5798. This will not change your shipping priority, but it will allow Cochlear to release your order when it is ready.

Apple, AT&T partner to assist deaf with iPhone 4 and FaceTime

I love Apple and all Apple products... I have the new iPhone 4 and love it. I know there have been some issues, but nothing that would have me retreat back to my iPhone 3GS. Since getting the iPhone 4, I have used Hamilton CapTel. Now there is buzz that Apple and AT&T are going to partner with ZVRS to bring video relay calling for deaf and hard-of-hearing users via the iPhone 4 and its FaceTime video chat functionality. 

Source: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/07/08/apple_att_partner_to_assist_deaf_with_iphone_4_and_facetime.html

One more thing - the phone!

Another pool related triumph (sort've). I was wearing only my new Nucleus 5 because of the water resistancy thing... Well I got out of the pool and realized my phone was ringing. I didn't have enough time to get my Freedom processor on, so I used the my new ear to talk on the telephone and it was great! I was able to understand 95% of the conversation! I missed a few words, but was able to get around that when the person I was on the phone with changed what they said! Sweet!

Another update - from the pool!

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July... just wanted to write that I spent the past two days at my parent's pool and decided to wear my new Nucleus 5 processor in the water since it's supposedly very much water resistant. Anyways, I have two great little second cousins ages, 3 and 6 (roughly), who wanted to play in the water. Well they were splashing about, and I even threw them around, and my implant definitely got exposed to water with no difference in sound quality at all! I definitely did wipe the processor down after I got out of the pool and placed it in the dryer. Today, I also went in the pool, and I got knocked off a float, and my implant did get wet, but again, nothing changed in terms of sound quality! I was really impressed. It's nice to have the security of having a back-up processor, and my other ear as well with the Freedom processor! Anyhow... i'll let you know if that all changes!

Long Overdue Update!

This update is so long overdue! I apologize! I have really been wanting to update, but just finding the time and energy has been challenging! Been so busy lately... 

Anyhow... on 6/10/2010, Mandy and I did my two month optimization of my Nucleus 5, and I am now at 82%!

Mandy and I... Love her!

 I have improved from 52% at week 1 to 82% at month 2! I am so so excited for my new ear as it has been a super star working with my old Freedom! I really couldn't be any more pleased. My old ear gets 86%, however 82% and 86% have no statistical significance in terms of difference.

So for the techies out there... I created a grid of my scores...

Some abbreviations that I created in order to make the graph a bit more concise...

AS: left ear only

ASci: left with cochlear implant

ASha: left with hearing aid 

ADci: right with cochlear implant

AUci+ha: CI with hearing aid before surgery

AUci+ci: Both ears with cochlear implants:

Now onto the scores (the graph may get caught off or be small so click on it to get the full image):

 

Hamilton CapTel

I've been hearing about this iPhone App called Hamilton CapTel. This is basically a real-time captioning application for your telephone conversations. You download the app, set up an account, and enter the number you want dialed. The operator on the other end calls you, and calls the number you wanted. The person you want to talk to is then connected to your cell phone so you can talk directly to each other, but the operator will caption what that person is saying. I tried it out tonite with Jason, it's pretty cool. The captioning is delayed which you must expect. However, it's really nice to have that support if you feel you miss a word because the captioning is there. I think I "may" use it if only I felt comfortable telling the person I was using CapTel and that they would have to be patient with me. It's a great app though to have. Here is an article a friend sent to me about this exact application (Thanks Nic!) Hamilton Captel

This is the opening screen shot of the application, you can see the website below and find out more info...

This next screen shot is when I called Jason asking him if he wanted to watch "The Bachelorette" with me ;-)

A little late... one month update!

So I know this is a bit late, but I had my one month CI session on 5/14/2010. I was somewhat nervous at this visit because at my 1 week session we made the maps slightly softer since I was perceiving everything to be "brighter." I was hearing everything with my new side, and was always jacking the sensitivity up on the old side, to get it to almost compete with the new ear. At my one week mapping session, where we did bilateral balancing, in essence, we made my near ear softer (by bringing my C's down), and made my old ear louder (by bringing my C's up). Shortly after my CI session I started to notice that things didn't seem as bright, however, I just went with it. 

Anyhow, at 1 month, on 5/14/2010, I went back and saw Mandy (who is awesome as ever!). We did some booth testing, which showed that I was hearing some sounds slightly softer than I had at my 1 week session. However, the really interesting thing was when we were doing word recognition testing. 

As I listened to the words with my new ear, I found the words harder to hear, they didn't sound that clear to me. I started to panic inside, started to think about what a risk I was taking being programmed at the same hospital that I work at. I was thinking, what if my performance has gotten worse, and the hospital now knows my results, and feels that I am not qualified to do my job? I was really starting to freak out, because I really didn't think I was doing well as I had at 1 week. So at 1 week, with my new ear, I was understanding 52% which was pretty good! At one month... I was understanding... 66%!! While I was panicking, I was actually improving my score by 14%! I was pleased with that! 

I shared with Mandy what I was feeling, and she said she could read my insecurity in the booth because I was hesitant in stating my responses. Anyhow, Mandy said that she could understand why I felt sounds weren't as bright, because I don notice small changes in my hearing, and it was noted with my ever so slight decrease in pure-tone sensitivity. Anyhow, Mandy wanted to check in on my maps to see if we could give my "brightness" back.

as soon as we checked in on my maps, and made some changes, we went live. Man, did a smile ever come across my face! Everything was immediately brighter. I was able to voice better what I was feeling. I told Mandy that sounds now seemed like they were right next to me, and not far away! I loved it! It was awesome! I feel like I hear a lot and I think it's the most awesome thing!

So now, together with both ears, I did 92% whole words (97% phonemic). I am elated with those results. 

So on a different note, I went away with some work folks to a colleague's country home. It was an awesome over night trip. However, I was meeting new people for the first time, it was a crowd of about 25 people. We were eating outside in the dark, and playing games with the lights out. I didn't ever really feel like I missed a beat. Now granted that is my own perception, and I am biased. I asked Jason what he thought, and he also thought that I did better this weekend, than I may have, had I just had the one implant and hearing aid. Again, I know he's biased too ;-) 

Sorry for the delay in my post but that is my update! Things are going great on my end otherwise!