Could use some help with choosing companies

faire_jour said:
Wirelessly posted

i agree with iowaboy. The reason i went with AB was that i believe they are technically superior but also, the way the company works. When i spoke to the cochlear reps, it was all about the "perks" and not aout the technology. AB sent me information, including three INDEPENDANT studies showing that AB users do better.

also, the t-mic is for real. It is the location of the t-mic that matters, not the fact that there are two mics. And no, cochlear can not move their mic, it is patented.

also, cochlear has been using the same speech processing technology for many years. They have had processor upgrades, but where is the upgrade in actual hearing??? Who cares what it looks like?! Who cares how small the battery is?! I care how well my daughter hears! Hifidelity 120 is an amazing software. My daughter switched from traditional speech processing (like the other companies use) to the 120 and the difference was amazing!

also, cochlear was fined for kickbacks to doctors, so if you are annoyed by unethical ads...
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Thank you for backing up the t-mic. I have found it very useful and sounds much better than headpiece mic and "on the" processor mics.


posts from hell said:
It would be easier to learn ASL. probably cheaper, and you dont get to see all the doctors.

Just saying.
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I am under my mother's insurgence which has a great policy since shes a full time working nurse so money is not really an issue. I was approve two years ago for my left side implant, after surgy bills came out to be over $70k, which we only paid $200 for the operation.
And I can't live without an implant. I been using implants all my life and have easily adapted to the lifestyle. That would mean going to a different school and not be in the mainstream as much. The reason why I have not learned sign is because I know no one (besides my hearing impaired teacher) that uses ASL.
Plus, I dont mind seeing my doctor every 6-9 months to get a remap. Its not that biggie.
 
That would mean going to a different school
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Couldn't you just get an interpreter for your current school?

I been using implants all my life and have easily adapted to the lifestyle
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Except when the CI is not working. It wouldn't hurt to learn ASL now and have it available if you ever find yourself w/o your CI.

I currently wear HAs and am comfortable with still being the the "hearing world". However, I am now taking ASL because I know that some day I may not have my HA (or CI if I ever get one, etc) available. It's my backup plan.
 
LoveBlue said:
Couldn't you just get an interpreter for your current school?

Except when the CI is not working. It wouldn't hurt to learn ASL now and have it available if you ever find yourself w/o your CI.

I currently wear HAs and am comfortable with still being the the "hearing world". However, I am now taking ASL because I know that some day I may not have my HA (or CI if I ever get one, etc) available. It's my backup plan.
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I have a notetaker but just getting an interpreter would be a pain the ass to watch all the time.

Learn Asl then what? No one I know uses Asl.

Thats because hearing aids just enhance/enlarge the sounds. So I would understand that you can be in the "hearing world" easily, you can talk and hear people because the hearing aids makes the sound larger.
I have no hearing at all 100% deaf, even before surgy I had no hearing. Hearing aids would not benefit me at all.
I am considering learning Asl just for a college course credit, since I know english ;)
 
Just a heads up; ASL is not same as English. But yes, it is easy to learn.

Just a thought - Do you allow the hearing apparatus define you?

It pains me to see one other that is putting so much dependence on technology just because their parents chose it to be that way for their child. It causes fear in not being able to function without the equipment which causes more profits for the "industry". You are you, no matter what. For what its worth, there are a lot of well functioning deaf people out there. Just saying.

Do what you wish - But I do recommend you to take some ASL classes in college for several reasons; one being credit, one being it may teach you a thing or two, and most importantly; you can use it.

BTW: There are tons of deaf people that uses ASL in Connecticut.
 
bbaseballboy123 said:
I have a notetaker but just getting an interpreter would be a pain the ass to watch all the time.

Learn Asl then what? No one I know uses Asl.

Thats because hearing aids just enhance/enlarge the sounds. So I would understand that you can be in the "hearing world" easily, you can talk and hear people because the hearing aids makes the sound larger.
I have no hearing at all 100% deaf, even before surgy I had no hearing. Hearing aids would not benefit me at all.
I am considering learning Asl just for a college course credit, since I know english ;)
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1) Today's hearing aids do more than make "the sound larger"/louder.

2) Not everyone who can "hear" can benefit from HAs.

3) I am deaf w/o my HAs. In order for me to hear someone talking to me, they have to be standing right in front of my good ear...and talking loud...rolling the eyes loud.

4) Get a friend or family member to take the ASL class with you then you'll have someone to practice with. My daughter (and a friend of hers) is taking the class with me. They both plan to go into fields where they will be interacting with "the public" and so it will be a good thing for them to have in case they come across someone who uses ASL. Plus, they just want to learn it (maybe so they can have secret conversations around their friends :giggle:).
 
Fl885 said:
I agree with you, these Headphones are amazing, but they suck with my HA as if I put them on top of my hearing aids they will weez and whistle :(, I know there is no whistling with the CI and that is great.
I'm a girl so I think I can cover that stupid head piece with my hair and not be to concerned about the ugly thing, LOL
There is a bluetooth loopiest from Nokia you can use it with your t-coil (I think Cochlear has t-coil? and get the sound directly inside your implant, I can send you a link of that Nokia loopset (bluetooth), it's not cheap :( but it's amazing as far as I know, you do not have to put anything on your head, you wear it around your neck and go workout, walk, do whatever, what I need to find out is if your phone or zune does need to be bluetooth or if you can connect it directly to that loopset?, I have not used it as I got it at the same time when I got the latest Oticon HA that has a bluetooth in it and a streamer that acts as loopiest, pretty cool. I do need to do more research on the Cochlear connections to phone or mp3 as this is very important to me, I hate to do direct cable connect from the implant to the phone as frankly I do not want to show off my implant to every single stranger out there, I need to be free, that's why I like the bluetooth thing.
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You must be very young, as the young are more self-conscious about wearing hearing aids, etc. Yeah, been there, done that. I got a lot of shit from other kids about my hearing aid, so I grew my hair to cover it up.

Today's HA's are colored and less noticeable, so you young'uns are lucky..

I have a shaved head now and there are two CI's there for the world to see, but no one seems to notice since there are all kinds of bluetooth devices on everyone's heads. The only people that tend to stare are little kids.

Oh, as far as headphones go, I put a pair on top of the CI's microphones. Screw that. The plug-in stereo cable is a million times better. Clear music and voices come through. With headphones, you will be annoyed hearing all the rubbing & squeaking sounds every time you open your mouth, move your head, etc.
 
bbaseballboy123 said:
Same with my audiologist who recommends the cochlear.
I will probably be the one of the few people to tell which i like better ;)


Hohtopics, which company did the surgeon recommended?
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My surgeon and speech & hearing center recommended Cochlear. One reason being its long term reputation of being a good solid company.
 
Hohtopics said:
This has nothing to do with the topic on hand. Don't do onto others if you don't want others to do it to you. Just saying.
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FYI: I made that post with you in mind. You keep pushing the CI, so I'm going to push ASL.

But hey, who am I to know. ASL is painless.
 
green427 said:
You must be very young, as the young are more self-conscious about wearing hearing aids, etc. Yeah, been there, done that. I got a lot of shit from other kids about my hearing aid, so I grew my hair to cover it up.

Today's HA's are colored and less noticeable, so you young'uns are lucky..

I have a shaved head now and there are two CI's there for the world to see, but no one seems to notice since there are all kinds of bluetooth devices on everyone's heads. The only people that tend to stare are little kids.
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I dont really recieve as much "crap" from my peers as I did in the past when i was around 8 to 12 yeears but its just something that you dont want to reveal, trying to be "as normal as possible".

I have to agree with the bluetooth. People have asked what kind of bluetooth i had, when it really was a harmony. ironicly, sometimes when i see a bluetooth, i think its an CI or hearing aid!


Hohtopics said:
This has nothing to do with the topic on hand. Don't do onto others if you don't want others to do it to you. Just saying.
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He did have a point that I relied on my CI so much that I didnt brother learning Asl. But it was somewhat off topic telling me to not get CI


Hohtopics said:
My surgeon and speech & hearing center recommended Cochlear. One reason being its long term reputation of being a good solid company.
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Exact same reason why my audiologist recommends it.
 
posts from hell said:
FYI: I made that post with you in mind. You keep pushing the CI, so I'm going to push ASL.

But hey, who am I to know. ASL is painless.
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I don't go to ASL related threads and push or promote CI's in them.

And if you also look carefully, most of the time I just simply answer CI related questions without pushing it on anyone.
 
bbaseballboy123 said:
He did have a point that I relied on my CI so much that I didnt brother learning Asl. But it was somewhat off topic telling me to not get CI.
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FYI - he did not say to get rid of CI.

It doesn't hurt to add another form of communication in case your CI is broken and you know getting it replaced is not a quick fix. So what to do while 100% deaf? ASL.

I wear HA. I just learned ASL 2 years ago and I'm nearly fluent in it. Now I have a great peace of mind knowing that I won't be helpless in case my HA is broken. The repair time is typically 3-4 weeks. Not a problem for me since I can just request for interpreter while I wait for HA to be repaired.

Since you don't know ASL, you should look into C.A.R.T. service. Note-taking service is an injustice.
 
iowaboy said:
I think its funny to see the above post about how AB mentors are paid for their services. Occasionally there is a big scandal about how recruiting members on the Cochlear community are paid also. I know AB mentors are not paid, and I suspect the same is true for the cochlear community members. Also, I looked at the AB forums, and there are many posts from folks doing well, and a few from folks having problems. Same with Cochlear. One thing I've enjoyed from AB is the live web chats on Thursday where anyone can talk to regular people in various stages of the process, doing well, or having problems.
An issue we did have was with Cochlear's reps. When they finally returned our calls and emails they were often full of vague, misleading information. AB's reps responded right away and provided the actual independent studies or tech specs that supported their clear answers.
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Oh geez you are annoying, you coming here and advertising about AB, forget AB, they have NO IMPLANT, the are off the market. Go advertise about your forum and your chat somewhere else. we do not want any advertising here please, get yourself together and stop defending any brand or get off this forum and go to AB where you can do all the advertising you want.
 
Fl885 said:
Oh geez you are annoying, you coming here and advertising about AB, forget AB, they have NO IMPLANT, the are off the market. Go advertise about your forum and your chat somewhere else. we do not want any advertising here please, get yourself together and stop defending any brand or get off this forum and go to AB where you can do all the advertising you want.
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Thats where you are wrong. They do have an implant, the 90k series. Because of the recent recall (which i actually have the implant is that recalled in my left), they were forced by the FDA to take it off market and fix the problem/retesting.
IT is undergoing approval from FDA so technologically, they arent on the market but they have a product to market.
I dont think he is advertising AB, he is just suggesting...

You seem to against AB for the wrong reasons, you have no experience with AB...
 
Fl885 said:
Oh geez you are annoying, you coming here and advertising about AB, forget AB, they have NO IMPLANT, the are off the market. Go advertise about your forum and your chat somewhere else. we do not want any advertising here please, get yourself together and stop defending any brand or get off this forum and go to AB where you can do all the advertising you want.
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I think you really need to take a chill pill
 
bbaseballboy123 said:
Thats where you are wrong. They do have an implant, the 90k series. Because of the recent recall (which i actually have the implant is that recalled in my left), they were forced by the FDA to take it off market and fix the problem/retesting.
IT is undergoing approval from FDA so technologically, they arent on the market but they have a product to market.
I dont think he is advertising AB, he is just suggesting...

You seem to against AB for the wrong reasons, you have no experience with AB...
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we know they have implant, for now, there is NO IMPLANT right, can you get it NOW !!, then no there is NO IMPLANT
what kind of BS is this implant when is been taken off the market so many times in few years.
It's not going for FDA approval, it was taken off the market because of the RECALL and because it was electrocating some users.
No one wants something in their head that gives you electrical shock like you are on death row electrical chair, get real!
FDA never takes thing out of the market if the problem is not much more serious that what it's actually appears, this is medical device, this has to be implanted in your head (with possibility of meningitis, brain problems ....), this is like a heart device or similar, so everything should be taken very seriously, who wants to have a re-call on his head, are you kidding me.
 
Fl885 said:
we know they have implant, for now, there is NO IMPLANT right, can you get it NOW !!, then no there is NO IMPLANT
what kind of BS is this implant when is been taken off the market so many times in few years.
It's not going for FDA approval, it was taken off the market because of the RECALL and because it was electrocating some users.
No one wants something in their head that gives you electrical shock like you are on death row electrical chair, get real!
FDA never takes thing out of the market if the problem is not much more serious that what it's actually appears, this is medical device, this has to be implanted in your head (with possibility of meningitis, brain problems ....), this is like a heart device or similar, so everything should be taken very seriously, who wants to have a re-call on his head, are you kidding me.
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Um... You should try to talk to your doctors.
My doctors told me, AB is trying to get FDA to approve their new 90k series implant. They fixed the issue and now trying to get the FDA to approve it.
Your making it worst than it seems. I'm not even scared that the implant they recall is in my left to be honest.

Keep in mind, cochlear had recalls too... just not as many.
http://cochlearimplantonline.com/si...ant-Brand-Comparison-latest-models-only-2.pdf
 
Fl885 said:
we know they have implant, for now, there is NO IMPLANT right, can you get it NOW !!, then no there is NO IMPLANT
what kind of BS is this implant when is been taken off the market so many times in few years.
It's not going for FDA approval, it was taken off the market because of the RECALL and because it was electrocating some users.
No one wants something in their head that gives you electrical shock like you are on death row electrical chair, get real!
FDA never takes thing out of the market if the problem is not much more serious that what it's actually appears, this is medical device, this has to be implanted in your head (with possibility of meningitis, brain problems ....), this is like a heart device or similar, so everything should be taken very seriously, who wants to have a re-call on his head, are you kidding me.
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How old are you?

Even my daughter has never whined as much as you did....
 
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