Hi! I'm new to this board, but it looks like there's a lot of great people here and a lot of information - hence my posting. Let me start off with a little background...
I'm now 24, implanted left ear with a single N22 in Dec. 1990 at age 7, hearing loss partial at 2 1/2, profound in both ears at age 3. Fistulas, who knows why. Anyway, I did cued speech and high-powered HA's (even though my left-ear sensitivity was, I'm told, worse than my right - and I can literally only hear jet-engine type noise in my right unaided.
After cued speech, I did Auditory-Verbal at the Beebe Center with Helen Beebe until they referred us to Riley in Indianapolis for possible CI. At the time, FDA approval was still forthcoming, and Indianapolis (Dr. Miyamoto) had done more trial surgeries than the other options that were available to me. It was 4 hours away, but once FDA approval came down, we more or less scheduled ASAP. As I did right after activation, I continue to use lip-reading as a supplement, though I rely on it definitely more than I should, or than I need to.
I do want to note that at no point has ASL been involved beyond fingerspelling - and that's more a recent development with my wife and I to ease communication if my batteries die and I don't have a spare set for some reason. I realize this is controversial, but honestly, I don't have a lot of interest in ASL for the simple reason that I don't feel I need it. I grew up in a very small town, where there WAS no "deafie" culture, and I've only met approximately 3 other people with implants my whole life.
Anyway, I was mainstreamed all the way through school, was in the gifted program, took the highest-level courses available, AP, whatever. I then went to Notre Dame for undergrad, and am now at Case Western for law school. At no point have I ever used assistance beyond early scheduling (to avoid professors with HUGE beards!).
Given all of that, I've really got two questions. One: what kind of alternatives are possibly "in the pipeline" for older users as implants wear out? Thankfully, I'm not having any signs of failure after 17 years, but it's starting to be a concern of mine. I do have the right ear still untouched for exactly this reason, as is, I'm told, common.
Second, is there anyone out there with experience with the N22 Freedom? I'm considering getting one (two), but even after tradein and insurance, I'll still pay about 1370 out of pocket. That's a LOT! I realize not much of anyone knows much about this right now, but I'm wondering if it's really half as great as the marketing materials make it out to be. Help, anyone?
I'm now 24, implanted left ear with a single N22 in Dec. 1990 at age 7, hearing loss partial at 2 1/2, profound in both ears at age 3. Fistulas, who knows why. Anyway, I did cued speech and high-powered HA's (even though my left-ear sensitivity was, I'm told, worse than my right - and I can literally only hear jet-engine type noise in my right unaided.
After cued speech, I did Auditory-Verbal at the Beebe Center with Helen Beebe until they referred us to Riley in Indianapolis for possible CI. At the time, FDA approval was still forthcoming, and Indianapolis (Dr. Miyamoto) had done more trial surgeries than the other options that were available to me. It was 4 hours away, but once FDA approval came down, we more or less scheduled ASAP. As I did right after activation, I continue to use lip-reading as a supplement, though I rely on it definitely more than I should, or than I need to.
I do want to note that at no point has ASL been involved beyond fingerspelling - and that's more a recent development with my wife and I to ease communication if my batteries die and I don't have a spare set for some reason. I realize this is controversial, but honestly, I don't have a lot of interest in ASL for the simple reason that I don't feel I need it. I grew up in a very small town, where there WAS no "deafie" culture, and I've only met approximately 3 other people with implants my whole life.
Anyway, I was mainstreamed all the way through school, was in the gifted program, took the highest-level courses available, AP, whatever. I then went to Notre Dame for undergrad, and am now at Case Western for law school. At no point have I ever used assistance beyond early scheduling (to avoid professors with HUGE beards!).
Given all of that, I've really got two questions. One: what kind of alternatives are possibly "in the pipeline" for older users as implants wear out? Thankfully, I'm not having any signs of failure after 17 years, but it's starting to be a concern of mine. I do have the right ear still untouched for exactly this reason, as is, I'm told, common.
Second, is there anyone out there with experience with the N22 Freedom? I'm considering getting one (two), but even after tradein and insurance, I'll still pay about 1370 out of pocket. That's a LOT! I realize not much of anyone knows much about this right now, but I'm wondering if it's really half as great as the marketing materials make it out to be. Help, anyone?
Nowadays I am glad I have it - but that's probably just because I'm increasingly worried that what's in my head will just fail. I hope to outlive my (first) implant, let's just say that! 
