I just realized I completely walked around talking about my Audiologist, the person who did the evaluation testing earlier this week. Since I will be at the mercy of this person for just about everything that has to do with the CI outside of the surgery itself, it's not an aspect of this journey that takes a back seat.
First of all, I had already heard second hand about her before meeting her. I have a friend of mine who was implanted with the Nucleus G3 last year. We met in College. He goes to the same Clinic I do and he now has the same Audiologist. However, he had a different audiologist, whom he liked quite a lot...a bit of a crush actually, who did the first year of mappings. Anyway, he did not have nice things to say about our shared Audiologist. He met with her for the first time when he had his annual mapping. The mapping felt rushed to him. He also kept talking about missing the other audiologist. So I had my suspicisions that it was more about prejudice, on more than one level.
The 2nd time he met with her, it was to take his dead G3 BTE Processor in (2nd occurence in 3 months time.) From that experience, he recommended I get assigned to someone else. Apparently, he felt insulted by her when she asked him if he had been using the moisture packs, as if she was insinuating he was the cause of the breakdown from lack of care. He says he babys his CI equipment. The way he told it, I could see the condescension, in his version of it anyway. So that did make me a bit apprehensive. I do not deal well with people who talk down to me and mappings require a strong communicative rapport for success. Of course, I gave her a chance though.
So I met with her for the first time on Monday. She seemed very understanding regarding the alarm clock incident. Her overall demeanor was pretty pleasant and we seemed to have no problems communicating. I guess I can't comment too much because most of that session was just testing, not so much talking. Next week, there will be more of the latter...so that will be a good test run.
But...there was one thing that did put up a little flag. Music....when I brought it up, all she said was that the CI doesn't really work that well with it. Technically, this is true. However, reality is there are many CI users who successfully enjoy music. Advanced Bionic's Hi Res strategy adds more sound resolution, making it possible to enjoy music by hearing more of the details that are otherwise not available under other strategies. The reason this is a little flag is that her attitude reflects that she may not be fully qualified to map Hi Res. I am told that this has been an issue with Hi-Res...most audiologists do not know how to get the most out of it. So, I am prepared to have Advanced Bionics send out one of their own to do the mapping when the time comes.
Audiologists focus on Speech discrimination as the goal, whether it is a hearing aid or CI. My whole life under hearing aids, I had to pretty much fight for Music. Some audiologists I had over the years would set my hearing aid in a way that just butchered music, made it unenjoyable. They would argue with me that they had it at optimimum settings based on my audiogram. I don't expect it to be any different this time around.
I think it's probably obvious at this point that I didn't just start this journey this week. I've been arming myself with information about these things since 2002. The above is a prime example of why. You can't go into this just trusting the "experts." You have to come prepared. If they had their way, the extent of what I know about CI's would be the promotional brochures from the Implant companies they handed to me when I first went to them about my fluctuating hearing. Those brochures are sales tools, not hard data. I want the real shit, not the fluff.
So next week, she is going to go over the CIs and show me both devices (Nucleus and Auria.) I told her that I had already decided to go with AB. She asked if I had gone over the material (sales brochures) and said that Cochlear's Freedom now puts both implants at about the same level. I didn't really take the time to explain to her I'm quite a bit past that point. I would have told her that I don't find incorporating the features found on Digital Hearing Aids for several years now as an example of cutting edge technology. Anyway, I do look forward to being able to view and handle the equipment in person.
So let's see if I come back from the appointment next week with scathing comments or high praise for her.
Well it's a dog eat dog, eat cat too
The French eat frog, and I eat you
Dog Eat Dog - AC / DC
First of all, I had already heard second hand about her before meeting her. I have a friend of mine who was implanted with the Nucleus G3 last year. We met in College. He goes to the same Clinic I do and he now has the same Audiologist. However, he had a different audiologist, whom he liked quite a lot...a bit of a crush actually, who did the first year of mappings. Anyway, he did not have nice things to say about our shared Audiologist. He met with her for the first time when he had his annual mapping. The mapping felt rushed to him. He also kept talking about missing the other audiologist. So I had my suspicisions that it was more about prejudice, on more than one level.
The 2nd time he met with her, it was to take his dead G3 BTE Processor in (2nd occurence in 3 months time.) From that experience, he recommended I get assigned to someone else. Apparently, he felt insulted by her when she asked him if he had been using the moisture packs, as if she was insinuating he was the cause of the breakdown from lack of care. He says he babys his CI equipment. The way he told it, I could see the condescension, in his version of it anyway. So that did make me a bit apprehensive. I do not deal well with people who talk down to me and mappings require a strong communicative rapport for success. Of course, I gave her a chance though.
So I met with her for the first time on Monday. She seemed very understanding regarding the alarm clock incident. Her overall demeanor was pretty pleasant and we seemed to have no problems communicating. I guess I can't comment too much because most of that session was just testing, not so much talking. Next week, there will be more of the latter...so that will be a good test run.
But...there was one thing that did put up a little flag. Music....when I brought it up, all she said was that the CI doesn't really work that well with it. Technically, this is true. However, reality is there are many CI users who successfully enjoy music. Advanced Bionic's Hi Res strategy adds more sound resolution, making it possible to enjoy music by hearing more of the details that are otherwise not available under other strategies. The reason this is a little flag is that her attitude reflects that she may not be fully qualified to map Hi Res. I am told that this has been an issue with Hi-Res...most audiologists do not know how to get the most out of it. So, I am prepared to have Advanced Bionics send out one of their own to do the mapping when the time comes.
Audiologists focus on Speech discrimination as the goal, whether it is a hearing aid or CI. My whole life under hearing aids, I had to pretty much fight for Music. Some audiologists I had over the years would set my hearing aid in a way that just butchered music, made it unenjoyable. They would argue with me that they had it at optimimum settings based on my audiogram. I don't expect it to be any different this time around.
I think it's probably obvious at this point that I didn't just start this journey this week. I've been arming myself with information about these things since 2002. The above is a prime example of why. You can't go into this just trusting the "experts." You have to come prepared. If they had their way, the extent of what I know about CI's would be the promotional brochures from the Implant companies they handed to me when I first went to them about my fluctuating hearing. Those brochures are sales tools, not hard data. I want the real shit, not the fluff.
So next week, she is going to go over the CIs and show me both devices (Nucleus and Auria.) I told her that I had already decided to go with AB. She asked if I had gone over the material (sales brochures) and said that Cochlear's Freedom now puts both implants at about the same level. I didn't really take the time to explain to her I'm quite a bit past that point. I would have told her that I don't find incorporating the features found on Digital Hearing Aids for several years now as an example of cutting edge technology. Anyway, I do look forward to being able to view and handle the equipment in person.
So let's see if I come back from the appointment next week with scathing comments or high praise for her.
Well it's a dog eat dog, eat cat too
The French eat frog, and I eat you
Dog Eat Dog - AC / DC
posted by David R at 4:30 AM
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