saw the Wizard of CI's!

Saw the Wizard of CI's (audiologist) today!  I was really hoping to get Advanced Bionic's new Optima programming loaded up onto my processors. No such luck, the laptop the audie brought with her is old, and has the older software on it.  But she is taking my Neptune with her so she can load Optima onto it when she gets back to her office in Denver, and then send it to me. She tested 3 of the electrodes (3, 9, and 15) to make sure the Harmony is programmed in the right spots.  Brought up the middle frequencies a bit more, and voila!  Program 1 is Hi-Res P which is what I had on Program 2; Program 2 is now Hi-Res P with the adjustments, and Program 3 is Hi-Res S with the adjustments as well.  She also tested me real quick in the sound booth.  When the tones were being played, at times I wasn't sure if I was actually hearing the tones with the implant, or if it was the tinnitus in the right ear. Augh!  Tinnitus, why must you be so confusing?!  She also said a few phrases while I was in the booth with just my CI on.  A couple she had to repeat but I was able to repeat them all back to her.  She's still amazed with my progress. She was telling me she really didn't think I'd be able to understand speech with the implant, considering how long the left ear was DEAF for, and the fact I had meningitis which did cause some ossification.  I'm pretty much in awe of my progress too!

I was also able to sit in while a teenager had her CI remapped as well.  She has a Cochlear device, and I've been curious of how other CI brands were programmed.  Very interesting to see the differences in programming options/softwares.  While the audiologist was going through each electrode, the teen had to count the beeps and report to the audiologist how many beeps she heard so the audie could make some adjustments if necessary.  I don't have to do that with AB, and audie says those with MedEl don't have to count the beeps either.  The softwares for AB and MedEl just automatically measures the responses and records them, but Cochlear's doesn't?  I'm not too sure, I missed bits here and there.  Still interesting anyway.  Now, who has a MedEl implant so I can sit in on one of their sessions so I can see how things are done? Ha, kidding.


Anyhoo...  Oh yeah!  I ordered some skins from SkinIt for my processors last month!  I ordered a couple for the Harmony, and one for the Neptune.  Found a 40% discount code online so got 40% off on each skin ordered, which was nice.  Took a while to check out all the different patterns and designs available on the site, but I finally narrowed them down to the three I chose.  You could also add in your own custom graphics/colors/designs/patterns too instead of choosing one already available.  Pretty neat!

Harmony!

Neptune!

the layout of the skins. definitely many more pieces just for the Neptune (including both the controller, and the waterproof cap).