Thursday, April 8, 2010

Upgrade information

I just joined a cochlear implant form on yahoo and already someone with a Nucleus 5 has given me lots of information!!

I find the new Nucleus 5 processors are:

- Much more elegant design, look and feel. They are much smaller in size and much lighter on your ear to wear. Much more comfortable. Not that the Freedom wasn’t, but the new processor is better.

- I have found the new microphones on the Nucleus 5 to be more superior (for my listening situations). Also the microphone covers last much longer and are made of a new gortex material and you only have to change them now say every 6 months.

- I have found that the rechargeable batteries are great with the Nucleus 5. You have a choice of stand size (longer battery) or Compact Size (which is shorter and makes the processor even smaller overall). Having said this the standard rechargeable’s last longer in length of hours etc.

- The N5 takes 2 Zinc Air batteries compared to the Freedom taking 3 batteries. I find that with the new processor I get nearly as long battery life with 2 Zinc Air as I did with my Freedoms using 3 Zinc Air.

- The remote control is fantastic and so easy to use. It is even better if you have Bilateral Implants as you can control both processors at the press of one button to change to say Program 3 from Program 1 etc. The remote controls either one processor, or two processors at one time. It gives you the flexibility to adjust from EVERYDAY program to NOISE or BEAM programs very easily and therefore you have a better listening situation if you adjust your programs to suit the environment.

- It also has an Auto turn off feature so that it turns itself off after not being on the ear/head etc after 2 minutes. Handy feature.

- It also has Auto Telecoil feature which is great when at home and the home phone rings. If you have it in Auto-T mode, when you answer the phone the Telecoil turns on automatically and turns off automatically after you hang up thereby enhancing your telephone listening experience. I used to never you Telecoil on my Freedoms as I was to lazy to press the Telecoil button, but now that it is automatic, I use it and can actually hear better on the telephone with it.

- I also find that the new software with Nucleus 5 allows me to hear better in noise. Listening in noisy places is always a bit harder for everyone and something none of us like, but with this new processor I find I survive better in noise.

- Overall I am very happy with the new Nucleus 5. Having said this, you still have to get mapped and tuned to suit you as an individual and it takes time to get your new maps set the way you like them.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Upgrading

While I was at the audiologist last week, I gave her instructions on how she can order an upgrade on my behalf.. which involves paperwork to Cochlear Ltd and my health fund.

But while I was there I got to see the new speech processor which looks lovely and shiny!! It also looks a lot smaller which hopefully means it will not be as heavy on my ear.

So my audiologist put in an order for it the very next day (I am going for the boring beige colour, though the white was very appealling!!) and yesterday I got my paperwork from Cochlear, which I simply hand over to my health fund and they can pay for it!

I already have my new "switch on" day, which is the 30th April. I probably could've had it done a lot earlier but I'm getting married in about 2 weeks and apparently the sound will be different so I think I'll stick with what I know for my Big Day :)

This is perfect timing for an upgrade too as the last couple of days, my speech processor has been cutting out for no reason. I changed the coil over and it seems to have behaved itself since then.

I can not WAIT to get my new speech processor with all it's new features!!!