A first post is supposed to be an "introduceyourself" one. Well I'm going to begin by saying I'm many things, but for me it’s easy to fall into the trap to make one aspect carry more weight than the other aspects that make up my identity. I'm now exploring outside of that, nevertheless, I'm still going to say that I'm profoundly deaf since birth and had a cochlear implant since I was 2 years old. I can tell you that the cochlear speech processor devices have changed so much since I was two years old. I would like to share my hearing journey, starting with my first speech processor and giving my review and a rating of how much I liked each one. Alright, here we go.
Sprint speech processor
This was my very first. With anything it starts big and bulky. I had to wear it in a mini backpack. The battery were good old-fashioned AA rechargeable batteries. Honestly, I don’t know how I ran around with that thing. Fortunately, I was very young and don’t remember much, it probably sounded terrible, but even at that age I never threw tantrums about it because I appreciated the hearing it gave me thanks to my mum’s persistence. For a 2-year-old, to recognise the importance of it by putting the brown magnet (i.e. coil) back on my head whenever it fell off is surprising. This apparently surprised doctors who didn’t believe my mum that I put my cochlear back on, since most kids at that age don’t.
For my appreciation of it even though I’m laughing at the old technology I rate it a 3 out of 5. I mean all good things have to start from somewhere, right?
This was my second speech processor. I loved this one because it sat behind my ear, the batteries were smaller and the case that covered those batteries came in a set of different colours. I remember I had blue, I never used any of the other colours like purple, grey or green. I can’t remember all the other colours as I wore blue all the time. If I can recall correctly the batteries lasted 3 days each little battery was a day. I definitely remember saying it made people sound like Santa clause.
The compactness and fun it offered me with colour choices was a big plus for a 6 year old and I adjusted to the sound which was really weird at first. 4 out of 5 stars.
Now before I go to my next speech processor, I would like to explain the image above. This is the actual cochlear implant which is surgically implanted in my head. It’s essentially a magnet for the external speech processor magnet to connect. When I was about 7 years old my internal device broke, the see-through plastic area of the implant had cracked, liquid was getting into it affecting the magnet. This was a first of its kind and no one could figure out what was wrong. I was constantly complaining that I was getting static noises and zaps which we latter found was caused by me walking or sitting on carpet. This was basically everyday at school, the classrooms had carpet. Teachers were sceptical of me as they thought I was using my cochlear as an excuse to get out of class. This to be honest was fair because I didn’t really complain as much at home, however my home had floorboards. I don’t really understand how floor surfaces affected my cochlear implant and consequently my speech processor, but it did. This led to another operation and was one of the first to receive the latest speech processor.
Freedom speech processor
I found it cool that it had a screen to see my programs, however I now find that as unnecessary. This processor was fat, and it protruded from my ear causing my ear to feel cramped and sore. However, the sound was so much better than the other processors and I distinctly remember hearing new sounds for the first time, like the boiling kettle. I had this processor for a particularly long time with zero maintenance which later my audiologist said I was lucky.
The physical sizing was not great but as a kid at the time I was not bothered by it too much. The sound however was great so a 4 out 5 stars.
(Disclaimer: all the images above are from google images except for the picture with the blue bag. All these cochlear are in storage and I cannot access them as I’m away from home. The proceeding images are from my phone as they are with me as backup processors)
The Nucleus 5
I absolutely adored this processor; the sound was great, and it was thin with overnight recharge on a charging dock and disposable battery options. The entire bottom part was a battery that I charge much like a phone. This was my favourite, nevertheless, there was one downside, it would stop working on very humid days, or when I did intense exercising such as playing soccer being drenched in sweat. I could mitigate it by sticking in what is called a dehumidifier to clear all the humidity and dry clean it from all the sweat. It required a bit of maintenance. It also had a waterproof covering, but the plastic was a bit uncomfortable as it would dig into my ear.
Regardless of those issues it’s a 5 out of 5 stars! Absolutely loved it.
Nucleus 6
This was a terrible cochlear for me. The sound was horrid and had an automatic noise reduction scanner when it detects loud background noise. I hated this, it felt like they were denying me hearing. I know this is an exaggeration, but I was incensed when background noise of cars, buses, trains and all other forms of transportation on our roads was reduced. This was very dangerous as not hearing vehicles can cause an accident, especially since I’m used to hearing everything! One of the few good things about this one was it had a waterproof case that was more like rubber sleeve rather than a plastic covering, so it was more comfortable for me around water. The sound took a long time to get used to and was just eagerly waiting for my next upgrade.
All in all 2 out of 5 stars. Disappointing.
A sidenote before I get into my current one, both nucleus 5 and 6 had remote controls for volume control and phone mode but I never used it. It felt weird, the idea of controlling my hearing. Hearing people tend to find it really cool to turn down the volume when someone is being annoying. However, I don’t like it because it just didn’t feel natural, I felt a bit like a computer.
The nucleus 7 is my current one. This one is very light and small on my ear that’s why I added an ear hook to make it feel more secure. The sound is awesome, and the battery is no longer 2-3 days but rather 5 days on disposable batteries. It also lasts 2-3days on rechargeable which nucleus 5 and 6 only did about 18-20 hours. The battery life is amazing. It has a waterproof rubber sleeve casing and instead of a remote control there is an app on my phone. The app is great, and I got over my weird feelings about the remote-control settings. I can control volumes and turn on ‘forward focus’ to hear people in noisy situations which is a new feature. There is Bluetooth so I can wirelessly stream music to my devices and control how much background noise I have when I’m listening to videos or music on my phone or computer. Bluetooth applies to calls as well and for the first time I am very confident on the phone with people because it is crystal clear with no static sounds.
The one word to describe this upgrade is freakish. It is too good to be true. So far, I can’t find any down sides but there are things I have to be careful about. For instance, listening to music on a jog, since its wireless and no one can see cords or earplugs and the music is loud and clear in my ear or more accurately in my head. This can cause frustrations for people around me. My family has endlessly complained that I’m ignoring them as they can’t tell that I’m listening to something. Despite that, I love these new hearing abilities. Unlike the other processors which all had limitations, I can truly call this processor the bionic ear.
5 out of 5 stars, hands down the best of the best. Even better than the nucleus 5.
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Damn, you almost make me wish I had a bionic ear.
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Fascinating. My brother @danclarke has bilateral cochlear implants, but got them as an adult. Crazy to see how far they've come and to wonder where it'll all end up. Sounds like they'll struggle to outdo your current setup.
The technology has reached incredible heights but I've been told Cochlear is aiming for the device to be completely internal. Regardless, I do hope for cool new hearing abilities lol.
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Hey there, really interesting to read about your experience with the various models! I was implanted in 2006 and have used the Freedom, N5, N6 and currently N7. For me the N5 to N6 was the greatest change in sound quality and the N7 then opened me up to more comfortable phone conversations finally. I look forward to reading about some other aspects of your identity in the future:)
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Thanks! It seems we have similar experiences 😄 N6 was definitely a big change.