This is now my second regular weekly report on the Envoy Acclaim completely embedded cochlear implant clinical trial in which I am a patient.
A little over a week ago I cranked to Profile 4 and started to crank up the volume. Not quite sure why I decided increasing both the volume and sensitivity were a good idea, but I did. With the sensitivity turned up I do get more noise but I am able to tolerate it so it does not bother me.
I keep the volume turned up to about 80% of max. I figured I can’t do any damage so why not and I’ll see what impact it has.
What I have found is that with the implant turned up, my overall impression of the sound I am hearing is not as affected by my hearing aid ear so I have a much stronger Donald Duck sounding meld of both sound sources. If I listen hard I can hear them as two different sources but under normal listening, they merge into a single, almost mono, channel.
I have continued with my hour of piano per day, I know, it was supposed to be half an hour, and also, although not as regular, my relative pitch ear training.
So far, my appreciation of music has greatly improved and I actually went and rehearsed with a couple of people and had little trouble.
On the other hand, my speech comprehension seems to be a little more iffy. Sometimes it seems like I can hear and comprehend really well and then other times I have to really concentrate. I am spending some time intentional listening with captions but the captions are so often wrong I am better off lip reading. My overall impression is that I don’t have to concentrate as hard as I did a week ago and comprehension overall has improved.
As far as the Acclaim design and use goes, I love it. It’s like I’m just “normal” with my two ears with my hearing somewhat improved and I’m not “wearing” anything. For me that’s a real bonus.
This morning when I was charging the battery I was thinking it would be nice to have a battery pack you can just replace so have one charging on a desk somewhere while you use the other. The problem of course is that now you are “wearing” something again, the battery. Although charging the battery in my chest isn’t much of an inconvenience or uncomfortable it would be nice to not have to do it, but compared to having to “wear” and carry an external battery, charging my chest is much preferable.
Nothing else much to report. Charging takes about three hours and lasts about 2 days and 3 nights, on full time. Which I really like.
Overall, I would rate this 8 out of 10 stars, the remaining 2 pending being able to plug my hearing aid ear and rely on the implant for speech comprehension. When that day arrives I will definitely plan to have my other ear implanted.
7 thoughts on “Cochlear Implant Weekly Report”
I am single sided deaf in left ear with very minimal residual hearing on high frequencies. About implant, I still can’t decide if I should go for external CI like Med El or wait for Acclaim to be commercially available. It’s the natural sound quality Med El boasts bs the discreteness of Acclaim. So, can you please throw some light on what’s the overall sound quality both for speech and music? Is it very robotic and only in high frequencies or you can hear a lot lows and basses?
i am going to answer your question as best I can in a new post right now.
Here is a link: Answer To Your Sound Quality Question
Addy, I lost 80% hearing in L ear on/around April 26, 2024. Can hear almost no high frequencies. While doing research about Med-El, Advanced Bionics, and Cochlear I stumbled upon Envoy’s Acclaim trial.
I was advised its better to get a CI ASAP so the brain adjusts quicker.
I decided to take a risk and watch updates for Acclaim. I still continue to watch updates, but if the device doesn’t end up being FDA approved I’m getting a traditional implant ASAP.
Its up to you if you get implanted now or wait/watch for updates for the Acclaim. Atm Acclaim’s trial criteria requires a candidate not being previously implanted. This could change if they end up being commercially approved.
Hi CN,
Thanks for responding to Addy’s question. There will be other people too that really appreciate it.
My hearing loss was gradual, until I contracted a virus in my right ear and I woke the following morning with almost no hearing in it and what was there was distorted. The otolaryngologist I finally got to see said “if you had come in within a week I would have given you a steroid shot and there is an 85 – 90% chance you would not have lost your hearing”. I had gone in the day after but the urgent care Dr. insisted I had tinnitus, which I had already lived with for 30+ years so I knew he was wrong.
As far as the brain is concerned…it is my understanding that the minute you start to lose your hearing, it starts to effect your brain. That said, I don’t know to what extent because the people I’ve met who were deaf don’t appear to me to be deficient other than they can’t hear. Also, your audiologist won’t refer you for a CI until they really don’t feel they can help, so you have been experiencing whatever it is for a number of years already, most likely, so another 12 months is not likely to make a significant difference.
Anyway, that has been my experience, as far as I know it. People now ask me if I am going to implant my left ear, which is as profoundly deaf as my right was. My answer to that is, when the Acclaim becomes FDA approved and I have no problem with speech with my implant ear. Currently music sounds fine and my right ear tinnitus is seriously reduced, but I’m only 3 to 4 weeks in and speech comprehension is still an effort and Donald Duck still goes with me everywhere I go :).
Robert H., ah yes I read your previous post about Donald Duck sounding speech.
From what you wrote seems like you went to a doctor (urgent care in this case) the next day after onset of complete hearing loss/virus but this doctor did not administer a steroid shot (???)
Then you were able to see a otolaryngologist over a week later but by that time it was too late.
Maybe some of these other deaf individuals were born deaf and without tinnitus(?). Because tinnitus is very distracting, just makes focusing more difficult.
Well… I have no clue if Acclaim will actually be approved but I hope all goes well for all 46 participants. And if it is approved and ends up working for you then there’s no reason you shouldn’t get implanted in the L ear! 🙂
BTW there’s a Facebook group specifically for Envoy Acclaim and Esteem patients.
‘Envoy Esteem and Acclaim Patients Group’
Hey man.. That is a good report.. Similar to my early experiences with conventional CIs..
Clarity came with volume for me .. I was cranked to 10 on my second or third day after activation, and wanted more.. We squeezed more volume at subsequent mappings , and clarity and speech recognition steadily improved…
And imo .. That blending of the two streams into one is a good indication that adaptation is going well. That means binaural summation is happening and that is a very good thing.. I did not achieve that bimodally after my first implant with my old HA.. Remained two separate streams… Which is why I went bilateral asap.. If I had gave it more time it probably would’ve settled in eventually..
But I’m very happy with my decision to go bilateral.. Binaural hearing did kick in after several months, and I have a decent sense of location and spatial awareness now, which is really cool..
Your music rehab sounds like it’s going great for the short amount of time you’ve been activated.. Rock on.
Thanks Kelly. I am very happy so far. It’s not perfect but compared to what I had, it’s awesome 🙂
God bless.