I am back now from the NRB, National Religious Broadcasters conference and expo in Nashville this year. My wife goes as she is a writer and I enjoy being a part.
This past week has not seen much in the way of changes. The sound level I thought was going to be deafening when we reprogrammed the device on the 11th has pretty much settled in and seems fine, although I have not tried either a louder or quieter setting.
I still have the “chipmunk” / “Donald Duck” special effect but it does seem to be less, although not a lot less. What’s weird is sometimes it seems I can hear what was said just perfectly, other times I have to concentrate and read lips to some extent. I’m not particularly concerned as I expected it would take a year to get my brain retrained but now I understand it should not take that long. The brain is an incredible processor so I just have to be patient.
Due to peach tree pruning I have done very little ear training this past week, apart from watching TV without my hearing aid and relying on the implant and either lip reading or caption reading. Sometimes someone will say something and it sounds entirely natural / normal. Ten seconds later I’m back to the chipmunks.
Of Batteries And Chargers
I love the implant, I am very positive about it. I get up in the morning and don’t have to put it on, then take it off to get in the shower, then put it on again for the rest of my day, then take it off again when I return to bed in the evening. More importantly, I can hear things at night and that is a real pleasure for me.
I do have some disappointment with the charger, and some suggestions. I am not concerned with the frequency of charging which for me is every 3 days, or 72 hours, or the length of time it takes to charge. That’s all fine, but I do think they could make some changes that would improve the charger device convenience, functionality and reliability significantly.
I was going to make my comments here about the charger but I’ve decided to send them directly to the company, if they ask. They have probably considered all of this already anyway.
These are not deal breakers for me and, for a beta device, understandable, but they should be addressed, at least in my view.
It also would be really nice to have a cell phone app that can change profiles and volumes without having to carry the charger coil around so that when you are away from “home”, you can make changes to the settings and / or turn the implant off if necessary.
All that said, I am ecstatic with the performance of the device so far. Despite the chipmunks, it’s almost as if I just have my natural hearing. That’s incredibly liberating.
3 thoughts on “Weekly Implant Update 02/19”
Thank you for this information Robert. I am a Pastor, recently moved to Idaho from California, Pastoring my 3rd Church. Last year a nurse practitioner (NP) prescribed a steroid that burst blood vessels in my ear, caused deafness and vision problems. My hearing is gone but the inner components are fine. I’ve been recommended by a specialist to get a Conchlear Implant. I hate how ugly these are, but found out about these invisible implants. I use a transcriber now (with reading glasses). I want this Implant, and im following your progress… Thanks Again 👌 😊 🙏
Hi Louis,
I think the Envoy Acclaim is going to be a Godsend for many people. It isn’t like natural hearing, but it is much better than deafness and even hearing aids. So long as your inner ear is OK and the auditory nerve I believe it will be a great blessing for you.
Envoy is hoping to get FDA approval by the end of 2027. I think it should be very likely as there us nothing particularly unique about the technology or procedure that has not been done in some other way, whether it is “traditional” cochlear implants or heart pace makers that have internal batteries.
God bless. Keep me up to date.
Please reply, briefly, so I know you got my message. Email attached with my comment.