Acclaim Cochlear Implant Update

I thought I would just post a quick update as I have not done so in a while.

I believe my comprehension with the implant continues to improve. I am spending more time without my hearing aid in my left ear and I can cope reasonably well without it.

Music generally still sounds weird but I think there is a degree to which even that is improving.

I have an appointment on the 10th, the 9 month optional appointment, which I decided I would go to. I am expecting that any tests will show that my comprehension has improved and will post another update when I get back.

The charger is still a problem. 2nd to last occasion of charging I charged my implant, turned the charger off. I came back to it 2 days later and turned the charger on to see if it had enough power to charge the implant and it said 57%. So I turned it off again. Then I decided I would charge the charger so plugged it in. The charger turns on when you plug it in and at that point it said “Alert, the charger battery has 3%, plug it in now”. I’m paraphrasing, but clearly the firmware in the charger is junk and needs to be fixed.

I’ve raised this issue with Envoy 3 times since my last appointment and they’ve done nothing about it, so far as I can tell, including not responding to my last 2 emails on the subject.

As I see it, I have taken a serious risk in order to help Envoy develop this technology. The least they can do is acknowledge when problems are reported. It makes me wonder, if the charger firmware is so flaky, what kind of bugs are sitting in the processor ?

Other than that, I am very happy 🙂