Adult implantees have increased from around 120 to around 250 in number. We now service both public and private implantees, after Bay Audiology ceased providing the private service in August.
Leonard Healy’s presence as our second audiologist has been very welcome (it’s great to hear some of you correctly pick his accent! I believe it’s helpful for clients to be exposed to different voices to ‘practice on’ when you’re here with us). We are still very busy indeed with two audiologists.
The number of appropriate referrals we assess for implant candidacy is increasing, so the surgical waiting list grows. In other words, most people who reach formal assessment are now good candidates. We review any local information supplied with each referral and request more information as necessary before booking the formal CI assessment appointment. It costs up to $1000 for an assessment, which is also time-intensive for the clinicians involved, therefore early sorting out of information about people referred is good use of limited resources and taxpayer funds. Unfortunately Government funding for new implants did not increase, so our waiting list gets longer.
Penny’s second implant towards the end of 2008 was very significant – with one MedEl, and one Cochlear device – she’s so helpful for we audiologists, because the increasing variety of devices we work with presents tough challenges: for troubleshooting equipment problems, as well as for keeping correct amounts of current spare parts. We can write Penny’s MAP into any suspect processor and get her opinion of the sound quality, which lends weight to your complaint if she validates it. I try to give her no clues!
Overall, our implantees’ performance appears to be increasing, and so our expectations increase! To me, it seems that fewer of you are now ‘too scared’ to use the phone than was the case 2 years ago. Indeed many are enthusiastic users of MP3 players, cellphones and other devices. CI users also seem to me, on average, somewhat more reliant on hearing and a bit less on lip-reading. I have tried hard over the past 2½ years to get you all to ‘own’ your MAPs:
- To understand the truly co-operative approach required in MAPping, since nobody except you knows ‘how loud?’ Your audiologist cannot set your levels well, without your feedback!
- That the levels we set together, “the MAP”, determine boundaries: for your detection of sound, and also your comfort for loud sounds, so it’s important to get them right.
- That your brain uses that information for listening, to achieve your hearing outcome.
Fewer users now ask me to ‘tweak’ their MAP without actually being present, and fewer people seem to be scared of MAPping, so I feel pleased this approach has largely been successful.
My goal in MAPping is: for you as implantees to experience sounds as normally hearing people do. It’s not good for relationships if your family thinks “Wow, that’s SO loud, I wish they’d be quiet”, while you think “that’s really comfortable”, and go around annoying others. Problems arise too if normal environmental sounds violate your comfort. Conversely, if you can’t hear soft sounds as being soft, you miss out on valuable information.
While client numbers are generally on the increase, a few have left for other places, a very few became non-users for various reasons, and sadly, some have died. We miss them.
NB It’s quite OK to take your publicly-funded processor & associated equipment with you if going to live overseas. But please remember that publicly-funded equipment is actually owned by the Programme. Therefore if you are not using it, for whatever reason, we’d like to receive it back for use as a loaner. (This also applies to private implantees, who by definition actually own their devices).
In two cases over the past year, deceased users were buried with their speech processors on! This probably occurred because the relatives did not know the cost of the equipment, and that they could help others by returning it.
My last working day is 17th December; I’m taking a good break away from Christchurch this year. Don’t forget to order your batteries and other consumables in good time! Seasons Greetings and Good Listening to you All.
Beth Kempen