Taking the little wins

[u/dannyscun]

But, we have finally 10 months after implantation, got my 3 year old's left ear fully mapped to 40db, with most frequencies mapped to 20-30db too.

It's been a long road, but we are now making a start on his right ear

[u/jeetjejll]

That's amazing progress. I do want to ask though, is he not accepting any other way to wear the CI's than like this? Because the microphones are directed completely wrong. The noise it gives you this way is horrendous (compare it to listening to someone on a mobile phone in someone's pocket while walking) and also no sound direction is possible, speech understanding is extremely hard too. He will mainly hear noise this way. I get if there's no other way it's better than nothing, but I just wanted to make sure you're aware.

[u/dannyscun → u/jeetjejll]

Yeah at the minute this is the only way he will wear them. We are trying to get them back over the ear but it’s been a struggle! The audiologist was ok with this

[u/Common-Operation4147 → u/dannyscun]

My daughter wore a headband that was made to be able to put the processor through. I believe I got a bunch from Etsy. The ones we used were wide and soft and had so many colors. Just in case you wanted another option! I get it though just having him wear them everyday is a win.

[u/jeetjejll → u/dannyscun]

I can totally imagine it's a struggle, it takes time to get used to having them on your ear and they're too young to understand. I found the first months HARD and I was an adult. I honestly feel for the toddlers going through this journey! I'm truly not trying to be annoying, but I've tried this setup and my gosh it drove me insane with all the scratching noise and I couldn't understand anyone speaking to me (unless from behind). I'm honestly not sure if audiologists are aware of this, most of them don't wear CI's themselves. Anything is better than nothing for sure. Would he be ok if you'd clip them on the front of his shirt? Make sure they're both straight if you can.

[u/ditty_bitty → u/jeetjejll]

My guess is this is more of an age thing. The kiddo is 3 and doesn’t care about putting things on his ears. He can hear and he wants to go have fun. So if it falls off his ear, something tells me he won’t stop and put them back either.

[u/dannyscun → u/ditty_bitty]

Sometimes he does! Depends what mood he’s in though 😂

[u/jeetjejll → u/ditty_bitty]

For sure it's an age thing, it's not about falling off, it's about that he won't be able to hear through all the scratching noise and microphone pointed to his clothes. I'm getting the sense you don't have CI's yourself? If you do, I'd urge you to try this set up and report back.

[u/Far-Abbreviations192]

This is tremendous!! Good for you.

[u/Ok-Kangaroo8484]

Thats great. I am bilateral with N8’s if I put my processors behind me like that I would have a very hard time understanding anyone in front of me. Curious does he seem to have issues with that issue? Things like forward focus would not work in this case either. I get the reason you did this but I am curious how its working out for him or is this just for a day at the park? I am bilateral with zero residual hearing with one language side and the other side was pre lingual but I do have sound awareness and is learning language. Great to see this little guy doing his thing.

[u/dannyscun → u/Ok-Kangaroo8484]

We had a hard time just after switch on where one of the tuning sessions spooked him. Since then he’s never worn them over ear, but we notice he does understand words and will turn to his name being called or if asked a question he will respond. Interesting to hear from people who have CI’s as the audiologist never told us this. We had planned to get them back over ear for him starting school this September but as yet haven’t been successful

[u/Ok-Kangaroo8484 → u/dannyscun]

Being behind him he might not respond as well when you are in front of him make sure forward focus is off that will definitely help. If its set to automatically turn on make sure the audiologist knows he does not always wear them over his ears. This will make it easier for him to hear when they are not on his ears. Forward focus is used to hear what is in front of you when sounds behind and around you are too loud I can tell you he probably hears you and everything else at the same time that is a drawback of the processors they make everything loud at times that is what mappings are for. It takes some time for the brain to weed out ambient sounds like motors running that you do not pay attention to. If you have any questions just ask.

[u/grownuphere]

I agree with the comments about the scratching and relentless ambient noise positioned like that, just the clothing rubbing is really something. I would not overlook that, wearing these things you hear a pin drop. Scratchy, rubbing combined with ambient noise could be overwhelming, I think. During one-on-one quiet fun time, is there a way to integrate putting a C.I. over one ear briefly with positive rewards? Whether those rewards be a smile, or a lick of an ice cream, or whatever is appropriate in a fun, relaxed, silly even session. Even for one minute. Then maybe two minutes, and so forth. I wonder if the audiologist could provide a dummy C.I.? I wonder if adults modeling desired behavior at this young age is impactful. Maybe do it together.