Trying the Aqua+ Accessory

Today I offered to take my son and his friend to the neighborhood pool, which is only two doors down from our house.  For most people, embarking on such adventure would be no big deal, but when you have a hearing loss and wear a cochlear implant or a hearing aid, you have to think ahead.  

This was the first time I went to the pool with my CI and I wanted to try out my aqua+ accessory. With my CI protected in the aqua+, I could be fully emerged in the water up to 10 feet under, for up to two hours.  While I had no plans to do anything like that, I was still excited try out my new accessory.  

I pulled out my Cochlear America suitcase that holds my batteries, accessories, and more gadgets and paraphernalia than anyone knows what to do with.  I jokingly call it a suitcase because it's a bag the size of a small carry-on piece of luggage.  Until today I kept all the original boxes that everything came in because I didn't know how to store everything.  I didn't feel comfortable letting little pieces of equipment that cost hundreds of dollars lie in a big compartment where they could easily get lost or ruined.  Today I reorganized and got rid of a few of the boxes, but I still need to develop some kind of an organizational system for all the little pieces.

Last month at the SayWhatClub convention I talked to a lady who had the aqua+ accessory and she told me that it would only work with a particular battery.  Of course, when I went to put everything together today I couldn't remember which battery it was -- the rechargeable or the disposable.  I started with the disposable battery pack, got it all assembled so it looked like the picture above.  I got it in place, it beeped like it always does, telling me what program it was on, and voila!  I could hear.  I probably had it on only a few minutes before it started making a weird beeping noise.  I had never heard it do that so I knew something was wrong.  After fiddling with it to no avail, I figured I had picked the wrong battery.  This is when I discovered a minor pain when using the aqua+:  if you make a mistake like I did, you have to take the entire thing apart.  Once I put on the rechargeable battery, though, it worked perfectly.  

I took out my hearing aid, warned the boys I was only hearing out of my left ear, and off we went.  I didn't actually swim or get fully emerged.  I went into the pool and sat down on the steps, something I never would have done when I wore hearing aids.  The nice thing was I didn't stress out about it, I knew everything was okay.  The next trip to the pool I'll get the CI wet.  Really, I will.  I'll have my son purposely splash the left side of my head, which being a twelve year-old boy I'm sure he will be happy to oblige.  By the end of summer I will be completely in the water with my CI in the aqua+.  

If you don't wear hearing aids or a CI you probably think I'm being overly cautious.  After decades of wearing hearing aids that cost thousands of dollars, I've become a little paranoid when it comes to getting my ears wet. So I need to approach this in steps.  Baby steps.

Hearing Loops and T-Coils

You may have noticed I haven't posted in a few weeks.  No, make that a month.  Shortly after dealing with a family emergency I went to the annual SayWhatClub (SWC) convention, which was held in San Antonio May 13-17.  All of us that went feel fortunate that the con wasn't a week later or we all would have started building a modern-day ark.

The meeting room at the convention hotel was looped as has been the case at the three previous cons I attended.  This was the first year that I took advantage of it.  Prior to flying to Texas I went to Boise Speech & Hearing and had my hearing aid audiologist set a program so I could manually switch to the T-coil setting.  I knew I had a T-coil in my hearing aid, but it was set up to automatically switch to the telecoil only when using the phone. It seems as though the hearing aid processor automatically adjusts to the T-coil settings only for phone use since that is predominantly why people use T-coils.  I also made sure I knew how to switch my CI into the T-coil.  I believe there was a way to do it directly on the processor, but I decided to use my remote control because it was easier for me and I didn't have to remember what button to use on the processor.

After sitting in the first workshop for a few minutes I remembered I needed to switch my hearing aid and CI to the T-coil program.  I started with my hearing aid, pushing the program button until I heard two beeps indicating it was in the second program, the T-coil.  Instantly, the speaker's voice was right in my ear.  So amazing!  Then I pushed the T-coil button on the side of my CI's remote and voila!  I was listening in stereo!  The sound was synced and the speaker's voice was crystal clear.  Who needs extra listening devices when you have T-coils and a loop system?

So what is a hearing loop?   A hearing loop, or induction loop, is a wire that goes around the perimeter of a room and is connected to a sound system, allowing the sound to be transmitted electromagnetically straight to the telecoil in your hearing aid or CI.

 Europe has been on the hearing loop bandwagon for years.  As a matter of fact, in 2003, at the beginning of the program to honor the 50th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's coronation, an announcement was made to remind people wearing hearing aids to switch them to the telecoil setting. You can even find loop systems in the back seats of a taxi in London and the departure area of Gatwick airport.  It sounds like one more reason I need to get to England.  I need to try all the looped public areas and report back! 

In the meantime, here are some articles and websites that will provide you with more information about hearing loops:

http://www.hearingloss.org/content/loop-technology 

http://www.hearingloop.org/fq_preferred.htm

To sample the difference in sound quality with a loop, click on the video on this website:
http://hearingloopsystems.com/hear/