Troubleshooting Cochlear Implant | Processor Will Not Turn On

By Eric Sherman

Have you ever placed a fully charged battery into your cochlear implant processor only to find out it doesn’t power up? 

Dirt on battery terminal

In a blog story, AAA Batteries For Cochlear Implant Processors, I wrote about how rechargeable batteries can lose their capability to store a charge above 750 milliamps (mAh). When this happens the processor tends to turn on and then shut down or may not power on at all.  Well there may be another issue with the battery that can fool you into thinking your processor has gone bad.

Over time, the processor’s battery terminals can become dirty.  When this happens, the dirt forms a barrier between the battery and the processor’s battery terminals preventing your processor from turning on.

This happened to my son’s processor.  After a weekend of totally refreshing the rechargeable batteries, one of his processors didn’t power on.  I knew the batteries were good because they all tested above 900 mAh and they worked in the other processor.  Plus, my son had recently seen his audiologist for a mapping session and all his equipment checked out.  I thought I was going to have to buy a new processor because his is out of warranty.

Materials to Clean AB Neptune Processor

My son is bilaterally implanted and wears Advanced Bionics Neptune processors on a daily basis.  The Neptune processors are very durable, so it is hard to imagine that it would die from everyday use.

When examining the processor, I noticed what looked like a scuff mark on the brass battery terminal.  I grabbed a Q-tip and 91% isopropyl alcohol and cleaned the terminals in the processor.  The scuff mark came right off.  After making sure everything looked clean, I popped in a fully charged battery and the processor powered right up and has been working ever since. 

Practicing good maintenance on your hearing devices will help them last and stay in good working order. Make sure you follow your manufacturer’s instructions on maintenance and troubleshoot before you start looking at replacing your device. It might just save you time and a lot of money.

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Don't Risk Losing Cochlear Implant Processors When Swimming

Recently, this story was sent to us by an audiology group about one of their patients who was surfing with cochlear implants while on vacation.

A storm was brewing, and a large wave pulled off my son's entire cochlear implant processor and headpiece. Devastated, he swam in to tell me, but searching for it was nearly impossible in the strong surf. For the next 3 days while the storm raged, I went down to the shore and watched the pattern of the wind and the waves. On my family's last day of vacation, the storm had finally subsided so the I decided to snorkel near some rocks the waves had been hitting. During one dive as a wave pulled away sand from the floor of the ocean, the dad saw something red under a rock. When I swam down to investigate, I found the processor still connected to the headpiece, which was stuck under the rock! When I  pulled on the processor, the headpiece would not budge. I knew that I was running out of air and if he went back to the surface to get a breath, another wave would come and bury the device again. So, I gave one final tug which pulled the headpiece free. I returned to the surface with the entire device! As if finding the processor after 3 days in the ocean was not amazing enough, my family was astounded to see that it still worked!

This is a truly amazing story with a happy ending, but many families and individuals around the world are not as lucky. Some people clip their processor to some part of their clothing only to find it lost after being tossed by a wave, or crashing on mountain bike. Mishaps during recreational activities happen. Unfortunately, for people with cochlear implants those mishaps can be very costly. 

As a parent of a child with bilateral cochlear implants, our greatest fear came when our son participated in any activity where there was a chance he could lose his processors. We became helicopter parents even though we never wanted to limit our child’s ability to participate in any activity. As a result of this problem, we created the Ci Wear shirt.

Ci Wear makes specialty shirts designed to secure and help protect cochlear implant processor(s). It has patented pockets that include elastic bands to clip the processor to and a button hole inside of the pocket to run the sound cord under the shirt. This reduces the risk of a wave, hard fall or crash knocking off your processor(s).

If you have ever spent money on a case to protect your cellphone, then a Ci Wear shirt is for you. It is the perfect accessory for your cochlear implant processor(s), and gives you the security, comfort, and confidence to participate in and enjoy all types of activities without the fear of losing your device.

#swimming #cochlearimplants #Secure #CiWear 

IS THERE AN "I" IN IEP

By Eric Sherman

According to the Department of Education, “each public school child who receives special education and related services must have an Individualized Education Program (IEP). Each IEP must be designed for one student and must be a truly individualized document.

To create an effective IEP, parents, teachers, other school staff--and often the student--must come together to look closely at the student's unique needs. These individuals pool knowledge, experience and commitment to design an educational program that will help the student be involved in, and progress in, the general curriculum. The IEP guides the delivery of special education supports and services for the student with a disability. Without a doubt, writing--and implementing--an effective IEP requires teamwork.” 

If the IEP is designed to be a collaborative process, why are parents always fighting for their child to receive appropriate services or school placement? 

We have learned over the years it doesn’t matter what the IEP team recommends, it comes down to what the school or the District wants to offer and the parent agreeing or disagreeing with the offer.

The first time we were hit with this reality was when we were requesting more speech for our son in a very contentious IEP meeting over speech services.  Our son has bilateral cochlear implants and is on the autism spectrum.  His co-occurring disability poses a lot of challenges, so we argued our facts and reasons why more speech was needed. The speech therapist, who never worked with our son or had conducted an assessment, explained to us that our son was being offered the same amount of speech as all the other students receive.  Needless to say, we jumped on the statement claiming the IEP was not individualized to our son, but predetermined by the District. The school district agreed to the additional speech hours, but has been trying to change our son’s speech services in every IEP since. 

We have found over the years, our IEP teams have not always been made up of knowledgeable school personnel looking to develop an educational program that is individualized to our son’s needs. We’ve had to fight school administrators, who’ve never met our son or lack any understanding about his disabilities as well as school service providers, who’ve never worked with our son, then write IEP goals and suggest inappropriate services.  We’ve even had school placement offered to us, when no one on the IEP team even knew anything about the program being offered.

For the most part, schools and school districts will do their best to create an IEP for a child with special needs within the bounds of their budgets, personnel, services and programs they have available.  But individualizing a program outside those limits becomes a real fight for parents.

If an educational program is to be truly individualized to the student’s needs as the law intends, those on the IEP team (including parents) need to be fully knowledgeable and have a good understanding of the student’s disability and their needs. It is imperative for the IEP team to know about all available services and school programs that appropriately address the student’s individual need without prejudice.

As long as schools districts consider limits on what they can offer students with disabilities, the “I” in IEP will always be hard to define. Parents have to be knowledgeable advocates for their child to make sure the "I" means individual. 

Please feel free to leave a question or comment about your child’s IEP and we will be happy to respond.  The more parents share, the better prepared we are to help our children with special needs.

Cochlear Implant Experience – Leah's Story and Review of Ci Wear

Leah, who’s a bilateral cochlear implant recipient shares about her 20th Wedding Anniversary Trip to Australia and how Ci Wear helped enhance her experience.

Hello Rock Stars of the Ci Wear Team,

I must admit that these few experiences I am sharing here - would have been very different deaf.  For the two separate days that we did these excursions, I wore my Bilateral CI Advanced Bionics Neptune processors all day. The CI Wear shirt is so comfortable.

1. Snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef - the view was indeed inspiring - the colors were awesome, almost unfathomable the diverse landscape - but the sounds!  The water, the biologists guided talks, the snorkeling-helpers! I was really glad I could hear the helpers...  When I first sat on the edge of the platform and peeked into the water, it was so clear it looked like I was on the top of a skyscraper, I thought I was going to fall right down to the bottom! I heard all of the snorkeling helpers' reassuring words and direction when they were putting on my lifejacket and directing me on the placement of how to hold my swim noodle.  They even gave me a snorkel tube with red-tape, in case my head pieces fell off and I was in distress.  - But guess what?  THE CI HEAD PIECES STAYED IN PLACE!  And it is funny now, thinking out it… I was soooo nervous about ME falling, but was never in fear that my CIs would end up at the bottom of the ocean - as they were tucked in your fabulous shirt!

 

CI devices secured in Ci Wear shirt sleeve pockets

2. THE BEST EXPERIENCE WITH CI WEAR. We did the bridge climb in Sydney! It turns out the bridge form you fill out asks if you wear Hearing aids.  You can not wear hearing aids on the climb as they will blow off your head.  I explained that I wear CIs and that I would be okay on the climb with my CI Wear shirt.  They called over the head of security and the manager of the climb-office.  I demonstrated showing them the CI Wear pockets, the Neptune clips secured to the white bands, the pockets, the wire-feed section and from the processor to the magnetic head pieces.  And then without missing a beat - I said, “And if there IS a big-huge wind that does blow the magnets off my head... - (without stopping my words, I swept both my hands against my scalp - you should’ve seen their eyes!) … they are safe and secure, as they are tethered to me, and I can simple click the magnets together and toss them in my shirt. (and there they were, my CIs safe and sound).  The manager and security chief were SOOOO impressed!  They had never seen anything like it!  They commented how very well prepared I was to do the bridge climb!  We were in the front of the group and I heard the guide, the cars on the bridge, the commuter trains, and my husband’s romantic words at the top of the bridge, and my son’s woo-hoos when we completed this incredible activity!  www.bridgeclimb.com

Feeling like you're on top of the world when you can hear "Down Under."

3. When we got home the garden was very overgrown and a part of the fencing needed repair - the shirt was great. I could work up a sweat digging around, and I could dance around to my Spotify music playing on my phone, and all the while my CIs were safe and sound!

During work secure your CI with Ci Wear

Once again, thank you and many blessings to your company!

Get out there and hear!!!!

- Leah P

If you are looking for a comfortable wearing option that secures your cochlear implants try a Ci Wear shirt.  Visit us at  www.ciwear.com.

#cochlearimplants #CIShirt #Snorkling #hearing

SWIMMING WITH COCHLEAR IMPLANTS IS IMPORTANT FOR WATER SAFETY

By Eric Sherman

For many people, swimming is a fun and refreshing activity…especially when it’s hot. For parents, (like us), with a child who is profoundly deaf, swimming can be quite challenging, nerve racking and scary.

When trying to beat the heat, we head to the beach and my son loves to swim in the ocean looking for fish.  He will chase them by diving through waves and swimming away from the shore. I often find myself in the water for hours making sure he is safe.  It is exhausting and frightening trying to keep him from drifting to far down the beach and/or getting caught up in the current or swimming into large sets of waves. 

Thankfully, he wears waterproof bilateral cochlear implant processors and can hear instructions about where to swim and when to come in, etc.  This has been extremely helpful in keeping our son water safe! It also enables us to do more water sports, like surfing and body boarding.  We do check his devices periodically to make sure they are on and working.  Sound quality is not a concern as long as he can hear his name and follow instructions.  

If you’re having problems getting your child to wear their CI device in the water because of sound quality, comfort or wearing configuration options… then try to find solutions that will help make them comfortable in the water with their device.  It’s a safety issue more than anything else. It’s important for your child to be able to hear lifeguards, other people, oncoming boats or personal watercrafts and especially you.  When my son was swimming looking at fish, he was drifting to far from me; I yelled his name, his head popped up out of the water. I told him to swim back towards me and he did.  Without the ability to hear, we would probably limit his swimming activities.  Swimming is therapeutic for our son, so this would not be a good thing.

In our house, we make wearing cochlear implant processors mandatory in the water like wearing sun block.  Most cochlear implant manufactures offer a water configuration for their devices.  In time your child will get use to and understand any sound differences in the water, but make sure they are comfortable. There are wearing options such as hats and arm bands, etc.  Our son wears a Ci Wear shirt.  It's a sun protected swim shirt designed to secure and help protect cochlear implant processors. If your child isn't comfortable wearing their processors in the water find a wearing option that works for you.  In the end, your child needs to hear to be safe and being comfortable will likely lead to a more enjoyable experience.  

#swimming #beach #cochlearimplant #watersafe #Kids 

                                                                                                                                      

Ci Wear is a patented shirt designed to secure and help protect cochlear implant (CI) processors and other mobile listening devices. Use as a rash guard, swim shirt or an exercise apparel. For more information visit www.ciwear.com

Troubleshooting Neptune Processor Water Leak | Battery Compartment

By Eric Sherman

My son uses an Advanced Bionics Neptune sound processors daily.  We have a white battery cap for the left side, and red battery cap for the right.  This was the easiest way for us to know which processor was programmed for which side of the head. 

We found over time water leaked into the battery compartment, and the battery would begin to rust.  This was very concerning to us.  We thought how could the seal start breaking down so quickly?  What we discovered was the battery cap was cracked.  

We found the cap had developed a micro crack on the end.  You could only see it when you pulled outward on the sides of the cap (pictured). The crack most likely developed over time from daily use, and from attaching the processor clip. 

We decided to replace the daily use caps with new caps dedicated just for swimming. We picked a different color not to mix up the caps.  Ever since we started changing caps for swimming, we have not had any problems with water leaks.

If you find water getting into your battery compartment, check for small cracks and make sure the gasket around the processor is free of debris.  Also, consider using different caps when swimming if you use the Neptune processor for everyday use.  

Please read our story Troubleshooting Cochlear Implant | Processor Will Not Turn On if you find rust in battery compartment after water use.

#CiWear is a shirt designed for cochlear implant (CI) processors and other listening devices. Use as a rash guard, swim shirt or an exercise apparel.