Choosing A Cochlear Implant – Is Your Provider Giving You All The Information?

By Eric Sherman

Recently, I found myself in a Facebook group chat discussing how someone decided on their cochlear implant.  The person shared that they “naively” went along with their surgeons recommendations.  Fortunately, the implant worked out well for the person, but it raised an interesting question.  How much influence does the healthcare provider have over the individual’s decision in selecting a cochlear implant brand? 

I posed this question in several cochlear implant Facebook Groups. What influenced your decision to choose a specific brand? And why?  177 people responded and interestingly 60% of those respondents stated their choice was influenced by the cochlear implant center (hospital included), audiologist, and surgeon.  This is reasonable considering people generally trust their hearing healthcare providers.  But another picture emerged about hearing health professionals I did not expect.

I found people were unaware they had a choice when they were going through the selection process for a cochlear implant.  Certain facilities and government run healthcare systems have contracts with certain manufactures and insurance, limiting the devices that were offered.  Also, choices were limited because of known recalls or device failures. Audiologist and surgeons have a certain level of comfort and experience working with certain brands, so they would guide patients toward one brand over another.  One person even shared that one of the cochlear implant manufacturers settled a lawsuit with the U.S. Department of Justice for alleged kickbacks to health care providers.

Trust and comfort is important when dealing with your hearing health professionals, and you should have all the facts when your audiologist, surgeon, or implant center recommends a life-long implant for you or a family member.   This includes knowing if their recommendations are based on business reasons, experience, or personal preferences. 

In the end, when going through your selection process for a cochlear implant, you need to do your research and due diligence.   If you can’t get the device you want implanted, you may have to switch providers or facilities. 

#cochlearimplant

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Signs Cochlear Implant Headpiece Magnet Strength Is Too Strong

By Eric Sherman 

As a follow-up to my last blog post, “What is the Right Magnet Strength for My Cochlear Implant Headpiece?” I wrote how finding the right magnet strength is a trial and error process.  Unfortunately, the error part of the process can cause problems that can prevent you or your child from wearing your processor for a period of time.   

As parents, we need to look for signs our child’s headpiece magnet may be too strong before there’s an obvious problem, especially if your child is nonverbal. 

Here’s what happened after we accidentally got my son’s headpieces mixed up and put the wrong magnet strength on the wrong side of his head.  After a day, his head became red and itchy. 

My son didn’t say anything, nor did he complain.  As you can see from the photo, the skin is clearly irritated.  If not addressed, this skin irritation might have led to an open sore…keeping my son from wearing his processor.  We changed the magnet strength and left his headpiece off for the night and fortunately the next morning the skin looked much better. 

Here are some signs we discovered when the magnet strength was too strong; skin irritation such as redness, swelling, tenderness at the connection point on the head; behaviors like scratching, rubbing or frequent removal of headpiece.  If you start to see scabbing at the connection point, you should definitively consider removing the headpiece for a while until the skin heals.  Consult your audiologist about adjustments to the magnet strength.  

Also please note that if there are no noticeable skin irritations and your child is having issues wearing his/her headpiece, it could be an indication that other possible problems exist. Troubleshoot your CI equipment and check with your audiologist about the sound processor and map.  When our son was around 24 months old, he wouldn’t wear his headpiece.  He would deliberately swipe it off his head, clearly indicating he didn’t want it on.  After examining all the equipment, magnet strength, etc., we made an appointment with the audiologist, who found a problem with the map which caused the over stimulation.  

If you have had an experience with your cochlear implant headpiece and found other signs that you feel will help other CI recipients and their families, we invite you to share them here.

#cochlearimplant #Cishirt #CI #ciwear #parents #children #bionicbabies