CI Mapping 1/18/11

I took Allison for a CI mapping of her right ear or as she likes to call it.....her "new" ear. This is the one that has been causing us so much frustration since she was implanted almost 3 years ago. This ear just never seemed to be doing as well as the 1st implant, at times we wondered if she would be able to get any noticeable gain with it or would she always have to rely on just her left CI. We mapped it, remapped it and still nothing worked. Maybe we just hit on the better ear the 1st time around and we would have to be happy with that. Allison was making wonderful progress with it, she was hearing at 15-20 dB across the frequency range and recognizing voices at 15 dB, she was reading above grade level and doing great in school. But there was that lingering question...what if the left CI failed at some point, she would be without sound until we could get if fixed. That was not acceptable, she had to start hearing with the right one. Finally, yesterday she heard the beeps in the sound booth at 15-20 dB and her voice recognition was at 45 dB. Now this is no where near where it needs to be for her to be able to make it with just her right CI, but by jolly it is progress. At least she is hearing and recognizing voices and not just beeps from a machine. They added new maps and we will keep bumping her up. Our goal is to get her as close to the left CI as possible......wish us luck.