Advanced Bionics President & CEO Mr. Jeff Greiner will be holding an online chat tonight (Sept. 8th) at 8 PM ET. The topic of the chat is officially about AB’s commitment to support every generation of AB recipient. Most likely the interesting part of the discussion will be the Q & A following the event.
We have seen a tremendous surge in the amount of young children receiving cochlear implants over the past two years. This is due to early infant screenings, and insurance companies becoming more agreeable to the reimbursement of cochlear implantation of younger children.
We’ll have someone on the chat, and try to get some of our questions answered. Some of the topics we’d be interested in are:
How far away are we from the “internal speech processor”?
AB’s response to Cochlear Corporation’s Freedom processor.
Battery life in the body worn processors.
Bilateral cochlear implants – Is this still a novelty or is it becoming standard practice?
What does the insurance reimbursement front look like – both with regards to the actual surgery as well as the follow up care such as audiological and speech/language sessions and evaluations?
We look forward to posting our recap of the chat here.
Phonak Inc., USA
4520 Weaver Parkway
Warrenville , IL 60555-3927
Esteemed Product Engineer:
The following letter has been written by my 7-year old daughter, who is a user of your products.
Why did you make the shoe and the wire for the FM system that attaches to my Freedom the color gray? Does that make any sense? If it is for white people, then it should be beige. And if it is for black people, then it should be brown. But there are no gray people! Please write me back with an answer. Gray is such a silly color that looks so funny on me.
While we were at the University, our daughter spent most of her time taking part in the testing. We arrived early Tuesday afternoon and spent two hours testing. After we finished, our daughter sampled the amenities of the hotel. Here are some quick scenes to enjoy:
Exercising at the Best Western – Madison, WI
Swimming at the Best Western – Madison, WI
In the second video, she is not wearing her implants, so she can’t hear me.
More to follow…
As we told you previously, our daughter took part in a study to assess the positive effects of bilateral cochlear implants at the Speech and Hearing Lab of the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Here is a photo of our daugher looking on as she is placed in the booth with a semi-circle array of speakers. She was instructed to try and detect where the sound is originating from by using a computer mouse to click on the speaker that she believes the sound originates from.
This is to try and gauge the benefits of sound localization that are being realized from having bilateral implants.
We will give more details of her trip in future posts.
As our daughter has passed the second anniversary of her bilateral implant activation, we are choosing to have her participate in a federally funded research that is conducted by Professor Ruth Litovsky at the Waisman Center of the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Our daughter, who is 6 years old and has been profoundly deaf since birth, will be tested thoroughly in order to gain more insight into the benefits of bilateral implantation vs. single ear implants.
She is scheduled to travel to Madison next week – we will keep you posted on the details of the trip and the tests.
It has been a few months since Cochlear released the Nucleus Babyworn System that allows infants to use the Freedom BTE controller by attaching the processor to their clothing.
We are curious as to what percentage of parents are preferring this method over the traditional way which is to use the bodyworn controller until the child is able to wear the BTE comfortably on their ears.
Some parents have reported that their infants are able to pull the processor off the clips of the Babyworn. We have not noticed any change in order levels for our shirts. This would suggest that parents are still preferring the bodyworn controllers for their infants.
Please Post comments of your own personal experiences. Many others will benefit from what you may have to say!
In this month’s issue of Volta Voices, Dr. Stephen Epstein discusses the latest on the status of the fabled “hair cell regeneration” – which is the ability to restore hearing capabilities to the damaged hair cells of the inner ear. Many parents, when deciding if they should implant their child, worry that perhaps by implanting their child they are denying them the option of having their hearing restored naturally through this process.
According to Dr. Epstein, the most promising area of research is the controversial method of using stem cells to replace the destroyed tissue. Human stem cells would be most effective for this process, as they would have the greatest potential to produce normal hearing in humans. However, according to current federal regulations, human embryo stem cell research is prohibited. Therefore, research must be carried out on mice and then many tests must be conducted to see if the results are applicable to humans.
Many experts believe that even should a breakthrough be made in this field, it would take the Food and Drug Administration close to 10 years to approve the method for use in children. To wait that long and leave a child without the ability to hear would destroy the child’s ability to develop normal auditory and language skills. Therefore – the wisest choice would be to not be concerned with what future technology may bring, and jump and what is available today for your child.
Interestingly, Michele tells how the enrollment has declined over the recent past due to the increase of mainstreaming children with deafness into ordinary schools, which can be directly tied to the amazing results achieved by the use of cochlear implants.
I just edited the Wikipedia article about cochlear implants, which stated that the results of cochlear implants in children “have been mixed”. All you parents know that the cochlear implant produces amazing results, and certainly the child is better off with them than without.
In meeting with my daughter’s school audiologist yesterday, he mentioned that he was under the impression that the sound produced by the Nucleus Freedom Bodyworn processor is superior to that of the BTE model.
We wonder if this is indeed true. According to what we’ve heard, and as was described in great length at the most recent Cochlear Celebration, both kinds of Freedom processors are the same – as they are completely modular. The only difference between them is the battery power.
We wonder what Cochlear would say to the audiologist’s impressions. Probably they would vehemently disagree. Similarly, at the Celebration they denied any meaningful difference between using rechargeable or alkaline batteries, while some users swear that there is a noticeable loss of quality while using rechargeables.
The family of a young Florida girl that was denied cochlear implants by her insurance company is faced with having to sell their home in order to come up with funds for cochlear implant surgery.
The Article in the Broward Times notes how the insurance company denied coverage as it was a preexisting condition. Since the cost of cochlear implant surgery is near the $100,000 range, the sale of their home is required in order to come up with the large funds.
Donations can be given to the orginazation listed in the article.
Although one’s heart does go out to the parents of this girl, one cannot blame the insurance company for this denial. Although insurance companies tend to misbehave in these coverages, especially regarding bilateral implants, this case is justified. I don’t agree with those who claim that the denial is a violation of discrimination laws, and I would rather focus on getting this girl the help she so desperately needs.
Advanced Bionics President & CEO Mr. Jeff Greiner will be holding an online chat tonight (Sept. 8th) at 8 PM ET. The topic of the chat is officially about AB’s commitment to support every generation of AB recipient. Most likely the interesting part of the discussion will be the Q & A following the event.
