BEA UK - Get Connected with a Mentor

www.BionicEar.com/UK

Bionic Ear Association UK - Get connected to a cochlear implant community

Hear and Be Heard

The Bionic Ear Association is a support network dedicated to improving the quality of life of individuals with severe-to-profound hearing loss by providing valuable information, education, awareness, and guidance on cochlear implants. Staffed with a committed team of audiologists and cochlear implant recipients, the BEA offers important support services to help you hear your best.
The United Kingdom Bionic Ear Association (BEA/UK) offers you a community of cochlear implant recipients, families, volunteers and staff, all from the UK, who can support you throughout your hearing journey.

Connecting with other cochlear implant recipients and families is an important part of the hearing journey. Through BEA UK you can connect with other cochlear implant recipients or parents, who can assist you in navigating the process of choosing and living with cochlear implants.

Read our recipient stories, find a mentor, check out our online community, and participate in the BEA UK community:


www.BionicEar.com/UK

Bionic Ear Association UK - Get connected to a cochlear implant community

Invitation to - An AB Information Morning

Advanced Bionics (AB) invites CI candidates and/or their parents to an information morning (10am-12:30pm) on 14th April at the Ear Foundation, Nottingham.

At this event you will find out more about the unique Harmony Bionic Ear System, the new ClearVoiceTM upgrade, performance & reliability. There will be opportunity to meet and ask questions to ABs Clinical Specialists and existing CI users.

If you would like to attend, please RSVP to events co-ordinator; e-mail uk@advancedbionics.com

Advanced Bionics UK Chat-Room/Facebook!

Are you a candidate and is going through your Cochlear Implant assessment but has all these question that you would like to ask and hasn't got any one to talk to well; AB UK CHATROOM is for you.

Join in the chat room every Thursday at 7pm and onwards. There will be some AB users online to answer your questions and to support you all the way.

To join please sign up for www.hearingjourney.com click on "online Community" and then click chat.


Also Advanced Bionics UK has now got their very own facebook group to join there facebook group please click here: AB-UKfacebook

Harmony Batteries!

Has anyone ever accidently picked up a used battery from the charger, and didn't look at the led light to see how much battery life it had and went out without a spare one, thinking the battery is not gonna die on you till the end of the day? How do you all feel when the power cuts off on you during the day?

My cochlear implant battery has never ever died on me through the day, every morning I put on a fully charged battery and it would normally last me a whole day (roughly12 hrs) and if I stay up later, I don't normally replace it and just leave the implant on my head while the battery flat.

Today, for the first time since I have had my Cochlear Implant, the battery power actually went dead on me while at university. I accidently took the wrong battery and it wasn't fully charge.

When it went off, I actually thought there were something up with the processor. I was without my processor for the whole afternoon at university. I didn't bring a spare one with me and I couldn't see if it was just the battery. That afternoon, while I was at university, I had only a note-taker and because I could lip-read the lecturer I had. we had to work in groups and even though all my friends knew me very well that I do lip-read a lot. I did had to warn my friends that my cochlear implant has stopped working that they would need to tap me for my attention rather than calling my name out. Thanks to my lip-reading skill, I managed that afternoon really well. Not hearing through my processor that afternoon actually reminded me what it used to be like before my cochlear implant and how hard I had to concentrate. From now on.... I must check the led light before putting my processor on. I hate being without my cochlear implant now, it really does mean a lot to me and when I have it on I really do relaxs more.

ClearVoice for HiRes Fidelity 120

2010 has come so quick, hasn't it? Anyway, I hope you'd a brilliant Xmas. I have had a good Xmas, spend 2 weeks goin' from Scarbrough to Manchester with my family and Rich's family. I actually lost count on how many Xmas dinner I had, we visited so many places.

Anyway. I would like to say Happy New Year Everyone. I hope you all will have a good year. I've got lots of things to look forward to, especially summer. I just hope this year go pretty quick because this time next year we should hopefully hear from the N.I.C.E guidance (National Institut for Health and Clinical Excellence) and hopefully they will finally say 'YES' to let us adults go "BILATERAL." I really do want a 2nd cochlear implant and I hope to get it before I completed my degree so I could go straight into teaching without havin' to worry about another operation, or going the rehab process. So, fingers cross.

Just looked on Advanced Bionics website, thought I'd share this to you all just incase you haven't seen it - ClearVoice - Revolutionary Technology to Help Patients Hear Speech Clearly to find out more please click on the links; http://www.advancedbionics.com/CMS/Products/ClearVoice/

It looks very interesting and I am interested to see how much this ClearVoice would help me too.

Right. I'd better be off. First day back at university tomorrow. I can't believe how quickly this Xmas hoilday ended.

Ciao x

Skin It - My design!

Those of you that doesn't know what is 'Skin It' Check out this website www.skinit.com.

you can customize your sound processor to match your mood or make a fashion statement. Dress your processor up with your favorite colors, sports teams, or works of art. You can choose from hundreds of designs or even upload your own graphics for a completely unique look.

"Lets show other that we don't only have fashionable clothes, we also have fashionable procesoors"

Check out my design - At the moment I have decided to wear pink zebra and Twilight "Edwards" mixed, I love Twilight, so I thought I put Edwards on.

I have also got a few other designs such as 'St Geogre Flag'that will used when I repersent England again, pink with Derby County logo on and I have a Xmas one which will be used while I am in Scarbrough. (I will try and upload thoses when I have put them on my processor in the future)


Go ahead and Design yours now....

2nd Xmas with my Cochlear Implant

14 days till Xmas and still I haven't finished all my Xmas shopping. University has kept me ever so busy - we had this big Science project, which was interesting but hard and finally we have finished it. Feeling positive about the overall project results. Just one more week left at university then finally we get 3 weeks off, which is needed.


So, what have I been upto over the past few weeks? well, I have had a few trip to Ropewalk Cochlear Implant centre; I had a slight problem with my cochlear implant - struggling to control the sounds and feeling uncomfortable in loud and quiet situation. Somehow when I'm in lecture and the room is quie, it feels like my teacher who is talking to the class that is stand about 5 metres away voice sounds as if she is right next to me and when the voice is loud, I tend to feel it more. Not only that, sitting in a canteen at university the loud background noises got over the top and I got so uncomfortable feeling and hearing it.


So after seening my audiologist about it, it finally got sorted and now I have some new setting and some loudness has been clipped and have a programme where the volume is on lock to stop it turning it up itself which now after 2 weeks with the programme, I have felt so much better and is not seems to be having an problems at all - no more trips to the Implant Centre till my 2year appointment, I hope.


Recently I went to the Ear Foundation Xmas Social and for the 2nd time I've been on the microphone again doing the Xmas Quiz. I could see the different in myself from last years quiz and this years quiz - I felt more confident and I didn't worry too much about my speech. My speech has improved alot - being at university and being surrounded by hearing friends all the time has really helped me though I do still need to work on the loudness of my speech and of course try and say all these biology words properly. Everytime I do a presentation and when I present it sometimes there a word that I struggle to say and sometimes I tend to stutter and give up quite easily and just say "that word" all my mates just laughs, which I don't mind becuase they all understand and my lecture is ok with it and it doesn't effect my marks which is a releif. I don't sign as much anymore so I think that maybe another reason why my speech as improved alot too.

I have added a few pictures of me on the mike and of course you may notice the rudolph on my coil that I created - everyone loves it and have asked me to make some for them. It was a brilliant weekend and It was nice to have Kezia from AB popping in to see us all.

I suppose some of you have noticed my last post "stolen bike" Still no news on that but is feeling positive that I will get it back. However sometime next year I'll be having a knee operation (sports injury) which I hope, the recovery time doesn't take to long - I don't fancy having another year out of sport like I did with my ankle and is hop-ing around everywhere in university on those horrible crutches.

Now Xmas is coming up, I'll be spending my xmas hoilday down in Scarbrough along with the rest of my family and of course go to the church and see If I can keep up with the Xmas song and this year do better at following the lyrics.

So thats it for me now, finally the weekend here and I am off out to see a few friends and enjoy spending sometime with my family and maybe to a bit of online xmas shopping If I have time rather than going out in the cold spending ages searching to buy a certain thing.

Enjoy the Xmas season everyone.