I met Audiologist Steve Otto at the House Clinic to hook up my Auditory Brainstem Implant’s Freedom processor this morning.
After all the deliberations over which color to pick last year, I decided to get a black one after all. I would really love to wear a pink BTE processor while I’m still young but it can be hard to match clothes and occasions, and I would rather not have to regret after spending so much.
Bye-bye bulky Sprint!
You served me well.
Now, I may wear dresses with no worries. There’s no more need to clip the bulky Sprint processor somewhere, no more long electrical cords to hide. I have the freedom to be girly!
Because every function of the bulky Sprint processor is now squeezed into this tiny Freedom BTE. Some are new functions such as background noise reduction and a directional microphone. The audiologist who tunes our ABI usually would save two different programs so we can choose and switch them to suit different environments. With the freedom, swtching between programs involve tapping a small on/off button, hearing one beep for Program No. 1 and two beeps for Program No. 2.
One of mine is with noise reduction and directional microphone. The other without.
The Freedom BTE can be used with two kinds of batteries. There is the cubic rechargeabke batteries that fit inside the controller. Alternatively, Cochlear has the tiny batteries similar to ones we use in watches, produced specially for Cochlear Nucleus hearing implants.
Our voices sound more human to me now.
This Freedom processor of mine was purchased end of 2009 and sent to Steve Otto in time for my visit in December. But my recovery from that surgery was unexpectedly slower than usual so by the time I was discharged from SVMC, Steve had went on his planned vacation. So he kept the Freedom processor for me until my next visit to L.A.
I am now here.
