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New CI with SSD headphone/earbud use

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I recently lost all hearing in my right ear post virus. It’s been very disorienting and makes work and communication very difficult for me; especially in crowded environments. I’m considering Cochlear for my implant, but have some questions on usability with headphones or earbuds.

I frequently have Zoom meetings for work and take a lot of regular phone calls as well. Since I will on have a on my right side, how will this work with over the ear headphones for zoom calls? Also, how would regular phone calls work with an airpod in one ear and my implant for the other side. The Cochlear rep I spoke with said there is the option on splitting the bluetooth connection between an AirPod and the CI device, but I’m not sure how that works or how well it works.

I currently use Yealink BH76 over the ear headphones for my zoom calls. Will I hear the call through the CI on my right side or will I need to somehow connect via bluetooth?

I travel almost weekly for work, so I’m in and our of airports frequently. For work, I’m in a surgical/procedural environment and often need to hear physicians who are not facing me when they talk and frequently have masks on. Hearing what is happening in procedures is crucial for me, so this plays a big part in how a CI will help with my career as well.

Thanks for any help, I’m just trying to be sure I’m making the right decision to help me in my work environment as well as personal.

9 people in this conversation7 min readJump to latest

Welcome to the forum.
How is your hearing in the left ear?

I believe a Mini mic could be paired to your ear buds.
Then you could stream calls into both ears.

I have about 60% hearing loss in my “good” ear. So I would wear an earbud in that ear and stream calls to the and the earbud?

60% hearing loss in your good ear. Are you thinking about a second ?

If you wear a hearing aid on your good ear a compatible hearing aid can be used with your CI for streaming to both ears.

I’ve worn an Advanced Bionics on my right ear for 16 years now along with a hearing aid on the left ear. I’ve used on-the-ear headphones for this purpose almost from day 1.

The CI has a T-mic which sits in the opening of the ear canal which greatly facilitates the use of headphones. I’ve also used Bluetooth with my recent upgrade to an AB Marvel processor. But honestly, it’s a bit of a fiddle for phone/Zoom calls: the headphones are easier if less portable.

I find over-the-ear headphones a bit awkward for this purpose. One’s own voice doesn’t sound right. Better for listening to music or podcasts perhaps.

In reply to @Raudrive

This is all very new for me. I lost hearing in July… unfortunately it was the ear that I had the best hearing in. I’m starting with in my affected ear then I’ll decide what to do on the other.

Welcome to the forum despite your reasons for reaching out. With 60 loss in your ‘good ear’, a with hearing aid is advisable if you are not already aiding that ear. There are three brands of CI. Drs. and may recommend a brand they are most familiar with. That doesn’t mean it is the best fit for your situation. My suggestion is to contact each of the three companies and zoom with their reps: Advanced Bionics, Cochlear, Med El. Do your own research. It is a highly unusual situation that we are asked to select our own medical devices - the orthopedic surgeon doesn’t ask which brand of knee replacement we want! If you haven’t already, get a full CI evaluation. You can see my in my profile - both ears were the same and moderate loss for years. I have worn since mids 40s. A few years ago, my left ear tanked in the high frequencies making working in a “talking” field challenging. I opted to go for a CI even while just borderline for qualifying and it has been a game changer. For me, offered the best technology and link between CI with HA in the other ear with the Marvel CI and Link. Other companies work with HAs, however AB is the only one that syncs them and you can adjust using one app for both so far. The bluetooth ability is so convenient - all calls go to my ears and my phone can be across the room. The rep can advise best on your zoom situation, but you can likely pair them via bluetooth. I haven’t paired my laptop for zooms - I just zoom on my phone and it’s great. Sometimes I enter the zoom with both laptop and phone and just turn off the sound for the laptop. Captions on Zoom are good too. For your surgery situations with masks, there are Roger options that work with the CI and HA that might help in those situations, although having the surgical team wear them in the op room may be an issue to research. If you would like help connecting to your AB rep, or want to chat outside of the forum, I am happy to help.

@joanhawsey said:

Sometimes I enter the zoom with both laptop and phone and just turn off the sound for the laptop.

Side comment, you know you can use the phone for the audio part of the zoom linked to the video. This way your face shows up when you talk. It is one of the options when joining a zoom call.

WH
(Former Pro zoomer.)

In reply to @joanhawsey

Thank you so much! I have spoke with the Cochlear rep, but found some info on that pointed to better connectivity. It’s been fairly difficult to find information to be honest. I appreciate the offer and may reach out to you. Thank you!

I use my phone occasionally, but more often than not I need my larger monitor set up to present or view presentations. Using the phone for the audio part and logging in muted on the computer is a great idea tho!

Practical date of my retirement is the end of the month. Never thought it would get here. Now to make sure I never have to eat cat food!

WH

I’m sorry to be late to the discussion.

I have an Advanced Bionics and Phonak Link . I love the bluetooth capabilities and the way the CI is linked to the Link HA so the sound seems natural to me. Streaming to my iPhone makes phone calls a breeze. I also use zoom for work and can usually just listen without connecting bluetooth.

In addition to checking with different manufacturers reps, look on FB for their user groups. I also found a lot of information on https://cochlearimplanthelp.com/5

Do you conduct your zoom calls from a computer/laptop or from your mobile phone or both? Also for your work calls do you still utilize a physical phone or has your company migrated over to soft phones allowing you to make phone calls from your computer?

Edited

Oh, you provided a link to cochlearimplanthelp.com3, so I mistakenly presumed you already knew what it is.

See that post, you can also find in search engine terms like “StereoZoom 2.0”, “ beamforming”, etc.

Phonak Naida L50-SP - programming issues
It’s worth the effort. Many implanted people regret to not be implanted earlier. Hearing aids probably don’t give you over that 68%. The only way to elevate WRS score is cochlear implant. My decision about my left ear was easy because it hears totally zero. Your left ear is quite unusable to hear speech so you also have almost nothing to lose with surgery. Concededly, I have CI from Cochlear company, but if you plan use Naida on right ear consider Advanced Bionics because of bilateral coopera…
@Bimodal_user said:

Oh, you provided a link to cochlearimplanthelp.com, so I mistakenly presumed you already knew what it is.

See that post, you can also find in search engine terms like “StereoZoom 2.0”, “binaural beamforming”, etc.

I spent most of my time on cochlearimpanthelp.com4 trying to decide which manufacturer to choose. I’ve looked up beamforming and, other than it uses multiple microphones, it’s too technical for me.

I chose because of the advanced tech, particularly being compatible. And that Bluetooth is directly streamed to my . I liked that the Link works with the CI. And that a HA would be available when my other ear tanked out so I wouldn’t have to get another CI. I also heard how much users like the T-mic. I’ve been very happy with AB so far.

In reply to @db4art

I have cochlear before surgery i was given two accessories to choose from. One of the accessories I chose was the mini microphone 2 which I connect to my laptop via the 3.2mm headphone port. My company did away with physical phones and all our phone calls were done via the zoom application. I worked in support so i was on the phone all day. With the mini mic i had no issues hearing phone conversations. Prior to getting implanted phone work was getting very challenging and stressful. The mini mic was a game changer.

For your ipad you can just pair the processor to it and stream directly to your processor. That works great too.

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