Upgrade!

 Relying on technology to hear means that though you get current and top of the line equipment, research continues and new models get released and before you know it, your cool new tech is old.

I had a version of that going on when I was using hearing aids too - I'd get new ones on average every five years, and every time I did I was amazed at how much better they were - and it was a good think too, because my hearing was degrading.  For a while it felt as though they kept up with better performance, but then of course they didn't, and I ended up getting implanted.

And if I'm honest, my processors have been wonderful, they gave me better hearing than I ever though I'd have again.  They sounded good - I listen to music whenever I'm in the car (well, mostly when I'm in the car alone), and they're reliable.  I was provided with all kinds of replacement parts in case I needed them, and the only things I've had to buy were filter covers (for the air filters keeping dust and whatnot out of the electronics) and batter covers, which, after some time will stop making the seal that tells the processor to turn on.  But even those I've only had to replace once on each processor - these things are really quite robust.  There are people on the users forums complaining about how their processors break (or, quite likely, their kids' processors breaking) and I wonder what the heck they're doing to them, because I've never had a component break, at all.

So I've been really happy with them.  But it's been seven years, and there have been changes to the newer models that sound really nice.  So I put in for an upgrade.  There's a form that you fill out and send to MedEl, and they send it in to your insurance, and they ask for your audiologists' opinion, which in my case meant going in to have an appointment because I haven't been in since the pandemic (this is a good thing, I like the MAPs that we ended up with, and I've been hearing well, so there was no reason to see the audiologist until she needed to sign a form saying that I need the upgrade.  Based on the age of my devices alone, I'd have thought it might just go through, but I do understand them wanting to know it's medically necessary.  So she sent them a confirmation that I need them and the next thing I know MedEl is telling me that they can ship as soon as I send in my copay (about 20%) they can ship.

Of course, the timing occurred just as we were getting ready to leave on vacation, and I didn't particularly want a box containing expensive electronic medical device on my front to be rained on for two weeks, so I had them ship them to the clinic.

I'd have liked to have them come directly to me, but once the insurance pays they're required to ship, so to the clinic it was.  This meant driving into Minneapolis - usually I take the highway almost all the way and use an exit that just around the corner from the medical center, but that exit is closed for highway construction so I ended up going into the city more to the west than the medical center, and driving through Minneapolis and along the side of the University campus. 

It really wasn't bad - Minneapolis is an easy city to drive in, it's mostly the highways that truly make minor commutes feel like penance (or possibly punishment).  And the appointment itself was only a half-hour or so - we fired up the new processors, I put them on and said, oh hey, they sound great! and then my audiologist showed me the new remote and another little device that lets me stream directly to the processors.

The drive home was even longer, due to another stretch of highway construction, plus the fact that I went out of my way to pick up some dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant, which is sadly now over an hour from home.

But here I am, new processors, and yes, they sound great!  They're clear and seem to have a bit more depth as well - I listened to music all the way home and yes, indeed, that sounded wonderful.  So, all in all, a worthwhile day even if I was mostly in a car seat.

If I have to rely on technology to hear, it's quite gratifying that there are whole teams of people (in the US and in Austria) working to improve them all the time. 

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