mapping speeds

[Guest guest]

Hi Bobbi,

Cochlear has 3 mapping strategies. The first and earliest one they

came out with is called SPEAK. Short for " spectral peaks " It picks the

best electrodes to stimulate for each sound. It is a roving strategy

(can pick any of the electrodes), and is a fairly slow rate. It is the

ONLY strategy that persons with the Nucleus 22 and earlier implants can

use. Only Cochlear brand uses the SPEAK strategy.

ACE, which is Advanced Combined Encoding, strategy, is also a roving

strategy, and will pick the best electrodes to stimulate for each sound,

but it is a FASTER strategy. It is the " default " strategy for anyone

getting an implant these days. The audiologists will always map you with

ACE first. When I got the N5 almost 3 years ago, it was the only

strategy available. I don't like it, I don't hear well with it. I had

it put on my N24 when it became available, and never had as good quality

hearing with ACE as I had with SPEAK, so went back to SPEAK. I was very

happy when the software came out allowing SPEAK to be programmed on the

N5. ACE is also used only by Cochlear brand.

A third strategy is called CIS. Combined Interlevened Strategies. It

is a common strategy that ALL implant companies use. It is a fixed

strategy, which means it picks the SAME electrodes every time, to

stimulate for any sound, and it picks them very fast. Cochlear, Med-el

and AB use CIS strategies.

ACE is a combination of SPEAK (roving the entire electrode array,

picking the best electrodes to stimulate) and CIS (fast). That is why

it's the default mapping strategy. Some people, like me, don't like

ACE, and hear better with a slower strategy. Perhaps it's because I'm

blonde - you know... S L O W.

Anyway, if you are not happy with the way you are hearing, ask your

audiologist to put a SPEAK map and/or a CIS map on your processor. You

have 4 slots, so you could have 2 ACE, 1 SPEAK, and 1 CIS. Try them and

see which you prefer.

SPEAK, being a slow mapping strategy, saves battery life. I get

about 10 days from disposables on the Freedom upgrade for a N24 implant.

I get about 6 days using SPEAK on my N5 with rechargeable batteries.

ACE will run through batteries faster than SPEAK, and CIS runs

through them faster than any other. Some people love CIS for music.

NEVER choose battery life over hearing. With rechargeable batteries

available, you'd be foolish to sacrifice good hearing for more battery

life . I'm very fortunate that I can hear well with SPEAK, so get the

benefit of longer battery life.

So, if you're not happy with how you are hearing, get some different

strategies on and give it a go.

,

I'm still trying to find out what is slow mapping compared to a faster

speed. Maybe you can explain it to me.

Thanks,

Bobbi

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