What we love:
- The smaller size. We felt like the Harmony was just too big for a kid. Audrena is 2 1/2, and the Naida fits her ear nicely with the 110 battery. We also got the 170 battery, and it hangs just slightly below her ear, so it's a reasonable size as well.
- The shorter cord. We really love the Neptunes, and they have served Audrena well, but the shorter cord is so much easier for her when the headpiece gets knocked off. She can reach it better to put the headpiece back on.
- The program button is easily accessible. We never kept the Neptune Connect on her Neptunes. Instead, we used the cap so that the settings wouldn't be accidentally bumped. The program button on the Naida is easily accessible, but it doesn't really seem to be easily bumped, either. It makes changing the program to Clearvoice so easy when we need it!
What we don't love:
- The Naida, like the Harmony, does not have an external audible beep when the battery is low, or when the headpiece gets knocked off. This is a must for small kids! It was so helpful to us when Audrena was smaller and her Neptune headpieces would fall off because we knew immediately. (She couldn't put them back on by herself when she was younger. Fortunately for us, now Audrena is getting pretty good at putting the headpiece back on when it falls off.) I realize that mostly adults and older, more self-sufficient children will use the Naida. But they did make it smaller, and it fits younger children better now, so why not build it with the capability of having that alarm?
- The indicator light is hidden by Audrena's hair. Going back to my rant about the lack of an audible alarm, if they didn't give the Naida an external beep, then it would be nice to have the indicator light in the front like *gasp* Cochlear so that it's more visible to parents. I know, I know...it's more discreet this way.
- We're back to using toupee tape to hold her processor in place like we did with her hearing aids.
Overall, we are very pleased with the Naida! Audrena wears it without complaint. It frees her up from wearing the special pocket cami under her shirt every day. We are excited to have the behind-the-ear option for her. The t-mic technology (which places sound input in the most natural place, in the ear opening) should improve her speech understanding in noise. The Naida was definitely worth the wait!
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| This was taken just after her programming appointment. She does not have the t-mic on the processor in this photo. |
