Boom!
Yes, I know - I haven't posted much, but nothing much has happened, which seems hard to believe! I did have family over on Sunday and we had dinner. I noticed I was able to follow a lot more of the conversation and I felt much more relaxed as well. I continued listening to music on YouTube and did a lot of AB Sound Success Rehab work, highly recommend it! I did, however, notice that my volume was dropping so had waited excitedly for today's appointment so, here goes!
Wow! Today, I had my 10 day assessment appointment with the loveliest audiologist you could meet! I could not imagine how things would change as I thought what I had was pretty good, you know - it was better than my old hearing aid for sure, so I honestly could not contemplate any possible improvements. I'm going to break this down so it makes sense for people who have asked what happened.
1 - Sat down, had a brief chat about all the things I was hearing, and how things had become easier for me since the switch on. I went through all of my notes that I had made and collated from this blog, and I tried to give real world examples of sounds I had heard. For example, finding that I existed in a small bubble of sound that was surrounded by silence. Primarily, I explained that I didn't like not being able to properly hear my environment, buses were too quiet and I couldn't hear things from far away. I explained how voices were understandable but mostly tinny for women and metallic for men. I explained how much clearer things were with both my HA and CI but that certain words were still tripping me up.
2 - Got hooked up to the machine, I had to do a pure tones assessment of my existing map, then the mapping began. Mapping for those of you who do not already know, is essentially the tweaking process for a CI. The pitches are adjusted to a level that is 'comfortably loud' across the range and then alterations are also made to aid perception of individual sounds such as quiet sssss's, mmmmm's (I found these hard to hear at first) and also sounds that are meant to be 'uncomfortable' such as rattling keys or rapping knuckles on a table. It was fairly intensive, she asked me several times to judge the quality of her voice and slowly she fiddled with the settings so that a slight raspiness came into her voice which is noticeable when wearing my hearing aid. Without, she just sounded blandly female but with the adjustments, she sounded like her!
3 - The new map was then activated and OH MY GOD, it was amazing! Straight away the volume had more than doubled! I could hear my voice loudly in my ear, when I mmmmmm'd it resonated within my skull, I could hear more of a low hum in the background and hear a bang which turned out to be a door closing from outside. When the audiologist spoke, she sounded almost normal and much, much louder than before.
4 - I had to re-do the pure tones test and then... a BKB test. Bit nerve wracking but I gave it a good go with just the CI and then the two in combination. The pure tones assessment saw me achieve pure-tone perception scores within the normal range, as in my audiogram had a straightish line across the top part of the graph! My BKB score was 10% better for both HA/CI at 67% and then my CI alone was 22%. When I last did the BKB test with just the left ear, I more or less had a nervous breakdown and was inconsolable the whole way through, scoring 2%. Today I managed 22%. Small but good victory considering I'm 10 days old! I need to keep rehabbing and practising my sounds so that I can improve. Honestly, I was chuffed to bits! I know 22% doesn't seem too good but honestly, it's only been 10 days and my silly cochlea hasn't heard many of the pitches in forever, but I'm sure it'll catch up!
5 - At the end of the appointment I packed my HA into my bag then went outside. It was LOUD! It was just past 5pm and it was busy outside. There was a trail of cars leaving the hospital which sounded nice, humming away. As I got onto Oxford Road, I was immediately aware that I could hear faint voices from people passing me and then.... the buses! They were LOUD! They actually roared and made the most horrendous shrieking/squealing noises when braking, which was a new thing to hear! At last! The bubble had broken! At the station I was excited to realise that I had picked up '-ton' and managed to look up at the screen in time to see and hear a list of stops being recited for my train. Although they sounded odd, the syllables matched and I could follow the voice in time. All around me were people and it was a relief to be back within the hubbub, instead of a muted environment. On the train, I settled down and pulled out my headphones. On the way into Manchester, I had listened to music but it was very, very faint with just the CI and so I just used both HA/CI. On the way home? I had to turn down my iPod volume, and I hadn't needed to use my HA. I heard all of my favourites clearly, even within a loud, rumbling train with its infrequent yet LOUD announcements. I couldn't tell you what they were saying but oh my goodness, so loud!
6 - Finally got home, got a bus and, without a hearing aid in, got a ticket and heard the conductor clearly! Usually their voices disappear into a noisy soup of over-amplified sounds, thanks to the way in which hearing aids amplify EVERYTHING, whether you like it or not, I sat down and could hear the voice of a man on my right telling a woman about the bad traffic. I got off and bought food at a shop, and heard the total, £6.07 and did I want a receipt? Normally I get nervous about interactions with people but not now. That brings me to now, I've taken it off as my head feels like it is full of noise. I've had dinner with Peter and heard him test me on days of the week and months of the year without lipreading. I even heard him say 'cowabunga' when he couldn't think of what to say! What is also good to note is that I could watch the TV and listen to music on YouTube at a normal volume and hear it comfortably. It will take a little bit of getting used to, but I honestly feel from the volume alone that I am hearing at a 'hearing aid' level of volume, if that makes sense. Which is amazing.
7 - I'm tired. Next week is another mapping and hearing therapy appointment. I wonder if I'll be able to try tomorrow with just a CI for parts of it?
Wow! Today, I had my 10 day assessment appointment with the loveliest audiologist you could meet! I could not imagine how things would change as I thought what I had was pretty good, you know - it was better than my old hearing aid for sure, so I honestly could not contemplate any possible improvements. I'm going to break this down so it makes sense for people who have asked what happened.
1 - Sat down, had a brief chat about all the things I was hearing, and how things had become easier for me since the switch on. I went through all of my notes that I had made and collated from this blog, and I tried to give real world examples of sounds I had heard. For example, finding that I existed in a small bubble of sound that was surrounded by silence. Primarily, I explained that I didn't like not being able to properly hear my environment, buses were too quiet and I couldn't hear things from far away. I explained how voices were understandable but mostly tinny for women and metallic for men. I explained how much clearer things were with both my HA and CI but that certain words were still tripping me up.
2 - Got hooked up to the machine, I had to do a pure tones assessment of my existing map, then the mapping began. Mapping for those of you who do not already know, is essentially the tweaking process for a CI. The pitches are adjusted to a level that is 'comfortably loud' across the range and then alterations are also made to aid perception of individual sounds such as quiet sssss's, mmmmm's (I found these hard to hear at first) and also sounds that are meant to be 'uncomfortable' such as rattling keys or rapping knuckles on a table. It was fairly intensive, she asked me several times to judge the quality of her voice and slowly she fiddled with the settings so that a slight raspiness came into her voice which is noticeable when wearing my hearing aid. Without, she just sounded blandly female but with the adjustments, she sounded like her!
3 - The new map was then activated and OH MY GOD, it was amazing! Straight away the volume had more than doubled! I could hear my voice loudly in my ear, when I mmmmmm'd it resonated within my skull, I could hear more of a low hum in the background and hear a bang which turned out to be a door closing from outside. When the audiologist spoke, she sounded almost normal and much, much louder than before.
4 - I had to re-do the pure tones test and then... a BKB test. Bit nerve wracking but I gave it a good go with just the CI and then the two in combination. The pure tones assessment saw me achieve pure-tone perception scores within the normal range, as in my audiogram had a straightish line across the top part of the graph! My BKB score was 10% better for both HA/CI at 67% and then my CI alone was 22%. When I last did the BKB test with just the left ear, I more or less had a nervous breakdown and was inconsolable the whole way through, scoring 2%. Today I managed 22%. Small but good victory considering I'm 10 days old! I need to keep rehabbing and practising my sounds so that I can improve. Honestly, I was chuffed to bits! I know 22% doesn't seem too good but honestly, it's only been 10 days and my silly cochlea hasn't heard many of the pitches in forever, but I'm sure it'll catch up!
5 - At the end of the appointment I packed my HA into my bag then went outside. It was LOUD! It was just past 5pm and it was busy outside. There was a trail of cars leaving the hospital which sounded nice, humming away. As I got onto Oxford Road, I was immediately aware that I could hear faint voices from people passing me and then.... the buses! They were LOUD! They actually roared and made the most horrendous shrieking/squealing noises when braking, which was a new thing to hear! At last! The bubble had broken! At the station I was excited to realise that I had picked up '-ton' and managed to look up at the screen in time to see and hear a list of stops being recited for my train. Although they sounded odd, the syllables matched and I could follow the voice in time. All around me were people and it was a relief to be back within the hubbub, instead of a muted environment. On the train, I settled down and pulled out my headphones. On the way into Manchester, I had listened to music but it was very, very faint with just the CI and so I just used both HA/CI. On the way home? I had to turn down my iPod volume, and I hadn't needed to use my HA. I heard all of my favourites clearly, even within a loud, rumbling train with its infrequent yet LOUD announcements. I couldn't tell you what they were saying but oh my goodness, so loud!
6 - Finally got home, got a bus and, without a hearing aid in, got a ticket and heard the conductor clearly! Usually their voices disappear into a noisy soup of over-amplified sounds, thanks to the way in which hearing aids amplify EVERYTHING, whether you like it or not, I sat down and could hear the voice of a man on my right telling a woman about the bad traffic. I got off and bought food at a shop, and heard the total, £6.07 and did I want a receipt? Normally I get nervous about interactions with people but not now. That brings me to now, I've taken it off as my head feels like it is full of noise. I've had dinner with Peter and heard him test me on days of the week and months of the year without lipreading. I even heard him say 'cowabunga' when he couldn't think of what to say! What is also good to note is that I could watch the TV and listen to music on YouTube at a normal volume and hear it comfortably. It will take a little bit of getting used to, but I honestly feel from the volume alone that I am hearing at a 'hearing aid' level of volume, if that makes sense. Which is amazing.
7 - I'm tired. Next week is another mapping and hearing therapy appointment. I wonder if I'll be able to try tomorrow with just a CI for parts of it?
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