Day 2

I want to start by saying that everybody responds to their CI differently. My experience is different to everybody else's. Yes I can hear/detect music and voices but the quality is still very robotic. I hope this is a useful reference point for others interested in what a CI sounds like.

Woke up this morning and it was raining. After getting ready and dressed, I went to the kitchen to clean up and sort stuff out. I needed to put the ironing board away so I opened our outside door to get to our utility room which is just off the house (don't ask) - and I was aware of a steady hum, like passing traffic. I realised it was the rain! As I stood there, I became aware of a drip, drip, drop noise and looked at a row of pots outside. Every so often a drop of rain hit the pot in such a way it made a sound distinct from the sound of the rain hitting the roof, gutters and floor. I put wellies on and went into the garden wearing a raincoat, honestly, I felt like a child at Christmas. With just my CI, I could hear the rain falling on my head, the swishing of my feet over the grass. Mad! No birdsong but I guess they don't tend to hang about in the rain.

After that, I spent a good few hours sucked into a whirling vortex of videos on YouTube. Particular highlights being:
We're going on a bear hunt... (His voice sounds robotic but there is good repetition and a variety of distinct sounds.)
Pure tone generator - Useful for working out which frequencies I could hear.
Alphablocks - a very good phonics guide. You can practice hearing the sounds of your choice with words that fit.
London Orchestra Guide to Instruments - Amazing resource with captions.

Now for the super nerdy level of analysis:
The Chain by Harry Styles (COVER) - I can hear the beat, clapping, drums and electric guitar as clear as day but the vocals are harder to pick out.
Discipline by Nine Inch Nails - I can hear the drums and electric guitar clearly, again the voices are indistinct.
There are tons of other songs but I figure I'm going to come across as even nerdier than ever if I post!

In the afternoon, I met a new pal who recently had her CI surgery - I was super nervous because I left the house without my hearing aid, so had to rely solely on the CI! My car journey was silent. I heard the door shut, could feel the engine, I definitely heard the clicking of the indicator. Once I got to the place we were meeting, it was as if I was in a silent bubble, but at the same time I could hear the odd sound. I managed well to hear the person although I relied on lipreading to help make sense of what I was hearing, however I did notice I wasn't concentrating hard....and I was sat back instead of leaning forward! I was conscious that I could hear her voice but that it was quiet. So I used my controller to turn the volume up even more and it was a much more rounded sound. Her voice became a little fuller, a little more robotic but actually easier to understand. I was also able to detect a male voice talking, the occasional chair scraping and the distant sound of people in the kitchen banging and crashing about.

After we finished up catching up, I drove onto Aldi, listening to music in the car. Maybe it has to do with it being an enclosed space but every so often, I could hear parts of songs as if from under water, and other times they sounded filled with static. Aldi was quiet, I could hear steps, beeps from the machines. That's it really. I was able to detect the assistant asking the person, 'cash or card?' and able to pick out the cost of the shopping when it came to my go! It was definitely quiet though, which was disconcerting. I know when I have my hearing aid in, there's a lot of low level background noise, the sounds of people talking and so on.

Once finished in Aldi, I went to Sainsbury's and this is the cool bit..... I was walking past the aisles and heard a low but distinctly harsh shhhhhh and from around the corner came someone with a wide broom/mop, who was cleaning the floor! I ambled about, looking for things that made noises. A baby cried out, I heard footsteps close by to me, I could make out that there were occasional announcements but these were garbled to me. I heard the check out lady say 'twenty four seven' - the cost was actually £24.70, which is interesting to note from a sound perception point of view.

What did I do then? Returned home, ate some cereal - it made a noise when I poured milk on? I've gone through YouTube playing lots of random songs and my brain literally hurts. I'm giving myself a break until Peter gets home soon.

That's day one, not bad eh?

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