Slowly...slowly...
Last week was the week of the 'boom,' the huge lift in volume which burst my previously quiet bubble. Time has passed very quickly since then and I have grown used to the CI, in that I am struggling to remember what it was like with just the HA in my left. Sometimes I wonder if I did as badly as I thought I did, but then I realise that I could never hear or make out familiar music with just my HA, whereas now I can, with some repetition! Today I had another mapping and a hearing therapy appointment.
The hearing therapy appointment was useful in that I learned a strategy for rehab. It goes like this:
Looking at the CI user, tell them what context you will use when saying a sentence. Eg: I will say, "In the mornings I..." The CI recipient has to then listen with eyes closed/looking away, to that sentence starter and then figure out a single new word or phrase. Eg: "In the mornings I brush my teeth." The brain will be anticipating likely options and this helps with the speech recognition. If the CI recipient cannot figure it out, repeat two or three times or give a hint. If a correction is needed, repeat the entire thing to their face, and then again without them lipreading.
I was dubious at first but as we practised a few times, I realised I was transfixed! I've already taught Peter how to do this and after dinner we spent almost half an hour having a conversation of two halves. For example: "When we go to Aldi, we need to buy..." Really invaluable in that it provides a clear, scaffolded approach for listening that removes the potential for any distorted sound via laptop, Peter thinks my speakers are very tinny compared with his PC and I've done most of my listening on this laptop, might explain why some sounds are indeed more tinny!
Second appointment was with the lovely Spanish man who I met prior to the op, on the day I had a complete meltdown over how horrible listening with just my left HA was. As mentioned above, no volume changes were made. I did a bleep test and he tweaked a few lower pitches. He made a useful distinction between 'accessing' and 'processing' sound. Whilst I can 'access' all the pitches at the appropriate level, I am still learning to process them. Moreover, he explained how the slightly higher pitched and nasal quality of sounds I hear is due to the fact that the electrode is positioned within the cochlear. At the outer end of the cochlea is where the high pitches are heard, the lower are perceived in the base. In a shorter cochlea or electrode, it falls within the former so while the electrode has been mapped with distinct range of pitches, the brain has to figure out what the low pitches sound like. Hope that makes a bit of sense? It's basically an electrode laid over a part of the cochlea with nerve endings 'wired' for high pitches and now my brain has to translate the mapped, lower pitches and pick them out. Think I've confused myself now!
There was one very painful moment which came from him 'testing' my noise threshold. The line between comfortably loud (can be listened to for a sustained period) and 'uncomfortable' is very fine. He tested a low pitch and not only did I flinch and nearly fall off my chair, I started crying as I felt as if I had been shocked down my neck and my left collar bone. Apparently that happens sometimes. Through a small tweak here and there, he lifted some of my lower pitches and I can already notice a difference. Peter doesn't sound as soft, and very masculine voices in songs, sound appropriately masculine. For example: Trent Reznor. The video is ace, allows you to identify the instruments in play and the sound quality is ace. As is Trent, he's a bit of a babe.
Things that I have found useful this week
The hearing therapy appointment was useful in that I learned a strategy for rehab. It goes like this:
Looking at the CI user, tell them what context you will use when saying a sentence. Eg: I will say, "In the mornings I..." The CI recipient has to then listen with eyes closed/looking away, to that sentence starter and then figure out a single new word or phrase. Eg: "In the mornings I brush my teeth." The brain will be anticipating likely options and this helps with the speech recognition. If the CI recipient cannot figure it out, repeat two or three times or give a hint. If a correction is needed, repeat the entire thing to their face, and then again without them lipreading.
I was dubious at first but as we practised a few times, I realised I was transfixed! I've already taught Peter how to do this and after dinner we spent almost half an hour having a conversation of two halves. For example: "When we go to Aldi, we need to buy..." Really invaluable in that it provides a clear, scaffolded approach for listening that removes the potential for any distorted sound via laptop, Peter thinks my speakers are very tinny compared with his PC and I've done most of my listening on this laptop, might explain why some sounds are indeed more tinny!
Second appointment was with the lovely Spanish man who I met prior to the op, on the day I had a complete meltdown over how horrible listening with just my left HA was. As mentioned above, no volume changes were made. I did a bleep test and he tweaked a few lower pitches. He made a useful distinction between 'accessing' and 'processing' sound. Whilst I can 'access' all the pitches at the appropriate level, I am still learning to process them. Moreover, he explained how the slightly higher pitched and nasal quality of sounds I hear is due to the fact that the electrode is positioned within the cochlear. At the outer end of the cochlea is where the high pitches are heard, the lower are perceived in the base. In a shorter cochlea or electrode, it falls within the former so while the electrode has been mapped with distinct range of pitches, the brain has to figure out what the low pitches sound like. Hope that makes a bit of sense? It's basically an electrode laid over a part of the cochlea with nerve endings 'wired' for high pitches and now my brain has to translate the mapped, lower pitches and pick them out. Think I've confused myself now!
There was one very painful moment which came from him 'testing' my noise threshold. The line between comfortably loud (can be listened to for a sustained period) and 'uncomfortable' is very fine. He tested a low pitch and not only did I flinch and nearly fall off my chair, I started crying as I felt as if I had been shocked down my neck and my left collar bone. Apparently that happens sometimes. Through a small tweak here and there, he lifted some of my lower pitches and I can already notice a difference. Peter doesn't sound as soft, and very masculine voices in songs, sound appropriately masculine. For example: Trent Reznor. The video is ace, allows you to identify the instruments in play and the sound quality is ace. As is Trent, he's a bit of a babe.
Things that I have found useful this week
- TED talks - Really amazing. If you go to the actual website for TED talks, you can access the videos and beneath them are transcripts that highlight as the word is spoken! And if you miss a bit, you just scroll back and it goes back in the text too! There are also good subtitles for most of the videos. Just be careful you don't fall down a hole of 'ooooh let's listen to this' and find yourself, several hours later, still cross legged on the sofa!
- Lisa Eldridge - Love this make-up artist, lovely accent and well spoken.
- Listening (if possible) to familiar music on shuffle and trying to figure out which song is playing. At the moment, Wings, by Birdy is playing. It is sounding better every time I hear it which is heartening. Peter's just selected 'Wrecking Ball' by Miley Cyrus, which despite its video, sounds pretty good from where I'm sat, a few metres from the speakers.
Going forward, I have two weeks until my next appointment. I am aiming to keep practising sentences without lipreading every night, plus regular Ted/YouTube videos every night.
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