A forewarning: I updated the entire weekend into separate posts by days. So it looks like a lot, but I just needed to separate them all or else no one would make it through.
Also, please excuse any short ungrammatical sentences. They were just notes after all :)
Monday, August 30, 2010
Sunday sounds and thoughts
Post activation day 5: Program 2, volume 3 and 4.
Just glad to be home :)
Got up and didn't put implants on until after I was done showering and fixing my hair. That was a nice piece of silence this morning.
Gave Kiernan a bath, and it was quite noisy. He loves splashing.
Went to church (Bryan stayed home, he had a migraine) alone with Kiernan. I had a volunteer transliterator (Thanks Becky!) today as she was in town, so that helped. However, having a kid, no husband present and sitting for an hour doesn't make for a very good transliterator watching experience :) However a couple came and sat behind me and kept him entertained for awhile so I could actually make use of the transliterator. All things considering, he was very good.
I have discovered that any kind of crying, fussing or high pitch sound made by a kid is almost as bad as the plastic sound. It sounds like....screeching metal on metal. That's the best thing I can think of.
The singing of the songs? No offense to ANYONE who reads this, but my brain is just NOT ready to process that yet. Wow.
I'm getting better at detecting male and female voices, however it's still not 100% accurate.
I tried out the Sound and WAY Beyond rehabilitation CD provided by cochlear. I did it for an hour, and am UTTERLY exhausted.
Basically, there's a pretest to help you determine what you listen to. I got 30% right on the pure tone test, 33% right on the vowel test, and 40% right on the consonant test. That was really hard.
Just for kicks, I did the environmental sounds preview, training and test. I got 100% on the training. There were two pictures given, and a sound was played. Of the two, I had to pick which one it was. Then I took the test. There were four pictures this time. This time I got 88% right. It's interesting the very SMALL things that make a difference in how I choose something.
For example, water running and fireworks. At first, they sound EXACTLY the same to me. Then after about a second, I'll start picking up the "popping" sounds of the fireworks, but BARELY. I still mostly here that constant "rush" sound. If I hadn't heard that popping, I wouldn't have know which sound was which.
I had to stop after that, but at least I can see how this DVD will be used. I was so scared, because I thought I had lost it. I was hoping to use it on the plane while flying to and form Chicago, but I couldn't find it. Today, I decided to look for it. We looked EVERYWHERE. I even went through all of Kiernan's toys just in case he got a hold of it. 2 or 3 hours later, we found it, in the pile of magazines. Right smack dab in the middle of it. Weird, but at least I found it. I got it for free with my cochlear implant kits. If I hadn't it would've cost me $90 to replace it, and that's at a discounted rate because I'm a Cochlear user.
Anyway, I'm back at work officially tomorrow, and it'll be fun to see the families again. I am using an interpreter this week just to ensure the quality of information, however, I think after this week, I might be able to get away with no interpreters as long as I can see people's faces when they're talking. We'll see. :)
Just glad to be home :)
Got up and didn't put implants on until after I was done showering and fixing my hair. That was a nice piece of silence this morning.
Gave Kiernan a bath, and it was quite noisy. He loves splashing.
Went to church (Bryan stayed home, he had a migraine) alone with Kiernan. I had a volunteer transliterator (Thanks Becky!) today as she was in town, so that helped. However, having a kid, no husband present and sitting for an hour doesn't make for a very good transliterator watching experience :) However a couple came and sat behind me and kept him entertained for awhile so I could actually make use of the transliterator. All things considering, he was very good.
I have discovered that any kind of crying, fussing or high pitch sound made by a kid is almost as bad as the plastic sound. It sounds like....screeching metal on metal. That's the best thing I can think of.
The singing of the songs? No offense to ANYONE who reads this, but my brain is just NOT ready to process that yet. Wow.
I'm getting better at detecting male and female voices, however it's still not 100% accurate.
I tried out the Sound and WAY Beyond rehabilitation CD provided by cochlear. I did it for an hour, and am UTTERLY exhausted.
Basically, there's a pretest to help you determine what you listen to. I got 30% right on the pure tone test, 33% right on the vowel test, and 40% right on the consonant test. That was really hard.
Just for kicks, I did the environmental sounds preview, training and test. I got 100% on the training. There were two pictures given, and a sound was played. Of the two, I had to pick which one it was. Then I took the test. There were four pictures this time. This time I got 88% right. It's interesting the very SMALL things that make a difference in how I choose something.
For example, water running and fireworks. At first, they sound EXACTLY the same to me. Then after about a second, I'll start picking up the "popping" sounds of the fireworks, but BARELY. I still mostly here that constant "rush" sound. If I hadn't heard that popping, I wouldn't have know which sound was which.
I had to stop after that, but at least I can see how this DVD will be used. I was so scared, because I thought I had lost it. I was hoping to use it on the plane while flying to and form Chicago, but I couldn't find it. Today, I decided to look for it. We looked EVERYWHERE. I even went through all of Kiernan's toys just in case he got a hold of it. 2 or 3 hours later, we found it, in the pile of magazines. Right smack dab in the middle of it. Weird, but at least I found it. I got it for free with my cochlear implant kits. If I hadn't it would've cost me $90 to replace it, and that's at a discounted rate because I'm a Cochlear user.
Anyway, I'm back at work officially tomorrow, and it'll be fun to see the families again. I am using an interpreter this week just to ensure the quality of information, however, I think after this week, I might be able to get away with no interpreters as long as I can see people's faces when they're talking. We'll see. :)
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Saturday Noises and thoughts.
Post Activation Day 4: Program 2 Volume 2. Left it that way all day since the remote died, and the charger for it was left at home.
Mostly the same sounds I heard the past couple of days, except the voices don't sound as much like colds anymore.
I was definitely getting the hang of people saying "um" and recognizing it without looking at their faces :)
On the plane, discovered something. On my way TO Chicago, I kept hearing this weird beeps, as if something was interfering with my implant. Thought it was electrical interference. It wasn't! It was actually the magnet part of my implant being slightly pushed off of my internal implants due to me leaning against the wall. I felt pretty dumb after that :)
Got home, and noticed how much easier it was to hear when Kiernan was talking. It's also easier to hear when Bryan is talking, but not always obvious.
Mostly the same sounds I heard the past couple of days, except the voices don't sound as much like colds anymore.
I was definitely getting the hang of people saying "um" and recognizing it without looking at their faces :)
On the plane, discovered something. On my way TO Chicago, I kept hearing this weird beeps, as if something was interfering with my implant. Thought it was electrical interference. It wasn't! It was actually the magnet part of my implant being slightly pushed off of my internal implants due to me leaning against the wall. I felt pretty dumb after that :)
Got home, and noticed how much easier it was to hear when Kiernan was talking. It's also easier to hear when Bryan is talking, but not always obvious.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Friday Sounds and thoughts
Friday: Program 2, volume 1 and 2.
Heard voices all the way at the end of the table.
Things are definitely more clear now that the implants are not on telecoil.
Voices still sound like everyone has colds for the most part, however not everyone sounds that way. It's interesting. Also, voices sound different depending on if they are on my left or right side. If they are on my left side, they sound higher, if they are on my right side, they sound more "normal".
I asked my sister something, and I felt better about it. When I turn my implants off, I can still hear electrical buzzing for about another 10 minutes. Apparently it's normal. Sure is weird.
Went to my room, and heard a man talking at some point for a long period of time. Noticed that the voice wasn't changing, even though the characters on the TV were changing, so I turned the tv off. The voice was still there, turns out the radio was on. No idea why or how it got turned on.
The music in the lobby is VERY distracting and interfered with my ability to understand people.
The waterfall in the lobby is equally as difficult.
Plastic sounds are definitely still the loudest and most annoying sounds for me. The crinkling is just....LOUD.
Heard lots of different sounds on the train in Chicago. Mostly just...loud rumbling. But I was at times able to detect the announcer (recorded voice) over the rumbling. Could also hear people talking quite well that weren't right next to me.
Dinner was out on a patio, it was great at first. Then another group came up, and it was VERY difficult to understand anything. It almost as if the volume of noise doubled once the other group got to the area.
Listening is exhausting.
Heard voices all the way at the end of the table.
Things are definitely more clear now that the implants are not on telecoil.
Voices still sound like everyone has colds for the most part, however not everyone sounds that way. It's interesting. Also, voices sound different depending on if they are on my left or right side. If they are on my left side, they sound higher, if they are on my right side, they sound more "normal".
I asked my sister something, and I felt better about it. When I turn my implants off, I can still hear electrical buzzing for about another 10 minutes. Apparently it's normal. Sure is weird.
Went to my room, and heard a man talking at some point for a long period of time. Noticed that the voice wasn't changing, even though the characters on the TV were changing, so I turned the tv off. The voice was still there, turns out the radio was on. No idea why or how it got turned on.
The music in the lobby is VERY distracting and interfered with my ability to understand people.
The waterfall in the lobby is equally as difficult.
Plastic sounds are definitely still the loudest and most annoying sounds for me. The crinkling is just....LOUD.
Heard lots of different sounds on the train in Chicago. Mostly just...loud rumbling. But I was at times able to detect the announcer (recorded voice) over the rumbling. Could also hear people talking quite well that weren't right next to me.
Dinner was out on a patio, it was great at first. Then another group came up, and it was VERY difficult to understand anything. It almost as if the volume of noise doubled once the other group got to the area.
Listening is exhausting.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Thursday Sounds and thoughts
Thursday - Post activation Day 2, Program 1, volume 9 and 10.
Went to the airport, loving that I get to go in the shorter line because of the implants, yeah I know, kind of lame to a lot of you, but it's better than me setting off a metal detector every time I go through one, and thus delaying the line even more. Though I'd love to know what people would think when they saw that I set off the metal detector...
Very noisy, constant chatting so I'm constantly hearing voices, for the most part they still sound the same. However, I am noticing a difference between men's voices, women's voices and children's voices.
Kiernan is still getting just a little bit easier to understand.
I miss being able to tuck my hair behind my ear. The coil of the implant prevents me from doing that. Didn't think that would bug me, but with how often I bend down and move closer to kids when I'm on the floor with them, I tend to put my hair behind my ear. Looks like I'll have to start using hair elastics more often now.
Left the darn telecoil on ALL DAY. Wondering if this is what made the voices sound different. Sounds like everyone has colds.
Went to the airport, loving that I get to go in the shorter line because of the implants, yeah I know, kind of lame to a lot of you, but it's better than me setting off a metal detector every time I go through one, and thus delaying the line even more. Though I'd love to know what people would think when they saw that I set off the metal detector...
Very noisy, constant chatting so I'm constantly hearing voices, for the most part they still sound the same. However, I am noticing a difference between men's voices, women's voices and children's voices.
Kiernan is still getting just a little bit easier to understand.
I miss being able to tuck my hair behind my ear. The coil of the implant prevents me from doing that. Didn't think that would bug me, but with how often I bend down and move closer to kids when I'm on the floor with them, I tend to put my hair behind my ear. Looks like I'll have to start using hair elastics more often now.
Left the darn telecoil on ALL DAY. Wondering if this is what made the voices sound different. Sounds like everyone has colds.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Post Activation Day 1
So I still don't notice the magnet parts all that much, so I'm going to assume it'll be that way for.....well...the rest of my life. Ha.
As for sounds, I'm now on Program 1 volume 9. I started at volume 7 this morning. Looks like I might make it to Program 2 on Friday, but we'll see since I'll be flying to Chicago tomorrow for a weekend meeting.
Here are things of notice at least to myself today:
-I went to work, and sat down in my office. I noticed I could hear someone talking, but there was no one else in the room where I share an office with others. So I looked out the office door, and across the hall is another office and a person talking on the phone. Sure enough, I could hear a person talking on the phone from, to me, quite a distance away. That was a weird feeling.
-When the TV isn't on, and no one's talking, and Kiernan isn't playing with some noisy things, I can EASILY hear the clock ticking in our living room. It REALLY stands out. I haven't heard a clock tick in a very long time.
- I made dinner tonight, and boy, was that loud. Everything was pretty bearable until I cooked the meat. That sizzling sound....ouch. That was REALLY loud.
- I had stopped at another place for work today to pick up some materials and stopped to chat with some people. There was a weed whacker going on outside the window. I couldn't hear it. However when it was nearby, I felt like I was missing a sound, like something was interfering with the constant noise I was hearing, and I felt it more than heard it, so I think that was the weedwhacker. Especially because this sensation only happened when it was near the window.
- I got home, and got out of the car, and immediately heard a weedwhacker that was quite a distance away. That was just weird to me considering what had happened earlier with a different person with a weedwhacker.
- I heard the lawnmower without a problem. I could tell when it stopped, and when the guy started it up again.
- For quite some time, I could hear some SCREECHING noises, and it was making me crazy. I kept looking around to try and find it. I didn't figure it out until later. When I went inside, and Kiernan was fussing, I heard the SAME screeching noise. I realized that the entire time, I was actually hearing a baby outside fussing. She wasn't screaming or anything, but for some reason, any fussy noises seem to really get in there.
- I was able to hear a kid dragging the stick in the sand/dirt/concrete. What was neat about this, for me, was that I could hear the difference in between the stick on the sand, the dirt and the concrete.
- I'm still hearing voices and can tell the difference between a voice and noise. However, it's still very difficult to even guess what a person is saying when I'm not looking at them.
- There is a LOT less squeakiness, but it's being replaced by SCREECHING. That's fun :)
- I'm getting better at being able to detect the beat of the music and detect when the singer is actually singing. Although I am cheating a bit, as I am listening to songs that I like and am familiar with.
- All of the middle notes of the piano sound the same to me. However, if you play the high notes and the low notes, I can tell the difference between the two of those general pitches.
- Kiernan's crying and fussines is definintely more noticeable :) It makes it very hard not to be snippy, period, because crying alone can grate on one's nerves, but screeching crying? that is REALLY hard to ignore and REALLY hard to not just try and quiet immediately.
That's it :) I'm going to Chicago tomorrow, and won't be back until Saturday. Wish Bryan a lot of luck for keeping his sanity :)
As for sounds, I'm now on Program 1 volume 9. I started at volume 7 this morning. Looks like I might make it to Program 2 on Friday, but we'll see since I'll be flying to Chicago tomorrow for a weekend meeting.
Here are things of notice at least to myself today:
-I went to work, and sat down in my office. I noticed I could hear someone talking, but there was no one else in the room where I share an office with others. So I looked out the office door, and across the hall is another office and a person talking on the phone. Sure enough, I could hear a person talking on the phone from, to me, quite a distance away. That was a weird feeling.
-When the TV isn't on, and no one's talking, and Kiernan isn't playing with some noisy things, I can EASILY hear the clock ticking in our living room. It REALLY stands out. I haven't heard a clock tick in a very long time.
- I made dinner tonight, and boy, was that loud. Everything was pretty bearable until I cooked the meat. That sizzling sound....ouch. That was REALLY loud.
- I had stopped at another place for work today to pick up some materials and stopped to chat with some people. There was a weed whacker going on outside the window. I couldn't hear it. However when it was nearby, I felt like I was missing a sound, like something was interfering with the constant noise I was hearing, and I felt it more than heard it, so I think that was the weedwhacker. Especially because this sensation only happened when it was near the window.
- I got home, and got out of the car, and immediately heard a weedwhacker that was quite a distance away. That was just weird to me considering what had happened earlier with a different person with a weedwhacker.
- I heard the lawnmower without a problem. I could tell when it stopped, and when the guy started it up again.
- For quite some time, I could hear some SCREECHING noises, and it was making me crazy. I kept looking around to try and find it. I didn't figure it out until later. When I went inside, and Kiernan was fussing, I heard the SAME screeching noise. I realized that the entire time, I was actually hearing a baby outside fussing. She wasn't screaming or anything, but for some reason, any fussy noises seem to really get in there.
- I was able to hear a kid dragging the stick in the sand/dirt/concrete. What was neat about this, for me, was that I could hear the difference in between the stick on the sand, the dirt and the concrete.
- I'm still hearing voices and can tell the difference between a voice and noise. However, it's still very difficult to even guess what a person is saying when I'm not looking at them.
- There is a LOT less squeakiness, but it's being replaced by SCREECHING. That's fun :)
- I'm getting better at being able to detect the beat of the music and detect when the singer is actually singing. Although I am cheating a bit, as I am listening to songs that I like and am familiar with.
- All of the middle notes of the piano sound the same to me. However, if you play the high notes and the low notes, I can tell the difference between the two of those general pitches.
- Kiernan's crying and fussines is definintely more noticeable :) It makes it very hard not to be snippy, period, because crying alone can grate on one's nerves, but screeching crying? that is REALLY hard to ignore and REALLY hard to not just try and quiet immediately.
That's it :) I'm going to Chicago tomorrow, and won't be back until Saturday. Wish Bryan a lot of luck for keeping his sanity :)
The current rehabilitation plan
Right now, my audiologist just wants me to get used to the noises I hear. So over the next two weeks (next appointment is September 8th), I need to work on increasing the volume of my cochlear implants every day.
Basically, each cochlear implant has room for four programs. Whenever a person goes in for a mapping (a session to change the settings of the cochlear implant), four programs are typically set. You start with the first one, then when the first one has been.."mastered", you move on to the next one, etc.
Right now my programs are set so that each program is louder than the previous one. So program one is the softest level of sounds, especially when put at volume one. Over the course of the next couple of days, I am to increase the volume gradually to give my brain time to adjust to the comfort level/noise level. Currently I am at a volume 6 (starting with a volume 5 at the appointment). I can go up to volume 10. So, from now until September 8th, I basically need to make it up 34 volume bars (10 volume bars for each program, I'm on number 6 for program 1, so only 4 left on that one, then 10 more for program 2, 10 more for program 3, and 10 more for program 4). So I really will be constantly adjusting my volume very day to try and build up that loudness and for my brain to handle it.
There's also a sensitivity level, but that will not be the focus for now. The sensitivity level is basically how far away I'll be able to detect sounds. The lower the number, the closer things have to be to my physically for me to be able to detect the sound, the higher the number, the further away the cochlear implant will pick up the sound. People do not go the highest number in general as it picks up too much background noise, and becomes a lot more difficult to understand the noises in the environment. We have my sensitivity levels set on what the average cochlear implant user has it on (12-14).
SO, over the course of the next two weeks, I am just practicing listening to sounds, trying to figure out what is what, and getting used to the loudness. Over time the squeakiness should go away (over the course of the next few days), and things will start sounding more normal.
Basically, each cochlear implant has room for four programs. Whenever a person goes in for a mapping (a session to change the settings of the cochlear implant), four programs are typically set. You start with the first one, then when the first one has been.."mastered", you move on to the next one, etc.
Right now my programs are set so that each program is louder than the previous one. So program one is the softest level of sounds, especially when put at volume one. Over the course of the next couple of days, I am to increase the volume gradually to give my brain time to adjust to the comfort level/noise level. Currently I am at a volume 6 (starting with a volume 5 at the appointment). I can go up to volume 10. So, from now until September 8th, I basically need to make it up 34 volume bars (10 volume bars for each program, I'm on number 6 for program 1, so only 4 left on that one, then 10 more for program 2, 10 more for program 3, and 10 more for program 4). So I really will be constantly adjusting my volume very day to try and build up that loudness and for my brain to handle it.
There's also a sensitivity level, but that will not be the focus for now. The sensitivity level is basically how far away I'll be able to detect sounds. The lower the number, the closer things have to be to my physically for me to be able to detect the sound, the higher the number, the further away the cochlear implant will pick up the sound. People do not go the highest number in general as it picks up too much background noise, and becomes a lot more difficult to understand the noises in the environment. We have my sensitivity levels set on what the average cochlear implant user has it on (12-14).
SO, over the course of the next two weeks, I am just practicing listening to sounds, trying to figure out what is what, and getting used to the loudness. Over time the squeakiness should go away (over the course of the next few days), and things will start sounding more normal.
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