Voices on the telephone

Another result of my fifth mapping is that I can turn up the volume enough that voices on the phone are much clearer. I avoided turning it high because of the facial twitching. I talked to a variety of people and only one voice seemed far away, so I asked "Do you have a soft voice?" She replied, "Yes." That explained why I depended on captioning for that conversation. But that is the only difficult moment on a wonderful day.

Fulfilling the dream of:
being able to sing along with the congregation with my eyes closed happened today.
hearing an opera type voice without accompanionment happened today...I cried.
calling my family and friends and understanding their conversation happened today.
listening to violins and savoring every note...happened today.

Is my hearing at 100%? No. But today is a day of rejoicing. Sounds with this cochlear implant beats the pants off any hearing aid produced sound. It does take time for sounds to become clear, so there's no instant gratification.

Over time I'll wean myself from relying on captioning on the telephone and TV. For TV, concentrating on voices alone is too much work. I'll stick with captioning for now even though I could use headphones to hear better. Years of believing I cannot "hear" without captioning will take time to undo.

If my phone rings and the captioning is not on, I'll probably be able to handle the call, and ask them to call back if needed in order to get captioning assistance(on a CapTel phone at my workplace only.) The challenge to lose the phone phobia will take time. What if there's another soft voice on the line? Of course telling them to speak up is one option. The craving to know exactly what is said will have to be moved to a lower priority, in other words, if the conversation isn't stalling, then 100% hearing isn't needed.

Comments

[Small Business Answering service]

I am definitely agree with you that the challenge to lose the phone phobia will take time. They said that it is usually caused by an intense negative experience from your past.I think practicing a lot before making a call will help you overcome it.

[Alvina]

Hi Thema;
I just read all the updates on your blog! You are doing so very well! I rejoice with you, especially when you enjoy violin music like I do! How are you doing with "voice mail"?
Bob is back there but I couldn't come because of my mother who is waiting for surgery (unless God grants a miracle) to remove her eye. I heard Karah is leaving - where is she going? She committed for two years!
Blessings on you my dear lady!
Alvina