Roaring Lamb

speech recognition

Due to force of my lip-reading habit, I've only gradually been aware that I can hear entire conversations without looking at the person.  It works best if they are within a few feet, in a quiet setting, and they don't mumble! 

I sat in a large room with 12 people, each of them praying at different times.  One voice across the room seemed really good, not enough for every word, but I just kept smiling as more understanding poured in.  I have to pinch myself to remember that it's happening without my looking at her.  But the one sitting on my left sure came through bell clear.  So nice to have speech recognition even if it is dependant on a quiet setting.

Listening to Mozart again.  I'll have to seek out more of these relaxing songs.  Passionate songs, full of quick notes are fine, but I like having them sound out a bit longer, so they can be savored.

People don't know how good this hearing can be.  I just get this big ol' silly grin on my face when speech recognition comes along without the lip-reading to back it up.  Most of the time I'm looking at the person, so this progress is even sneaking up on me.  Sure makes social events a lot more relaxing.  YES! YES!

6 month mark

Six months!  I happened to put on my hearing aid today, since kayaking seemed a bit too risky for my CI.  But even a regular sized boat freaks me out, the idea of an accidental dunking is a bit too much. The sound...well you couldn't call it a sound. I sang, turned the hearing aid on and off...there certainly wasn't much difference.  It made me so happy to know how effective my CI was.

I'm listening to  Mozart, and it is mellower than the other classic music I've heard so far, like Vivaldi's Four Seasons.  After such a long time ignoring music, there's certainly a whole world of sound yet to be discovered.  My friend gave me a music box.  It isn't what you would expect, for inside is a cricket and it was LOUD!  Heh.  It wasn't a real cricket, but I should hear some pretty soon, just need to get out in the country at night...especially when getting back to Oregon for a visit.

I'm getting speech recognition, not dependable, but I'm patient, because it really exceeds my expectations already.  Folks are not going to be able to "talk behind my back" much anymore...perhaps for good in another six months. 

My facial twitching got reduced to a acceptable level at my last mapping.  I could still use volume, but there's enough at my current settings...and it doesn't make it look like I'm winking all the time!

I need my six-month check-up, but I've not been aggressive with getting my appointments and I'll be off-island for a month anyway.  As a matter of fact I don't even know what my score is from my first testing.  Life has been too full to worry about details like that.  But even at the 3 month mark, it impressed me how many words I did get right.

Thank you LORD, I love this hearing!  Thanks to gifted people, this all came about.  I'm not bilateral, and am not yet pushing for one...why not let the technology develop a bit more anyhow.  It took 2 years from my initial discovery of the CI's potential to my activation day.  Those were extremely frustrating days of waiting and waiting.  Now the first six months have rolled along, and all is well.

What do I hear?

This is the toughest question to answer when people see that I'm still dependent on reading lips.  Truth to be told, is that I'm not on any auditory training except to listen to audio recordings that I can read along with.  I'm still hoping to get some software that will help me with training this brain to recognize phrases quicker.  Training to hear with a CI is like learning to type.  Some people learn to type without prolonged typing drills, others take far longer.  I'm like someone who is learning by hunting and pecking the keys.  Other than listening to audiotapes, I keep looking at people for the visual and hearing cues to communicate.

Yet when listening to the radio in my car, I get some of what they are talking about.  This is above the car noise, so even the background road noise isn't blocking my understanding.  However my comprehension would improve if I worked at it constantly.  I'm just learning the slow route, letting sounds come to me, rather than pursuing them.

After numerous years of lip-reading, this listening style is still predominant.  But with my CI, I hear  the differences between women and men's voices.  I hear all the different frequencies one hears on piano, guitar and so on...if they are played without accompaniment.  With other sounds added in, it becomes multi-layered, making it harder to perceive each note alone.  (probably true for hearing people too, but hey, I would I know?)

When sounds are loud, such a band playing, the CI zeros in on that and makes my voice impossible to hear.  Or if the background music is soft, my voice drowns out the music.  This means I cannot sing along with the current settings.  There's little to use for pitch perception.  However the music, the cymbals, guitars, drums, violins all can be heard, along with vocals.  It is like looking at a blow-up of a low resolution picture.  I can "hear" the music, but it has those "square edges" just like a pixelated picture detracts from the overall look.  Even this description doesn't do music justice though.  My hearing is somewhat fragmented because I'm only hearing with one ear.  Also the threshold of some frequencies is limited on purpose to keep my facial nerve from twitching at loud noises. 

My former hearing aid basically only jacked up the static, made the bass sounds louder.  My CI opens the door to all the frequencies, I hear voices, plastic rustling, fans running, cars zipping down the highway.  There's no comparison, and I'll look into getting a second CI when finances allow.