ongoing changes

I have had significant changes to my hearing experience since mild adjustments were made to my CI last week. High frequencies have fuller pitches. This means I am identifying more variety in sound. I shake my head in the realization that hearing through the CI is such an ongoing learning experience! It is quite different from any new hearing aid I've had. With hearing aids, I try it once or twice, see if I like it and make an immediate decision. Not so with a CI!

I heard the ambulance siren today! I did not even recognize it and looked about in confusion until it was in my sight. A Speech-Language-Pathologist (who I was accompanying to a work-related appointment) was the driver. She was stuck on the road and could not move. Speaking of emergency vehicles, in the past I would see cars around me veering to the curb and that was my 'clue" such a vehicle was approaching. Anyway, the SLP observed my searching reaction and she didn't think to alert me to the siren noise. That was good, as the CI proved successful all on its own. I need to hear it again so I can identify with it once more. I had been stunned and confused by its piercing call that I can't even describe its sound at this moment. But yes, it is a siren sound, very new to me right now. I understand police sirens ARE different from ambulance sirens - I would like to find that out for myself. I could go to the listening therapy sites and look it up but I am eager to get to a listening book and knit for a while. (A knit blog is under construction! I will call it "Knit n Listen" (http://knitnlisten.blogspot.com) because I am trying to combine the two at the same time. That way I am not as heavily dependent on book text or lipreading while I listen.)

In my entry "Toaster vs Doorbell," I shared about my inability to hear the doorbell but could hear the toaster ring. Now that has changed, since activation (it's been 5 months now.) My doorbell sounds marvelous! I had asked the girls to ring the doorbell when they came home so that I could ensure I could hear it. They think I'm a little 'out there' when I get excited about these things. The toaster alert signal I can hear anywhere on the top floor. It is nearly like a telephone ring impossible to miss. The building in which I work in has a doorbell also and its call draws my attention every time. A smile ensues.

Today, while at a red light I recognized an engine idling beside me on the road and it sounded like it needed work. I didn't have anyone to clarify this, but I feel certain it was a bad engine. I felt an urge to wave the driver down and ask him. I dont think I'll do that though. I have NEVER been able to identify when my car might have a problem. Recent case in point: About a year ago, pre-CI, my girls told me the car I was driving sounded terrible and that it had a high pitch whine to it. I recall wondering at that time what it was I was missing through my deafness. I imagine it may have been similar to the engine I heard today. A torn fan belt? Maybe I was a mechanic in my former life. My dad would probably nod in agreement - I used to be so curious about fixing things and would ask lots of questions as he made repairs to just about anything.

I went for an early morning run the other day. I experienced penetrating chirping sounds that felt like they were coming from within the ear. Birds! So early in the morning? I was to the point where I muttered dryly to myself: "Good morning birds. Yes yes, I hear you. Now just be quiet and let me awake without so much noise." I HAD been able to hear it through the hearing aid years ago but it was lacking pitch and loudness. I haven't been wearing my hearing aid (HA) due to a sore ear canal triggered on by a deteriorating earmold. Besides, I decided I needed to give my brain a chance to adapt to the new mapping. My audiologist dr. mentioned to me that I am particularily sensitive and resistant to small change on my maps. He made a point that this was a significant new map because I had some confusion in the past understanding what my thresholds in the high frequencies were. I've not experienced normal hearing so I have nothing to compare to but what was through a lifetime of damaged residual hearing, obtained only through a high-powered hearing aid. I have to rethink what the meaning of loudness versus sharpness means. With this in mind, the audiologist helped make the changes and insisted that it is a fair map to work with.