Hearing Therapy 20/9/11

After my first tune in i met up with Speech and language Therapist, Sarah  - her face looked familiar to me - we worked out i may have seen her prior in my childhood - she had been a therapist for a long time and as it was such a long time ago it was difficult to distinguish when and how?!it was still nice to speak to someone who knew some old teachers of mine. We spoke about how i was coping and what i was hearing - i did explain things were a little crackly at present but each day was getting better.

( i couldnt resist but to put this photo up- as it seemed so appropriate for the word - listening !!)

We the began some listening exercises- this was done by her facing me with a paper on in front of her face so i couldn't lipread what she was saying.
I found this part very difficult and took up alot of my concentration - a majority of the time i could hear mumbles and work them out via syllables. we began a simple exercise by naming the days of the week in any order and by random:

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY
SATURDAY

SUNDAY

This proved difficult especially as each day ends with DAY! Sarah explained the syllables to look at eg WEDNESDAY has three WED - NES- DAY  and so does SAT- UR- DAY. It was equally frustrating for me as i felt like i was going back to my childhood and starting all over again!

We then progressed on to numbers:

ONE, TWO,THREE,FOUR, FIVE, SIX,SEVEN, EIGHT, NINE,TEN

and she taught me to identify SEVEN as it had two syllables : Se- ven ..

her last exercise she did with me was read a paragraph and i had a copy in which i was to read and follow where she was at - at times i did get lost as everything still sounded RAH RAH or MOM MON but i could see each  time i heard it - i was able to identify it more!

She advised me to practice this at home with my husband - which I did most nights when we sat down to watch Television.

Ive also been watching some simple listening tunes on you tube they are below :

TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR !!!

THE ALPHABET SONG

I followed these and the exercises on a regular basis and each day it was getting clearer and clearer to listen to, yes it was frustrating to start with i felt like i was turning back the clock doing things i did as a child but the more work i did on it the more listening skills i acquired.



My very first tune in! = Listening, Hearing and Discriminate!

The start of my day began with a noisy trip to the CI centre in Southampton, a big shock to the system as i hadn't been out for a few days so listening to the people talking in the street, traffic going by was like breathtaking - it was difficult to explain as i had thoughts like ' Wow i can actually hear something!' and 'Gasp' 'its too noisey' - i got in the habit of flipping the magnet off when it became unbearable! But didn't leave off to long for fear of not adjusting!

The journey was traumatic too - catching a train with tannoys, guards shouting whistles blowing( cringe)and train engines was horrifying ! But I did it! I kept on going and i kept the thing on! When i arrived at the CI centre i felt relief and shivery as i had made the journey and also encountered the big wide world out there - gosh we live in a noisy world don't we!!??


I met a different Audie ( Audiologist), this time her name is Roberta - she was very patient and friendly, passed her over my diary of sounds and she encouraged me by telling me that to hear what i had done so far was great ! I suppose i didn't feel it at the time due to my first experience of facing the big world out there! Note to newbies - get some prior listening before making journey to CI centre as that was traumatic for me! Pat on the head to me I should of asked her for a star like you get at school!!

We began my session by discussing the sounds I've heard - which she identified as high frequency, i also mentioned that one of my ears was doing far better than the other - that's how it felt anyway - she then went on to do a hearing field test with my CI on - so she could identify what sounds i was hearing and not. This helps her to work out what level I'm hearing at through my CI and then she can tune in frequency's that I am missing out on. Alot of CI people call this a mapping . Clever stuff i might add, that takes alot of thought and thinking about, especially as they have to look at each electrode individually. The good news was that I was now hearing some things at 30-40 db prior to my operation I could only hear at a range of 120db - what an amazing jump and difference! 

I have 24 electrodes 12 in each ear - for each individual electrode she has to then match and tune me in via a lead which plugs into her laptop and then she would have a programme that could be altered to what both she and i felt was a  comfortable level for me. Crikey i remember when they used  to tune my hearing aid in via a screwdriver - such fiddly things they were! Gosh times have changed so much since i was a child!  I can also remember being so sensitive to sound when i was a hearing aid wearer  when i was moderately deaf which worried me a bit with the CI - but they reassured me this could be adapted to make me comfortable. All i can say is WOW welcome to the TECHNICAL GENERATION !!!

I then explained to Roberta how i was coping and said although i was shattered - i still found it hard to identify the sounds, in that i heard them but still couldn't work out where they came from - she explained that there were three different stages:

1, Listening: My brain would be adapting via the CI how to hear - not quite clear enough for my brain to understand where it was coming from

2, Hearing: Id be able to tell where the sound is coming from and hear the sound clearly- but not quite understand them - this is when id be annoying and keep on asking 1001 questions what the sound was? ,where it was coming from ?

3, Discriminate: Id be able to tell the differences and recognise a range of sounds and know what they are 


I think i also need to thank my husband and family here as I've probably been driving them mad - every time I've heard a sound - I've been asking that what it was and if they could repeat it! When he placed his cup on the side the other day - i made him do it 3 times so i could clarify what it sounded like! When we were in the car - something was clicking and I made him pull over and start the car again to identify what the clicking noise was - it was the silly car indicator! I think my face dropped in awe then as i don't think I've ever heard the indicator in the car, and I've certainly not heard a cup being placed on the side before!!

The bad news was I was experiencing what i described as a buzzy, crackling noise and Roberta discovered via audiogram (a graph they measure sound on) that my high frequency at beginning and end  was dipping at beginning and end so decided to turn this up so my brain would be able to adjust accordingly.

Once again i was asked how it sounded once all electrodes were switched on together  - and the buzzy crackle was till present so Roberta did some tweaking and had a discussion over the phone to the Neurelec Representative - she was able to adjust some other things via her laptop for me. It helped a lot that they communicate and work together so that they can make sure i get the best of my C.I.

 heres there link if you wish to know more : http://www.neurelec.com/

This session lasted an hour and half, but the difference was great , once again Roberta set my 4 setting's on my CI differently at a louder step each go so after my brain adapted to the sounds i could switch on to next stage. Its like this - you r brain hears it the first time and it may be just too loud, but the more and more you hear it and recognise it the quieter it gets so you need the next step - inmy case a setting switch to get more benefit from it ! Strange but it works and also makes me realise how amazing our brain adapts ! I call it changing gear - like a car does in but in different speed or conditions!

Hope this page wasn't too  much to take in - I know the feeling as it was for me that day ! I'm so impatient though - I wanted to hear music cant do that yet but I'm listening to simple things on You Tube ( has videos and music links on it ) everyday and television so each day it just gets clearer and better - will be updating you on my hearing therapy rehabilitation next so watch this space!

Thanks for reading this and look forward to any feedback

Lisa x

By the way MR Tinnitus hasnt completely gone yet but its starting to improve each day xxx

My first introduction to sounds!!

Welcome back too Me! So sorry i haven't updated - i seemed to lost my mojo for a bit, its been an intensive month with so many appointments and recognising sound but I'm OK - and doing well. So i keep getting told ! ha ha! ( I'm a bit weary at the moment)

My first introduction to sounds!

After my switch on I was absolutely knackered - it was amazing how much i took in - if you watch the very first video in my prior blog, Helen the audiologist scientist ( a role of a very dedicated person who knows all abt measuring sound and understands hearing loss), describes that i was going to 'feel very tired for the first few days, as the brain takes a while to work out sounds I've probably never ever heard before!' - well guys she was right, it was like my brain was being plugged into to electrical socket - and my bodily functions felt almost like flu - i ached i didn't want to move it was too much hard work and SO intense! So i just had an easy few days, just resting!

After my tune in audiology appointment i was given a big box of neurelec stuff which included a book told to keep a diary of noises so that the Audie ( audiologist ) could see what i could hear and what needed adjusting in future. I was also given a pink folder with my name and all the guidelines and info about being a cochlear implant recipient - this was very helpful as there were things i didn't know like what to do if i went flying, got an ear infection and whom to contact in an emergency. It wasn't too much to worry about as i could do most activities so long as i took care.

My first day of sound:16/7/11

The implant was easy to attach although i kept thinking to touch a ear mould - i used to wear digital hearing aids before and these implants don't need one  ha ha! So it was a bit strange to begin with! Voices were helium like - metallic crackly buzzy - which didn't make sense, some things were echoey like a submarine sonar radar going off 'OOoo Ooo  OOoo' - but managed to hear  the car engine roaring away when  my husband drove me home from the centre! That was to me pretty amazing as I've never heard anything like that before the implant so i knew that it was a pretty good start !

Second day of sounds :17/9/11

I began to realise noises were changing especially voices they sounded like i was listening to R2D2 robot from  from star wars!! and began to change later in the day to lower tones like 'RA RA RA' - still couldn't make sense of it yet

Third day: 18/9/11

I managed to hear a cup being put on the side - made my husband repeat and repeat the action as i wanted to clarify how it sounded - i couldn't believe i could hear it wow. Still getting R2 D2 in speech but kind of smiled as i like him ha ha - I'm a bit of a star wars freak anyway - when my daughter asked me who he was i had to show her a photo on the Internet and after googling it - I accidentally found a R2 D2 translator here's link :http://www.r2d2translator.com/  we couldn't stop laughing as it showed me the transcript and words that R2D2 would say when i typed our language in ( PS try swear words that's even funnier ! - i know I'm naughty!)

Also some light humour for you Ive attached below is a personal cartoon of my experience of me drawn  by a very dear old school friend of mine Ian Johnstone :

It made me chuckle - if you require any information of Ian's services please email me on lisabai@ntlworld.com or follow Ian's site http://idjmedia.co.uk/ A special thank you to Ian for this and also for his support during my hearing journey - hes kept my spirits up that's for sure and when i saw this i had the biggest smile ever!

After this experience I then had an interesting experience of the toilet or should i say lavatory !! My husband heard me banging and on his discovery asked me if was OK and i replied in shock: 'that damn toilet flush terrified me' i must of jumped ten foot in the air! Good job i had me knickers back on ha ha!  Speaking to Cherry another neurelec C.I wearer she too had experienced the same in the beginning of her journey - so warning to newbie C.I wearers! Phew wouldn't wish that shock on anybody !!

19/9/11

My morning began discovering how noisy i eat !! i could hear the spoon rattling in the cereal bowl! 'Cringe' no wonder my daughter used to moan about my eating habits and yet my darling husband never moaned - i suppose having deaf parents it was the norm to him - aw how sweet is he eh ?!  Voices began to get slight bit better, tone was there despite R2D2 appearing ! I also heard some of  the keys  on my laptop keyboard being touched in a very soft fuzzy tone, so that was very exciting to hear too!! I proceeded to flush the toilet but left the magnet hanging off this time hahaha! i wasn't keen to endure another shock yet or heart attack ! I'm too young to go yet and besides i hadn't full filled my mission yet - the blog !! I'm due at the CI centre tomorrow so maybe a tune in will improve things - I've heard the more you tune in the better it gets but I'm happy for the first week to hear what i have done - its a bit frustrating though as i wanted to be able to hear some more things - but i suppose being in doors and taking it easy is probably enough for me at the moment - been sleeping like a log!!


Ive attached some photos of the things i was given after my switch on for you to look at below:

The case my neurelec

The whole processor ( right in purple)and microphone( left in grey) - on top of a wallet case full of accessories to be used

The whole box the accessories manuals and cases came in - it also also included a massive supply of batteries, wipes, neurelec card, leads etc ( i felt like it was my birthday when i got it ha ha!)

Me wearing my processor which the magnet lies on my left side, you can also see the beige lead that attaches to the microphone onto my other ear which is below

My other ear showing the microphone!!

Good to see my hair growing back isn't it - he he! keep you posted how the tune in went very soon !

By the way special thanks for my C.I pals for support and the audiologists for there patience xxxx