For my 6 month hearing therapy session, i was privileged yet again to have the lovely Geoff Plant - and was very much looking forward to it.
Geoff was accompanied an lady who was visiting from Ireland - I usually do have students watching during my audiology appointments - this is because the centre works closely alongside the university of Southampton - they like to sit in on appointments. For this occasion i believe this young lady worked in the Hearing Therapy field and wanted to share some ideas with Geoff.
Geoff remembered me well - probably from my sausages incident - ha ha! i went over some more words that Ive always struggled with. Here were two that we worked on:
*SPOON*
*DIFFERENTIATE*
and a few others he picked up inmy conversation to him, he also made me say a daft sentence about - lots of bacon ham and eggs !
I guessed he was observing the way I pronounced my words!
i was for example saying SPOON like POON and DIFFERENTIATE as DIFFERENT ATE.. ( i used this long word at work to explain abt something and it tripped up on me so was keen to get it right - the determined soul i am!!)
He broke down words for me in to parts and began making repeat the word :SIRRR - POON at a slow pace.. with SIRR being much quieter and making me speed up the word that was in two parts .. it became easier the more i did it and i became so much more confident. So in the end I was able to articulate a perfect SPOON word!! I was well chuffed in all my life that was one of my most difficult words alongside SAUSAGES of course!
He did the same with DIF FREE EN TI ATE I suppose I was visualising the word but not quite getting the phonetics.
PHONETICS
For those of you who don't know what phonetics are : Phonetics deals with the articulatory and acoustic properties of speech sounds, how they are produced, and how they are perceived. Something that is very difficult for deaf people like me!
A majority of phonetics in speech are quiet so it can be difficult to articulate this into sounds for speech and in hearing aid users they find it hard to establish - hearing aids do not receive those sounds very well. In my case I've never heard the silent sounds so its difficult learning something I never knew!
Now that I was a CI ( Cochlear Implant) wearer I was beginning to hear some of those silent sounds but struggling to know how to say them - so I've had to retrain my mind and voice to say them - which was very hard - especially when ive been saying it wrongly for almost all my life : 30+ years!!
Ive enclosed an example of a chart below that shows the phonetic way that vowels are said and shown - which often is highlighted in a dictionary above a word . ( by the way Geoff told me about this so this is why im sharing it with you haha!)
SPEECH BANANA
On one of the face book CI pages I've joined ( i know im sad - im a social networking freak haah!)- a pal of mine was talking abt the 'Speech Banana'- i thought id post some information about it because it describes how sounds of speech vary in the frequency and decibel chart:
The speech banana is called such due to its shape. When the sounds of speech or phonemes of all the world’s languages are charted in a diagram with one axis containing decibel levels (dB) and the other axis containing the frequency (Hertz or Hz), the shape is that of a banana. Generally, the graph known as an audiogram is charted with frequency levels (Hz) on the X-axis and the decibel levels (dB) on the Y-axis.
However, normal human hearing can occur with sounds outside of the Speech Banana. These sounds include ambient natural sounds such as a rustling of leaves in the wind or birds chirping. Man made sounds outside of the Speech Banana can include music and mechanical noises (i.e., automobiles, lawn mowers).
Audiologists are primarily concerned with hearing loss that occurs within the Speech Banana because it can slow the development of a child’s language and speech abilities which, in turn, can profoundly interfere with learning. Hearing loss within the Speech Banana can also hinder communication capabilities in adults.
Geoff then went on to help me with music and sang a song called : about Sheep being Sheared Ive enclosed a clip from You Tube below for you to see:
A very educational song,and a brilliant example for lots of words with lots of silent letters!. Geoff kindly explained what some of the words were and some background about the song to me - which was very kind of him because i didn't know what half of some of the words were!
From this song we had a discussion about how i was learning music and progressing - I explained how my i pod touch was helping me and also that i still struggled with classical music - he did warn me that classical music was the hardest and that sometimes if you persevere with listening to it - it does support improvement. He told me about a deafened pianist who was wearing CI now and he too struggled but continued repeat playing the piano until things progressed. It may never be something I can hear again - but I'd like to try so i definitely will be making enquires to see if someone can assist me in this task.
My reason for being so keen on this is because with my moderate to severe hearing loss i had as a child i learnt to play the flute in my teen years and I wanted to play again - i did hear some tones but a majority of the time i played it through my feet - simply took my socks and shoes of and taught myself to feel my way through each piece i played with of course the accompaniment of the piano !
The past 3 years before i was implanted I had indeed lost confidence in playing -I guess this was my next challenge on my hearing journey. I'm not expecting too much but if i can achieve playing again with some hearing ability it would be an ultimate dream come true.
We ended this session by completing a few listening exercises where by Geoff read out loud one of his famous story's - i was given a script of words with blanks in it - this would be when i would have to guess what was said. This time was much harder as there were more blanks - so I had to concentrate really hard without lipreading him. After we finished he scored me at 70 % i was amazed and really chuffed how far I had come! This really reassured me that my kindle listening was really a huge support in helping me ! Before i left the room after Thanking Geoff for seeing me - he said to me ' I wants to hear you've been playing next time!' I left with a smile on my face.
SOME GOOD NEWS TO SHARE
A few days later I received a letter in the post which was good news :I had been selected a hearing dog - which is a guide dog for the deaf they alert deaf people to sounds. Ive been on the waiting list for over 4 years and didn't expect it to happen so soon as i was told the list was huge and it could be a 5 year wait. Many of my friends have been supportive about my C.I but some of them asked me why i would need one when I have the implant - my answer is what it always has been -
I'm still deaf and CI isn't a hearing cure.
I applied before I was implanted when my hearing began to decline and at this stage i had lost alot of confidence and at times did suffer from lack of confidence. My husband and I had a long conversation about if I still wanted and needed a dog and we both agreed that it was still a good idea as I still don't hear some sounds and noises mainly when I am in the other room. Of course he would know about this better than me becasue he has to regularly alert me to sounds he also said it would boost my confidence especially going out on my own as I do get anxiety when i have to encounter difficult situations when I cannot hear what is going on and what is behind me. Lately ive become a recluse and dont like to adventure out of my home alone.
Please do click on the link for further information about hearing dogs :http://www.hearingdogs.org.uk/
We travelled to Princes Risborough in Buckinghamshire in the UK to meet the dog that was allocated for me - stayed over on site in there own accommodation and I was introduced to my new doggy INCA, she came bouncing over with joy and affection - shes a lovely a black retriever - cross Labrador. We instantly fell in love with her. With no doubt I accepted her and both me and my husband were invited back to the Hearing Dogs site for training at a later date. I'm so excited and really looking forward to having INCA in my life - its all come at the right time for me so look forward to my next blog - i shall be talking a little about how that week went.
INCA says WOOF WOOF!
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