A cool thing that happened at my last mapping

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RonJaxon

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I'm pretty excited about this so I thought I'd share. It may not seem like such a big deal but to me it was huge.

I went in for my third mapping (About a few weeks after activation). After the mapping was done my audiologist did a little testing. One of the things she did was she covered her mouth and said she was going to say numbers from 1 to 9 and I was to try and hear what number she's saying.

Out of maybe 15 numbers she named I got them all right except for one. When she'd say two for some reason I kept saying 6. But when she says six I get it right.

But that's a huge step for me. I haven't heard a voice in about 17 years. While it's true it was multiple choice and if I didn't know she was saying numbers I probably wouldn't have known what she was saying. But still it was so cool to just be able to do that. Just a few months ago I never would have thought I'd hear a voice at all let alone be able to tell the difference between words or numbers that are spoken.

One more thing I noticed that's pretty neat. Just outside my room is a flight of stairs. I can tell who's coming up them by the sound of their foot steps. :)

Just thought I'd share that. It's a great feeling.

Ron
 
Ron,

Congratulations! That is wonderful. I myself am newly implanted. It has been eight months. These months have been filled with new hearing experiences. Numbers were also the first words I was able to understand, soon I was able to understand more and more. Each mapping brings new experiences. My last map, two months ago, allowed me to hear a little on the phone. I must say I do use the sound and way beyond training cd to help with rehabilitation.
Keep on listening!
 
That's great. It's an awesome feeling and you're right. There are mysteries all day. One time I couldn't figure this sound I was picking up. I discovered it was the crunch sound of one of my dogs eating dry dog food in the other room. :)

At this point for me the hardest part is keeping my expectations realistic. I'd love to be able to use the phone or watch a movie in a movie theater. But at the same time I know that I really don't know how far I'll go on my ability to understand speech. So I'm trying not to think on that to much in case I can't reach that level. But like I said my Audi said she's impressed with my progress. She said that when someone has been deaf for as long as I have and the level of my deafness. It usually takes longer for them to reach the level I've already reached. She said she suspect I'd be able to hear some speech but also warned me that it would take time and she doesn't know how much speech I'll be able to understand. I am grateful for her honesty on that. It's helping to keep my expectations realistic and enjoy the small progresses.

Ron
 
Ron,

That is great news!! Keep us posted on your progress. Have you tried any books on tape? I also found listening to talk radio on the way to work was helpful.

So far the coolest thing for me is being able to tell where my spoiled dog is by listening for his tags clinking.
 
I can't understand speech well enough yet. I was able to do well with the numbers because it's multiple choice. But if she didn't tell me she was going to say numbers I doubt I would have gotten many of them right. So I can tell if a word had more then one sylable such as "Seven". And I can tell the difference between One and six. But I can't yet distinguish all the vowels and consonants.

But listening to book tapes would be great if I can reach that level.

Ron
 
Thats great Ron.

Having virtually no hearing since birth on my first day of switch on I could tell the difference between 2 and 3 syablles, on 2nd mapping i was talking to my brother and when the Audi turned my CI on she said 1,2,3,4,5 i turned round and said I heard you saying 1,2,3,4,5 she was flabbersgated then from that point she knew I would do well with my CI. Of course i had rocky road and kept my relastic down. Now i had it on for nearly 17 months, I can have converstation with my mum on the phone (and could tell if it was my dad or mum answering the phone in German), pick few words out on TV, recongise my own name.
I work at Deaf school, they sometimes do non lipreading game when the kids are bit absent minded so we do that to wake the kids up a bit, and they love it. It's either days of week, names of kids in class, numbers, months etc, I join in too to give me the practice.

I use audio books, Unabridged, I get a book and CD and they are word to word. (no music, no shorten version of the book) I find male voices little harder than female voices.
 
RonJaxon said:
I'm pretty excited about this so I thought I'd share. It may not seem like such a big deal but to me it was huge.

I went in for my third mapping (About a few weeks after activation). After the mapping was done my audiologist did a little testing. One of the things she did was she covered her mouth and said she was going to say numbers from 1 to 9 and I was to try and hear what number she's saying.

Out of maybe 15 numbers she named I got them all right except for one. When she'd say two for some reason I kept saying 6. But when she says six I get it right.

But that's a huge step for me. I haven't heard a voice in about 17 years. While it's true it was multiple choice and if I didn't know she was saying numbers I probably wouldn't have known what she was saying. But still it was so cool to just be able to do that. Just a few months ago I never would have thought I'd hear a voice at all let alone be able to tell the difference between words or numbers that are spoken.

One more thing I noticed that's pretty neat. Just outside my room is a flight of stairs. I can tell who's coming up them by the sound of their foot steps. :)

Just thought I'd share that. It's a great feeling.

Ron
Click to expand...

Congrats!

Numbers were my first clear words also. I'm 4 months post activation and I can understand about half of what is said on TV without the CC.

Hope you keep getting that great feeling as you progress with your new CI!

JC
 
RonJaxon said:
One more thing I noticed that's pretty neat. Just outside my room is a flight of stairs. I can tell who's coming up them by the sound of their foot steps. :)

Ron
Click to expand...

I can hear people coming and going up the stairs outside my apartment...and I mean OUTDOORS. And the stairs are cemented held in metal with metal handrails. I think it's the cementing moving around in the metal when people climb up and down the stairs that makes the noise. :D
 
off topic

overthepond said:
non lipreading game when the kids are bit absent minded so we do that to wake the kids up a bit, and they love it. It's either days of week, names of kids in class, numbers, months etc, I join in too to give me the practice.
Click to expand...


:topic: but how do you play?
 
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