ptcallaghan
New Member
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2010
- Messages
- 132
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Hi all...been a while since I have posted on here, I guess I have been busy experiencing the world of sound once again.
Please note my experience is not 100% typical, there are so many factors that combine to determine how well a candidate will do with an implant....this is just my experience.
I am coming up on my 3 month post activation appointment next Friday and so I have been reflecting on what the last few months have been like....
I have been to see the audiologist several times and continue to amaze her with how well I am doing.
At my one week appt I was able to distinguish some songs...not the lyrics but could get the artist and song if I had heard it alot before losing my hearing.
At my 1 month appt I was able to answer a slew of questions without lip reading. I also got 100% of the words in a set of test sentences (without lip reading). This was a dramatic improvement from the 24% I got un-implanted, however it should be noted the 24% I had were not "useable words" like "the" and "and" that didnt let me figure out the context of the sentence.
At my 2 month appt I was given a list of similar words but with different vowel sounds...eg "hid, hide, hud, had, heard" etc...I think there was about a dozen of them all starting with the h and ending with a d sound....I got 100% of those the first try and was told that was very rare especially at the two month mark...By this appt I had pretty much maxed out the levels in the implant...they will keep checking each visit but they arent expected to change much as the last two visits have been pretty stable.
Next week will be 3 months and I will have a full set of tests done in the sound booth. So this will be my first indication as to how much my hearing has improved on paper...Ill try to get a copy of the audiogram.
In terms of my "real-life" hearing....I am still re-discovering new-old sounds. The other day I heard a cricket....havent heard them in about 3 years...My speech understanding is quite good now. I rarely have to look at the speaker to understand what they say, with the exception of nosier environments. I get a fair bit of what is said on tv, when I am paying attention...but am still using the captions to fill in the gaps. I am enjoying music a fair bit but am some what limited to older music I already knew in terms of the lyrics. I went to a wedding a month back and got almost all the lyrics but it was quite loud and was older tunes... I am using the phone now with my parents and fiance...I rarely have to ask them to repeat...I need to practice more with 3rd parties but am still a bit nervous about the whole deal.... I can listen to most "talk" radio like the news etc. but again I have to pay close attention.
I guess thats about it really...I am in a much better place mentally and am starting to get out more and am much more willing to participate in group conversations...
Ill post again after next weeks appt..
Please note my experience is not 100% typical, there are so many factors that combine to determine how well a candidate will do with an implant....this is just my experience.
I am coming up on my 3 month post activation appointment next Friday and so I have been reflecting on what the last few months have been like....
I have been to see the audiologist several times and continue to amaze her with how well I am doing.
At my one week appt I was able to distinguish some songs...not the lyrics but could get the artist and song if I had heard it alot before losing my hearing.
At my 1 month appt I was able to answer a slew of questions without lip reading. I also got 100% of the words in a set of test sentences (without lip reading). This was a dramatic improvement from the 24% I got un-implanted, however it should be noted the 24% I had were not "useable words" like "the" and "and" that didnt let me figure out the context of the sentence.
At my 2 month appt I was given a list of similar words but with different vowel sounds...eg "hid, hide, hud, had, heard" etc...I think there was about a dozen of them all starting with the h and ending with a d sound....I got 100% of those the first try and was told that was very rare especially at the two month mark...By this appt I had pretty much maxed out the levels in the implant...they will keep checking each visit but they arent expected to change much as the last two visits have been pretty stable.
Next week will be 3 months and I will have a full set of tests done in the sound booth. So this will be my first indication as to how much my hearing has improved on paper...Ill try to get a copy of the audiogram.
In terms of my "real-life" hearing....I am still re-discovering new-old sounds. The other day I heard a cricket....havent heard them in about 3 years...My speech understanding is quite good now. I rarely have to look at the speaker to understand what they say, with the exception of nosier environments. I get a fair bit of what is said on tv, when I am paying attention...but am still using the captions to fill in the gaps. I am enjoying music a fair bit but am some what limited to older music I already knew in terms of the lyrics. I went to a wedding a month back and got almost all the lyrics but it was quite loud and was older tunes... I am using the phone now with my parents and fiance...I rarely have to ask them to repeat...I need to practice more with 3rd parties but am still a bit nervous about the whole deal.... I can listen to most "talk" radio like the news etc. but again I have to pay close attention.
I guess thats about it really...I am in a much better place mentally and am starting to get out more and am much more willing to participate in group conversations...
Ill post again after next weeks appt..