New to Heer Peers, Hello from Delaware!

[Valentin]

Megan, I know about subtitles, but if we are trying hear and recognize we are hearing. the lyrics in 99.9% are not exactrly as music sound. I tought the music on spotify are a special selection to help  in reab process.

[Megan L.]

Valentin - That is true, we are hearing if we recognize music. But I want to hear to understand lyrics not just appreciate rhythm, pitch, tone, and melody. I only suggested YouTube because they have songs in Spanish with lyrics to follow along as you listen and try to understand the words. The lyrics are the melody of a song and hold a different beat, pitch, and tone than the rhythm (underlying beat) which is why it sounds different. In music the melody sits on top of the rhythm which makes it harder to hear. If the pre-selected Spotify list is working for you, keep doing it ?  hope the music is starting to sound better for you!

[Ivana Marinac]

On 09/11/2016 at 1:32 AM, Kara of Canada said:

Yes Megan! I'm enjoying life with sound!! I absolutely love my implant. I can hear music again. I can talk on the phone again. Even regular conversations I don't have to ask everyone to repeat themselves every time. I go for my one year mapping in december. I will likely hear then weither they are going to do the second implant surgery or not. So I'm excited about that. This is the best group of people I have ever met. We (as crazy as it sounds!) have laughed and cried together. We have learned so much from each other. I feel like a kid in school again as we have learned so much together. So believe me when I say this you're in the right place!!! ❤️

 literally Kara... Best actions cause - best feelings...

 

[Ivana Marinac]

Hello Megan,

Writing you from the other part of the Globe - Europe is my playground and Croatia is my homeland where I live and work

I usually jump into the pool while you're sleeping or going in the bed so my posts appear just like Batman wrote them 

I am not a CI than a bone conduction implantee - Bonebridge which is also one of the Med-ELs product from the portfolio. I am moderately bilaterally hearing impaired since birth grew up and made my whole education with one HA which has distinguished place in my heart for giving me opportunity to function almost as the normal person. On the other side, my Bonebridge gave me a completely new dimension of understanding and enjoying my everyday life as well as enjoying to work. I got chance to meet incredible people in real as well as people here at the forum who became my friends by supporting me in my lonely days. To quote Kara: we smiled, laughed and supported each other - we learn by reading our experiences and talking about them... We understand our utmost feelings and fears on that feeling....:)

Time for bed!   mine... 

[Megan L.]

Hi Ivana, 

Great to formally meet you! I hear only the best things about Croatia. My roommate in college was from Croatia and she showed me pictures of your beautiful country. I would love to visit one day!!!

Who doesn't love Batman?! A great hero ? I love when people jump into conversations, it makes it so much more interesting!

Amazing! How are you liking the bone bridge implant? My mom thought that would work for me but my hearing loss was too severe. The implant is doing the trick ? I too grew up hard of hearing. When I was 2 and a half, I was really sick with chicken pox and shortly after I loss part of my hearing. Two fistula operations later I had a severe/profound loss. My left ear was my worse and has since been implanted. I have no regrets about anything- this is my normal ?  I'm looking forward to the new journey and new open doors the implant brings me! 

I'm incredibly thankful for this forum as I spent my entire life by myself as a hard of hearing person. It's so nice to be able to talk openly about things/struggles and people understand. Amazing support!

sleep tight Ivana and we'll talk soon ?

[Valentin]

Megan, You and me go together in this journey.

Since yesterday I'm on Program 3. I hear somthing better some sounds. But I continue struggling with voices. I don't understand why other sounds are incredibly like I knew it, and voice is very hard to understand right.

[Megan L.]

We do go together in this journey Valentin!  

Does program three sound any better to you than the others? For me each one was louder overall not clearer in voices ? I had my first mapping on Monday and the audiologist adjusted the compression (makes loud noises softer so it doesn't hurt our ears) and it sounds better but still hard to understand people without looking. I hear sounds so much better but voices are still a struggle!! 

Tonight was Thanksgiving and I had family over and it was hard to follow and understand when it got loud. I guess practice and some fine tuning will be key ? 

It is puzzling how sounds can be like we remember or better but voices are tough...

I hope you've been well Valentin! ?

[hadron]

Hi Valentin and Megan,

I am glad to see you are moving forward after activation. Around a month or two post activation you are usually given a booth listening test with simple sentences in a quiet environment by your audiologist.

To prep for this Hearing in Quiet Test a good recommended approach is to do aural rehabilitation with ABClix, as Mary Beth suggested. It helps you develop an ability to hear the difference in words by understanding vowels and consonants. There are 35 levels of hierarchy which  include practice with hearing in noise which you should postpone to later.

After you have the booth test the results are discussed with you. An audiogram may be created for you. It shows your hearing loss in dB over the frequencies. Your initial results give you a baseline you can compare with future tests. 

Hearing in noise and to music are the biggest challenges for CI users. It is easy to get discouraged by the struggles you have on a daily basis in these environments and dwelling on what you can't hear.

Every CI user has faced this situation. While I was facing it I met an emininent CI researcher and I thought surely he can help me. I discussed my inability to hear in noise with him and he sympathized with me. He wished he could borrow my ears so he could hear exactly what I hear, which would focus his research but alas he can't. He told me to try not to dwell on my inability to understand and instead appreciate what I do understand and work hard to improve my understanding by doing aural rehab and using the coding strategies he and other researchers are developing. I try to follow his advice but it can be daunting.

[Megan L.]

3 hours ago, hadron said:

Hi Valentin and Megan,

I am glad to see you are moving forward after activation. Around a month or two post activation you are usually given a booth listening test with simple sentences in a quiet environment by your audiologist.

To prep for this Hearing in Quiet Test a good recommended approach is to do aural rehabilitation with ABClix, as Mary Beth suggested. It helps you develop an ability to hear the difference in words by understanding vowels and consonants. There are 35 levels of hierarchy which  include practice with hearing in noise which you should postpone to later.

After you have the booth test the results are discussed with you. An audiogram may be created for you. It shows your hearing loss in dB over the frequencies. Your initial results give you a baseline you can compare with future tests. 

Hearing in noise and to music are the biggest challenges for CI users. It is easy to get discouraged by the struggles you have on a daily basis in these environments and dwelling on what you can't hear.

Every CI user has faced this situation. While I was facing it I met an emininent CI researcher and I thought surely he can help me. I discussed my inability to hear in noise with him and he sympathized with me. He wished he could borrow my ears so he could hear exactly what I hear, which would focus his research but alas he can't. He told me to try not to dwell on my inability to understand and instead appreciate what I do understand and work hard to improve my understanding by doing aural rehab and using the coding strategies he and other researchers are developing. I try to follow his advice but it can be daunting.

Hi Hadron! 

Things have been good since getting activated 2 weeks ago ? I've heard so many new sounds and different parts of music/songs I didn't even know existed!!! I figured out today high frequency sounds are clear and low frequency sounds are bubble like...??? So strange.

I had my first mapping this past Monday. My audiologist tested both simple and complex sentences. I feel like I finally passed ? The AB Clix app is wonderful and I went through the whole thing without noise and I'm going through it again with noise.

Trying to hear in noise isn't new to me. I've struggled with that for 27 years. Each time HA got more high tech, it got slightly easier. I lipread so that's how I get through noisey situations. Yesterday, for the first time, I heard the person's voice in a noisey room. That's a win in my book ? I've never been able to do that! 

That is good advice from your friend: focus on what you can hear not what you can't. What exactly was he researching and what kind of coding strategies? Sounds interesting ? To be honest, the implant is a huge step up from where I came from. I'm 31 and I've been hard of hearing since 2 and a half and worn hearing aids since 4. There's a lot of sounds I never knew existed, so I can't speak to what I'm not hearing since I never knew they were there until now. People's voices are clear just not as clear as I would like. I need to remind myself, it's only been 2 weeks. Everything seems to be practice, practice, practice!!!

[Mary Beth]

Megan,

 

You may like to add in Angel Sounds now too since things are going well in CLIX. Angel Sounds has an app for iPad and you can change the settings by selecting the icon in the bottom right corner.  Angel Sounds also has a free download for PCs.

[Megan L.]

Hi Mary Beth, 

I will check that out on the IPad. When I was on my Mac laptop, it was hard to sort through and find stuff. Maybe that was due to it not being compatible??? 

Also, Do you have any suggestions for the phone practice besides the 800 number at Cochlear Americas? 

[Valentin]

Hi there, 

Megan, I  can not express better than you but is exactrly in same way. I'm not english and my vovabulary is not so rich.

Hadron, Thank's for your post. jI tried to follow Mary Beth advice, but ABClix is only for Mac iphone, ipad..), and I 'm user of Android/PC. I'm ttried to find it for this platforms, but I have not succsess.

As Megan, I believe tje journey go well. I had been activted two weeks ago, and I'm on begining of the way.

[Megan L.]

Valentin I think your English is great for it being your second language! Your vocabulary will expend just from talking to all of us ? I went to school with international students and it was so exciting to watch how they progressed through the English language over the course of a year. Keep up the good work!

For the IPad issue - is there anyone you know that might lend you theirs for a short amount of time? I borrowed my mom's IPad. If you can, it will definitely be worth it. 

I'm happy your journey is going well too Valentin ? Exciting times right now!!!

[Mary Beth]

To be honest, for phone practice I used friends and family.  I put my processor on T and we started with short slow easy calls.  As I improved, we had typical phone exchanges.  I stayed using T on the phone and holding the phone up to the processor for several months.  Then I weaned off T and started getting used to the phone just on M.  It was my goal that I could just pick up any phone, anywhere and hold it up to my processor and hear so I kept at it until I was comfortable on M with a variety of phones.  I used the Telephone With Confidence from time to time but that always felt like listening to a science encyclopedia entry.  Smile.  

 

I have done all of my aural rehab on my iPad and with live voices for training.  I explored Angel Sounds on a PC in its full version but that was just recently.

[Megan L.]

Just thought I would check to see if there were any other available phone resources to use. I will be practicing with friends and family pretty soon on the phone. Wow! That's impressive using the phone on M. I tested it out and it was too soft for me, plus background noise interferes at the moment. I will check out Telephone With Confidence ?

I already downloaded the Angel Sounds for tomorrow's practice. The online version with my Mac was too hard to sort through for simple listening activities. The IPad appears better.

Thank you for your ideas Mary Beth ?

[Mary Beth]

I like iAngel Sounds on the iPad.  You can set the number of word choices and choose between three difficulty levels for initial, medial and final sounds.  

 

In Cara's post she listed another phone training option.

 

I could not use the phone on M at first either.  I didn't explore that until I was comfortable on the phone on T or MT.  It is a journey.

 

You are off to a great start.  

[Megan L.]

I have no doubt that Angel Sounds will be great on the IPad ? 

Thanks for the reminder- I need to go through Cara Mia's post again on rehab resources. I feel like I should do one at a time and complete the whole thing unless I get bored. 

I didn't even know using the telephone on M was a possibility until you mentioned it. When I'm a pro at the phone on T Or MT, I'all give it a whirl ?

Thank you for your help and support! 

 

[Mary Beth]

You are welcome.  There is no one right way to approach aural rehab.  Find what works for you.

 

I started with CLIX and after I mastered a few levels I also added in iAngel Sounds.  I also trained nightly with a live voice working through Dave Sindrey's Listening Ladder (which mirrors the CLIX levels).  We also used a book or magazine and I repeated short phrases back.  We included the phone and I trained with the car radio as well.  Then of course there is music.  Smile.  And training in noise.  So many options.  Switch it up and keep it fun.

[Megan L.]

Mary Beth you are sharing so many great ideas and info! 

I'm also going to add Dave Sindrey's Listening Ladder and Ted Talks to my list of resources to check out ? Music is pretty good for me. That part of CI listening came back right away before my own voice did (I couldn't hear myself at activation). I was playing Dance Central and The Black Eyed Peas today on my WII and I heard new parts of the songs I didn't even know existed! I feel like it's a complete song now. So cool ?

There are many options and I really appreciate you sharing what worked for you! Big Smile?

[Kara of Canada]

Hi Megan! I used the cochlear program for phone. I liked it because I was not using the phone for about five years prior I didn't have the anxiety of not understanding what people were saying. I could listen and register if needed. As well as you follow along on your ipad/computer. I used it for about a month before I took the plunge and called someone. 

[Ivana Marinac]

On 24/11/2016 at 11:36 PM, Megan L. said:

Hi Ivana, 

Great to formally meet you! I hear only the best things about Croatia. My roommate in college was from Croatia and she showed me pictures of your beautiful country. I would love to visit one day!!!

Who doesn't love Batman?! A great hero ? I love when people jump into conversations, it makes it so much more interesting!

Amazing! How are you liking the bone bridge implant? My mom thought that would work for me but my hearing loss was too severe. The implant is doing the trick ? I too grew up hard of hearing. When I was 2 and a half, I was really sick with chicken pox and shortly after I loss part of my hearing. Two fistula operations later I had a severe/profound loss. My left ear was my worse and has since been implanted. I have no regrets about anything- this is my normal ?  I'm looking forward to the new journey and new open doors the implant brings me! 

I'm incredibly thankful for this forum as I spent my entire life by myself as a hard of hearing person. It's so nice to be able to talk openly about things/struggles and people understand. Amazing support!

sleep tight Ivana and we'll talk soon ?

Thank you, Megan - for your kind welcoming ticket to this interesting party.

He-he... Interesting story and how the character of Batman was created but I use it mostly because of this particular detail of showing time.

Can't believe it - what a tiny small world is this one... But, yes - Croatian people can be found everywhere: we are great wanderers. Just like that, I hope you'll have opportunity to visit Croatia. This part of Europe is quite interesting....

Regarding my implant status - I feel as I am reborn, but not just as human being than as a person. How much more information you can process and understand other's attitude, as well as their behaviour when you can - hear them properly. Recently I had a short episode of returning to my history, to my HA. I remember that I have dream once before - whether I have just persuaded myself that my Bonebridge is so much better or this is the real thing....? Then I got a chance to test myself - trying to communicate with my HA. Ahhh.... what a difference this was - regarding sound but also regarding the vibrations which were so hard that I craved for shutting it down... Used it only for the most essential and shortest possible communication. Also, as I am an ENT doctor, BB gave me opportunity to meet so many interesting people on various conferences all over the world: met different people, different continents (not just countries), even the developer of Soundbridge and Bonebridge, Geoffrey Ball and others. I felt a huge honor to get the opportunity to understand the world of hearing on one side trying to describe the world of silence, on the other side. 

My hearing loss is the consequence of a congenital syndrome which gave me bilateral atresia combined with microtia regarding hearing issues. As well as you, I do not have memory of how is it really to hear a certain sound, but I cherish music a lot, and this I would miss at most... I guess. My decision for implant was pure necessity so I could continue to work. With a digital hearing aid, I was only half functional - it tired me a lot because of constant hearing fatigue which arouse almost each afternoon. I have constant urge to shut it off - I knew this wasn't right. When I wore it, I imagined how it would be great just not have it at all....

How did you decide for your implantation? How come it wasn't earlier?

I came here in order to find someone whom I could talk about Bonebridge, but it actually continued in much more different way. I got interested for the world of CI when I started to read lines of my friends, their observations partly guided me on my way toward better hearing as I didn't have someone just like me; on the other hand, I have started to develop my professional interest for CIs which has now prolonged into part of my afterwork activities of helping in an association of CI's implantees. Like it a lot - so much ideas. This enriched my life - we all, secretly, ask for some elementary answers or understanding in our lives: hearing people, no matter how compassionate they could be - can not understand that but are those who participate in our treatments, research activities etc. It's time for hearing impaired people to stand for themselves...:)

Ok... Rambled a lot - I guess I slept extremely well...

[Megan L.]

On 11/26/2016 at 5:21 PM, Kara of Canada said:

Hi Megan! I used the cochlear program for phone. I liked it because I was not using the phone for about five years prior I didn't have the anxiety of not understanding what people were saying. I could listen and register if needed. As well as you follow along on your ipad/computer. I used it for about a month before I took the plunge and called someone. 

Hi Kara!

I've been using that too ? Now I'm beginning to understand the stories and word lists better each time. I didn't realize they had the full stories online! How helpful and today I finally understood that portion of the talking ? I called my mom and understood everything except one part. It wasn't even a struggle. This whole journey is so interesting and different as I spent literally a lifetime struggling to understand people in person and on the phone. 

Did you use any other phone training programs or come up with anything on your own? I'm always looking for good ideas ?

[Kara of Canada]

No I used only the cochlear program. Then when I was somewhat confident I called people. I still have some anxiety about using the phone but I do it because I can. I just have to tell people I'm hearing impaired or have trouble hearing. I get by. 

[Megan L.]

21 hours ago, Ivana Marinac said:

Thank you, Megan - for your kind welcoming ticket to this interesting party.

He-he... Interesting story and how the character of Batman was created but I use it mostly because of this particular detail of showing time.

Can't believe it - what a tiny small world is this one... But, yes - Croatian people can be found everywhere: we are great wanderers. Just like that, I hope you'll have opportunity to visit Croatia. This part of Europe is quite interesting....

Regarding my implant status - I feel as I am reborn, but not just as human being than as a person. How much more information you can process and understand other's attitude, as well as their behaviour when you can - hear them properly. Recently I had a short episode of returning to my history, to my HA. I remember that I have dream once before - whether I have just persuaded myself that my Bonebridge is so much better or this is the real thing....? Then I got a chance to test myself - trying to communicate with my HA. Ahhh.... what a difference this was - regarding sound but also regarding the vibrations which were so hard that I craved for shutting it down... Used it only for the most essential and shortest possible communication. Also, as I am an ENT doctor, BB gave me opportunity to meet so many interesting people on various conferences all over the world: met different people, different continents (not just countries), even the developer of Soundbridge and Bonebridge, Geoffrey Ball and others. I felt a huge honor to get the opportunity to understand the world of hearing on one side trying to describe the world of silence, on the other side. 

My hearing loss is the consequence of a congenital syndrome which gave me bilateral atresia combined with microtia regarding hearing issues. As well as you, I do not have memory of how is it really to hear a certain sound, but I cherish music a lot, and this I would miss at most... I guess. My decision for implant was pure necessity so I could continue to work. With a digital hearing aid, I was only half functional - it tired me a lot because of constant hearing fatigue which arouse almost each afternoon. I have constant urge to shut it off - I knew this wasn't right. When I wore it, I imagined how it would be great just not have it at all....

How did you decide for your implantation? How come it wasn't earlier?

I came here in order to find someone whom I could talk about Bonebridge, but it actually continued in much more different way. I got interested for the world of CI when I started to read lines of my friends, their observations partly guided me on my way toward better hearing as I didn't have someone just like me; on the other hand, I have started to develop my professional interest for CIs which has now prolonged into part of my afterwork activities of helping in an association of CI's implantees. Like it a lot - so much ideas. This enriched my life - we all, secretly, ask for some elementary answers or understanding in our lives: hearing people, no matter how compassionate they could be - can not understand that but are those who participate in our treatments, research activities etc. It's time for hearing impaired people to stand for themselves...:)

Ok... Rambled a lot - I guess I slept extremely well...

Absolutely! I guess this kind of did turn into an interesting party...haha. A little bit of this and a little bit of that

Yes, you are like Batman in that when the North America is awake, you are probably sleeping and vice versa...

I'm a wanderer myself A Happy one! I hope I'll be able to visit Croatia one day too. So so pretty.

Its interesting, I feel like I got a new "lease" on life too. I never realized how many more sounds are in the world until I got my implant. I always made do with the little bit I had. Its very unreal to be able to understand people the first time around, its like an amazing feat! At this point, I highly doubt I'll miss my HAs. Last Monday when I had my first mapping, my audiologist tested my natural hearing in both ears, I felt such a difference in ease and ability. I felt like I didn't struggle as much. WOW an ENT Doctor! Very impressive! I thought I wanted to be a doctor when I was a teenager....and then I discovered, I was SO terrible at science I'm sure being a doctor has taken you many places and allowed you to meet wonderful people. What a great advantage you have!!

I LOVE music...I don't know what I would do without it! I learned to love it with just low frequency sounds and now everything sounds like a complete song with the higher frequency. So awesome.

Same as you, I did it because I needed it to do better at work and because I was extremely tired at the end of the day. I work in product development and production for apparel and I work with about 7 teams every day. A lot of people! Meetings can get really big and phone calls/conference calls can get really hard. I was tired of being tired and missing so much. I didn't get the implant done earlier because I was doing ok but when I landed my first real job out of college, that's when all the new set of obstacles started popping up. Now, I was responsible for a certain category and certain responsibilities instead of just studying and re-reading my note-taker's notes. And now, I was finally prepared and motivated to do it. Emotionally, years ago, I just couldn't bring myself to get the implant being I had 2 fistula operations as a child.

The world of CIs are nothing short of interesting. Everybody has such unique journeys and experiences. Did you ever wind up finding anyone with a BB? That is really great you are now researching and looking for answers and information on CIs. Learning is enriching in and of itself. I miss college for the sole reason of learning. Everyday I learned something new. Now I have to look for new things to learn and discover. You are right - we need to stand for ourselves because no matter how understanding or compassionate a hearing person tries, they will never really know what its like for us. You Go Ivana!!!

Talk soon Doctor Ivana Batman

[Cara Mia]

Megan, like Kara, to restore my phone skills I used only the Telephone with Confidence app provided by Cochlear. But also, I asked several people to leave voice mails on my phone so I could reply their messages again and again until I can get it easily. I choose the people with whom I communicate regularly and whose voices are challenging for me (dull and soft, some particular accents, very fast manner of speaking, etc.). Some of them I asked to leave me longer messages something different each time until I leant to understand them. So, we can invent for our training whatever we like