Rehab exercises for a laptop

[Anne N]

I have found many listening exercises for apps but not many I can do on my laptop. Is there a list of listening exercises for laptops? I was activated 2 days ago and want to do as many as possible but prefer my laptop to my phone.

[Tim]

Hi @Anne N

I'm about 9 days post activation so exactly one week ahead the journey.

I don't like doing the rehab apps on my phone either.  Feels too small for easy use.  Also, like most phones, it doesn't have an audio output jack and I kind of like the simplicity of a hard wired connection to my AudioLink.

I prefer using a tablet  with an audio output jack.  My two favorite rehab apps are Hearoes and Word Success - both based on suggestions from people in HearPeers and my Med-El Rep.  By the way, one of my favorite rehab exercises are ebooks with text to speech highlighting the phrase as it is read.  I was able to start in on this about Day 5 and I'm really liking it!  I've already done two Novellas of old Sherlock Holmes books.  The app I use for ebooks is Moonreader+ and is on Android.  Unfortunately it doesn't have an Apple version so I can't say what does the same thing there.  (It seems like Kindle and Libby apps do not do time synced highlighting of text to speech but maybe I just haven't found how yet.)  Google Play Books does text to speech with time synced highlighting it but not quite as nicely as Moonreader+.  Google Play Books might be available on a laptop but I don't know about on an Apple phone. 

For a PC, there have been suggestions here for websites that can be used on laptops.

https://pdkknight.editorx.io/getanearful/blank-5  specifically:  https://pdkknight.editorx.io/getanearful/blank-26

Unfortunately the first item listed, NewsInEasyEnglish is going away. 

TED talks work pretty well with closed captions for me at my current stage of rehab.  I think it  will be a few weeks before I get to the point of doing it without subtitles.

Podcasts let you slow things down.  (Many ways of accessing podcasts on a laptop including Spotify.)

I use Spotify as much on my laptop as I do on tablet and phone.  I've done some music, turning on the time synced lyric highlighting is nice.

An easy rehab trick that I discovered is using headphones (noise canceling or construction earmuffs) while using the Rondo.  It covers/deadens most of the sound on my good ear (I have SSD) and then forces me to use the Rondo.  Kind of fun just wearing the headphones around the house and hearing how normal things sound like putting away dishes or walking down the hallway sound on the CI. Without that, my good ear overwhelms the CI input and I don't notice. 

I'm kind of switching between different things pretty often during the day and night, just trying to give my brain fresh input. 

Good luck and welcome to the Activation club! 

 

[Mary Beth]

Amazon Prime members have access to Prime Reading which has books which highlight words as it is being read.  Great free aural rehab for Amazon Prime Members.

 

Angel Sounds has a free PC based program for aural rehab.

@Anne N

@Tim

[Anne N]

Thanks Tim and Mary Beth. Seems like Angel Sounds is for apple products which I do not have. I may try my tablet but haven't used it in ages so will need to charge it and first of all find it. I have an android phone but not crazy about using it for listening a long time. Laptop if my preferred method and have found a couple things on there ie the listening room. Tim, where do you get the headphones? My hearing aid ear still hears too much without the hearing aid in so they would really be a good idea as regular earplugs or cotton do not do the trick unless I put a lot of pressure on them to stop the sound and just hear with the rondo 3

 

 

 

 

[Mary Beth]

@Anne N

The full version of Angel Sounds is

for PC laptops/computers only.

http://angelsound.tigerspeech.com

[Anne N]

Thanks Mary Beth I will try to see how this works on my laptop

[Tim]

Noise cancelling headphones seem to fit my ear and not disrupt the Rondo.  Kind of a nice trick with that.  Could go to a store like Best Buy to try on what feels comfortable.

I bought mine on Amazon though since I knew what I wanted (pre-CI) and was willing to splurge on audio gear that I can also use for work.  I have a pair of Sony XM5 headphones.  They are similar to the Bose QC headphones I know some others in HearPeers have. Both are in $250-$350 range. 

I also bought a cheap pair of noise cancelling headphones from an off name (Cowin) on Amazon about 5 years ago.  These are my "beater" headphones that use while doing yard work (around $50 from Amazon - many similar brands.) They have suffered a lot abuse of drizzle and dust from emptying lawn mower clippings.

A cheaper option is the straight ear muff protection available from Home Depot or Amazon.  

As I recall though, you have a hearing aid on your non-CI side so you might get some of the same effect by just taking the hearing aid off. 

[Anne N]

even with my hearing aid off I still hear too much to be hearing with the ci, so think I will try one of the $50 dollar range head phones. Tried just using some ear plugs my husband had gotten when he was in the hospital but they still let too much sound in. Will check Best Buy and see what is available there. Thanks

 

[Michi]

Hallo, mein Ci wurde am 13.12.2022 aktiviert und versuche auch viel zu trainieren. Ich habe auf meinem Laptop 

OLVIT installiert das finde ich super.Vielleicht ist es auch was für dich, es ist kostenlos. Lg 

Edited February 8, 2023 by Michi
Rechtschreibung

[Michi]

5 minutes ago, Michi said:

Hallo, mein Ci wurde am 13.12.2022 aktiviert und versucht auch viel zu drucken. Ich habe auf meinem Laptop 

OLVIT installiert das finde ich super.Vielleicht ist es auch was für dich, es ist kostenlos. Lg 

Entschuldigung für die Rechtschreibfehler.

Ich meinte natürlich viel zu trainieren statt Drucken.

[Michi]

Gerade hat Michi gesagt:

Entschuldigung für die Rechtschreibfehler.

Ich meinte natürlich viel zu Karriere statt Drucken.

Eh, warum kommen da immer falsche Wörter, ich habe trainieren geschrieben.

 

[Michi]

Vor 2 Minuten sagte Michi:

Eh, warum kommen da immer falsche Wörter, ich habe geschrieben geschrieben.

 

TRAINIEREN 

Edited February 8, 2023 by Michi
Rechtschreibung

[Michi]

Hallo, ich versuche es nocheinmal.

Ich finde die App OLCIT für den Laptop super. Lg 

[Tim]

Hello @Michi,

No worries about spelling mistakes - I didn't notice at all.  Of course it might help that I don't speak or read German but I ran it through Google Translate. 

Welcome - you are a little ahead of me and @Mother N in terms of activation. Nice that you were able to get activated before the holidays. I was hoping for a December activation so I could spend the holidays doing rehab rather than jumping right back into work activation.

I haven't heard of this program, OLCIT, and tried doing a search but couldn't find it. Do you have a link for it?  

By the way, I see that you are in Austria.  I'm in the US but my son is a teacher in Hanover, Germany, and my wife and I are planning one or two trips to visit him in the coming year.  I'm hoping to squeeze in a visit to Innbruck, Austria, on one of the trips.

Tim 

 

[Michi]

[Tim]

Thanks @Michi. 

Here is the direct link.  https://tgm.jade-hs.de/software/olcit/ I visited the web site with the help of Google Translate.  Looks like a great resource for German speakers (and listeners). 

 

 

 

[Michi]

Hi, okay, danke. Schade das du sie nicht benutzen kannst, wegen der Sprache. Lg 

[Dianna]

I use angel sounds on my laptop....cable to audiolink, really great stuff thru ci, other ear doesnt hear it!

[Anne N]

I have been using that also,, so many good exercises on there.

 

[Dianna]

If you want you can go into a program, like consonants and get into the sounds and "practice" over and over. I did with the musical notes. When i first started some of the notes sound exactly the same, i would click on them and hear them several times, eventually the 5 scale notes would finally sound a little different.