Reva spoke to Sharon, my audiologist, earlier this month. She shared what we've been doing in rehab and inquired about some of the sounds I'm having trouble distinguishing. Sharon said it was probably just a matter of time and practice.
The sounds I'm hearing continue to be mixed. Sometimes I hear things I wouldn't have before, such as the phone ringing downstairs when I'm upstairs, my car when I leave the headlights on, or the occasional sentence when I'm not looking. But for every one of those, I miss sounds that I feel like I shouldn't, like hearing Aaron say hello from the other room when he got home ahead of us. Samara heard him, I didn't. I almost had a heart attack when he walked into the kitchen!
Today was my six-month appointment. Even though it's technically been six months since I was activated, as Sharon told Reva, it's really more like four. It took me at least two months to get used to the volume and get it up to a workable level. In spite of that, Sharon said I'm doing well. She said I'm hearing well, my audiogram is where it should be, and she even thinks my speech has improved a bit.
I told her the program I had been using was too quiet, so we boosted the frequencies, which gives the perception that it's louder. The other two programs are similar, but with increased volume. My new audiogram is a little more smoother than my last one, which is good. My hearing with the CI is currently in the 20-40db range. I was in the 90s or worse with hearing aids.
Sound like everything is going really well! Great to get these updates! suzy () - 26 10 06 - 13:14