§ ¶It's all about balance...
I had my first map in a year. The last time I went was for my facial twitching. I was called back by Sharleen, who was a student I did rehab with back at CAT. Now she's doing her rotation at the Eye & Ear Institute.First, we attempted to go into the individual electrodes to see if we could bump them up, since I complained of general softness. But this proved to be a frustrating method. You wouldn't like it either if you had to determine whether an individual frequency was comfortablly soft, comfortable, comfortable but loud, etc., all the while it's pulsating in your head. If I could hear all the sounds at once, it'd be an entirely different thing, but a single frequency at a time filling my head, BAM! BAM! BAM! is not fun AT ALL! On top of that, I had to go from one frequency to the next, making sure they're all balanced in volume. Sharon quickly recognized my frustration and noticed that we were actually pulling everything down from my previous program, so she adapted and suggested we try a different tactic.
This meant taking my original program and adjusting the quality overall, rather than individually. She pulled some of the electrodes up and played with them that way and increased the microphone sensitivity. She increased some of the high frequency bands and then ended up bringing up some of the bass as well. Unfortunately, we couldn't increase a couple of the high frequency bands because they're the ones that cause my facial twitches. A large portion of the session was actually spent making sure that I wouldn't have any facial twitches. This was done by having Sharon and Sharleen banging scissors against the table and a vase to see if my eye twitched. I felt like a puppet!
Once we created a new program, Sharon then globally increased it and increased its sensivity by a few levels. So that's my loudest program. Sharon repeated her mantra that I can't really go up any louder with my CI.
Then it was time to go into the sound booth for some testing. I tested the same as last time audiogram and voice awareness. On the HINT recorded sentences, however, I improved. Last time, I scored 21%. This time, I scored 32%. Go me! During the test, I was pretty frustrated, because the sentences couldn't be repeated, the recorded voice was fast and some of the sentences were really short. For those of you who are unfamiliar with these types of tests, this is extremely hard for a deaf person. These sentences have zero context. It's like grasping at straws. So for me to get 32% is really amazing. I could tell a couple of times that I nailed the sentence completely. Some sentences, I was able to get one or two words, but even that's an achievement. Sharon then did the test again, using her voice, speaking at a slower pace and repeating the sentence again. I scoared about the same as last year - actually slightly better, since I was given four more sentences.
I know I haven't posted to this blog in a year, but that's only because I haven't had anything much to say until now. I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't been doing any rehab. I keep saying I'll do it but life keeps getting in the way. I suppose I can say I'm getting my real-life practice in. I haven't been able to hear the alarm my car makes when I forget to turn my headlights off (not that I do it that often or anything!), but I told Sharon that today and hopefully the new map will help with that (perhaps it was on one of the frequencies she had to clip last year). I still have my lightbulb moments. Someone sneezed in another room and I recognized it for what it was. Aaron said something the other day behind me, and I understood him completely. I have moments like those fairly regularly, so I need to make them happen more often by forcing myself to practice - especially now that I have my new i800 CapTel phone - a perfect rehab tool.
Sharon again reminded me of how far I've come since the beginning, and how little the hearing aid helped me compared to the CI. This past year I became a volunteer for Advanced Bionics. One of the things I'm doing for them is acting as a Mentor, where I help counsel other interested CI candidates. I'm one of the few who only has one CI, which makes me unique. Bilateral is all the rage these days, you know. Sharon asked if I wanted another, and I emphatically said no. If I were to ever lose hearing in my other ear some day, maybe I'd consider it. But right now, I'm fine with using my HA for balance. So again, I have to find the right balance between using my CI, practicing how to listen, and living my busy life!
