Entry #6: June 1, 2003 (12 weeks since CI activation)

It's been 12 weeks since I got my CI activated and the CI is becoming such an integral part of my life that I don't think about it quite as much as I did the first couple of months.  Nonetheless, the progress I have made is remarkable although it's no walk in the park. 

A few high moments since my last CI Journal entry (#5):

• During my last therapy session with Jim Watson (which Sarah attends for the first time!), I score at least 90% on the Ling Sounds from distances of 3 to 9 feet despite a clock (approximately 8 feet away) ticking throwing me off track once or twice.  I guess it is the combination of the mapping, general brain adaptation to the CI, and lots of practice with Jim, Sarah, and my parents that pay off.  Clearly, this is a key benchmark achieved within the 12-week timeframe after CI activation.

• Sarah and my mom (since my work often brings me to the Washington, DC area where my mom lives) continue to help me with home therapy.  My dad did enjoy doing a therapy session during his visit recently.  In addition to the Ling Sounds, we regularly use the picture charts and various lists of questions or sentences (as described in Entry #4).  I continue to make significant progress in discriminating words, especially with visual or contextual cues.  I'm getting most of the "fill in the blank" words that Sarah or my parents would use when reading aloud sentences or questions. However, this is pretty easy because I would often expect what they will say.  For example, if the sentence is: "My favorite hobby is _____."  I would somewhat predict their answer.  Sarah and my parents, especially my dad, would test me by saying something completely random and untrue.  I usually fail this test due to the lack of contextual cue.

• I enjoy listening to audiobooks while reading the accompanying books, including the Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey; Berenstain Bears and the Bad Dream by Stan and Jan Berenstain; The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss; and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, and Blue Fish also by Dr. Seuss.  As long as I know when exactly the story starts on tape (with Sarah's help), I can follow along the audiobooks perfectly now (after several initial missteps).  The key challenge using audiobooks is knowing when the story begins since the tapes begin with a bit of small talk (i.e. stating the title, author, etc.).  It's also challenging reading along when there are a lot of music or sound effects in the background, especially with children's books. The storyteller's voice or style of telling stories can also be a challenge.  I'm told that if Robin Williams did any of the read-alongs, it'd be impossible to follow at first!

• I can constantly hear birds chirping outside, but have yet to be able to tune them out.

• While watching the Boston Celtics play-off games on TV, I consistently hear the referees' whistles, which I could never hear before.

• While watching the Boston Red Sox games at Fenway Park, I usually hear the ball popping into gloves and off the bats, despite the crowd noise.  I could hear this before especially when playing baseball or watching it on TV, but never with such crowd noise in the background.  But then again, Sarah and I and friends had good close-up seats thanks to Uncle Eddie.

• While sitting down at the airport gate awaiting my flight to Washington, DC, I hear music in the background.  I turn around and notice that the person behind me had just put on his headphones and turned the music on really loudly.  I hear the music from his headphones well enough to recognize it's rap music and follow the beat.

• While Sarah and I were in the Bahamas recently, I realized the ocean and wind is a lot louder than I thought, especially since the waves are not big off the Bahamas shores.  

• It's strange, but it seems that loud sounds or noises are more bearable when wearing my CI rather than my hearing aids.  I always had to shut off my hearing aids when on an airplane.  Now I can handle the noises on the airplane with my CI.  Perhaps I'm still eager to hear new sounds?  I had long been reluctant to get the CI because I was afraid of being too sensitive to such sounds.

• Sarah and I were out on the town with friends of ours one night last month.  As we were walking back to our cars, I asked my friend, Mike Lichtenstein, what street we were on.  Without looking at him, I heard Mike's response perfectly and replied, "Okay, we have one more street to go."  Mike stopped for a second and said, "You heard me?!"  I modestly reasoned that I was expecting Mike to say one of two possible answers as I knew we were either on this or that street.  Hence, my listening with the aid of visual or contextual cues is quite good.  But when it comes to random stuff, there's where I need continued rehab.

A few challenges since my last CI Journal entry (#5):

• I made my first phone call to tell my mom what time I would be home.  My mom was not home, so I left a message after I heard the expected beep.  I had trouble hearing my mom's message because of background noise despite using the T-Mic, which is especially for use of the phone while wearing the CI.  I miss the T-switch from my hearing aid, which automatically blocks out all background noise and only amplifies the sounds coming through the phone.  I plan to discuss this with my audiologist and peers for best strategies. 

• I'm not picking up voices from a distance well at all whereas I am picking up environmental sounds from a much longer distance very well.  For example, I am having trouble hearing people call me from a distance.  I have noticed this may be a trend as I have called other friends with CIs from a distance to no avail even though they, like myself, could hear the water running from a much further distance!  I will bring this up with my audiologist at my next mapping session.

• I still don't pick up low frequency sounds as well as high frequency ones yet.  This could be attributed to why I'm not hearing voices as well, yet.  I will see if further mappings can help resolve this, but I know it takes a lot more rehab and adaptation to overcome this. 

• Three weeks ago, I begann work with a new client (a major lodging/hotel corporation).  This hallmarks my first return to the client site since receiving the CI.  It's a big challenge since I am in meetings a lot.  Thankfully, the meetings are small with no more than five people.  Even with the aid of my hearing aid, I still have to strain a bit to hear (as my CI doesn't seem to pick up voices from distance well) and overcome environmental sound distractions.  Wearing my hearing aid at the same time as wearing my CI presents another challenge - the distorted sounds coming through my hearing aid and the CI differently.

• I'm finding it a bit challenging to meet with Jim Watson for continued therapy because of my hectic work and travel schedules.  Hence, I've been reliant on Sarah and my mom to help me whenever I'm at home or on the road.  But no excuse, I need to see Jim more regularly.

• I'm struggling to manage the volume of my voice because I'm more sensitive to how loud I can be.  In result, I am often not loud enough these days.  For example, I was talking to someone on the beach in the Bahamas on a windy day.  He kept asking me to repeat myself.  I thought it was my deaf accent, but Sarah told me later that it was definitely the wind and ocean noises that was drowning my voice.  On the flip side, if I hear too much environmental sounds, I speak too loudly thinking I have to overcome such sounds.  

A few other notes:

• In my last entry, I said I'm about 40% from par with where I was with my hearing aids.  I think I'm now at 70% or better from par with regard to being able to discriminate sound.  Note that this does not factor in the new sounds, which I could never hear before, but now can.  The remaining 30% that I need to achieve to reach par revolves mostly around familiarizing myself better with the low frequency sounds, especially people's voices.

• Since my last mapping, I spend at least a month experimenting with Program 1 and 2 in various situations using the regular microphone and T-Mic, respectively.  I notice little difference between using the T-Mic or the regular microphone except for that T-Mic sounds much better when in one-on-one conversations in a quiet setting.  I have now been using Program 3, which primarily uses the T-Mic with higher volume or more power, for the past month.  I need to continue to experiment with the T-Mic and will work with my audiologist at my next mapping session.

• Going forward, I am about to begin listening to four young adult books:  The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway; A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck; and The Call of the Wild by Jack London.  

Above all, I am very pleased with the progress I have made thus far.  The CI has exceeded my expectations (which were well managed) thus far, but I remind myself (and you!) that this is a long-term effort (at least 3 years).  Meanwhile, I again want to thank Sarah for all the therapy, support, and more.  Of course, I couldn't have done it without my parents, Jim Watson, Jennifer Yeagle, or Dr. Niparko!  I also appreciate all the support and kind words from family and friends.  I couldn't have done it without such support.    

That's all folks, for now. Stay tuned for the next update with detail on my next mapping session on July 19th.  

Back  (Entry #5: April 18, 2003 - five days after fourth mapping session)