Hitting that year mark

A year since the surgery...

I have recently hit that a year post surgery mark (on the 12th of July). Yup its a big milestone. A year since I had the surgery to give me access to the hearing world again. Soon it will be a year since my switch on which is on the 9th of August. I remember that day like it was yesterday - hearing my mam's laugh sounding like bells, people being daleky sounding and even hearing birds; which still bug the hell out of me. Aye I cannot stand them!

The last few months have been so manic that I haven't had time to update the blog. So many things have happened. For example I have recently gained a job. I still some days cannot believe how wonderful my CI's are - the fact I can hear people in a noisy shop environment whilst serving customers. Yet my hearing have improved even more, with me recently having my CI's tuned at Nottingham on my final tuning post switch on block.

Ropewalk did their normal thing of checking my hearing through all the beeps and buzzes on different frequencies starting quiet then getting louder. After that I had to do a listening test which involved me listening to a voice from speakers dotted around the room. I must say that was the weirdest thing I experienced. Hearing a little girls' voice saying 'Where am I?' 'Can you hear me?' with me then having to figure out where the sound came from.
Going a little off track here but it reminded me of a Doctor Who episode with a little boy going 'Are you my mummy'. That's how strange it was hearing that recording!

During that test I was also trying out a new programme called Scanner, which my audiologist put onto the processors. Basically what Scanner does is automatically adjusting my CI's according to the environmental sounds. So if it hears speech the CI's turn up louder if I cannot hear the person I am focusing on. However it does get it wrong occasionally, for example listening to my heavy rock/ metal music in my room on loud. It thinks I want it to be quieter so it turns down. Slightly annoying but I just switch my processors onto a normal programme now when listening to music so I don't  have this problem.  
Although the Scanner has become amazing at  work when I am listening to different accents and people who mumble. In the case of the accents it tries to balance them out and the mumbling get turns up a heck lot louder!
Just before I left Ropewalk, my audiologist told me that I had one decibel off nearly full hearing range like hearies. I was gobsmacked its better than what I ever had when I was a hearing aid user. This reminds me to the time last year where I was only considering only one CI or even not having it done. So glad I went down the route of having both done, even though that took some convincing. Thanks Mam and my TOD's!


Still pimping the CI's...

Since the sunshine came out I began decorating my CI's for different events I have had. Such as birthdays, weddings and proms. I have noticed it had began to catch on more in my area even old people are doing it!

Rhinestones, nail foils and washi tape are the best for any types of aids as they are easy to put on and remove.

Here are a few I have done:

So what's next on the horizon...

I am counting down to my Switch On birthday and to celebrate it; I am planning to get a big chocolate muffin and stick a candle in it (*singsongy* happy birthday CI's)...
I am also waiting for AS results day in mid August. Hopefully, this extra year I have took because of what happened with me losing my hearing last year affecting my exam results, will have paid off and will be worth it.
Also I have a fab summer with volunteering with NDCS on their summer camps.

Let the madness to begin! 
 

The good, the bad and the ugly - the relationship between me and my radio aids!

 Radio Aid,

We have had our ups and downs haven't we? Over the many years we have been together. There has been times where you have changed shape completely.
Some being good, some being so completely annoying that I have fallen out with you. I think finally me and you are finally coming to a good place. As I no longer have to wear you. Whhooop!

I do think that you are a marvellous piece of technology but after today it was the last straw.  

Before Christmas I began to cut down on my sign support as I wanted to become more independent with my own learning.  So this is where the radio aid comes in. The comfort audio. 

It is a brilliant radio and one of the best that I have had during my time at school and 6th form (when it works). Outside school it works like a dream but once it steps inside the school it seems to want to shut down and decide to take a break. Many times  it didn't get on with my Nucleus 5, even my hearing aids it seemed to have a problem! It turned out that the fault lies with the building as its a new built. So the guy from the company for Audio Comfort comes in and tries his best to solve the problem of interference and intermittent. The sound is dreadful, the best I can describe it as fingernails being scraped down a blackboard or chairs rubbing against the floor repeatedly. When its not that sound its a person voice being purposefully cut out in lessons. It was today that it became the last straw doing all of this and worse I couldn't cope in class. 

During English, I handed over my radio aid to my teacher who has a beard. Its one of those lessons where I can't cope with my CI's solely as the lip pattern is covered. The first few minutes the radio aid was working fine. It puzzled me as it didn't do this before without something happening sound wise. 

Then the teacher was getting into full flow of lecturing, the thing I was dreading kicked in. The voice was cutting out every few seconds, I couldn't hear my peers without switching my T-Loop system off which means a few more seconds delay. I was missing vital information. Which lead to me asking my note taker and teacher to repeat everything. It was getting to the point where it was every sentence I had to interrupt him to get it repeated. After what must have been the 20th time I become frustrated and it was becoming embarrassing! 

It lead to me leaving my class upset, claiming that I was going to do independent revision. 

My CSW came in shortly afterwards and I relayed everything which happened in class. She immediately rang some of the T's of D to ask what they recommended the best course of action was.

I was offered another piece of equipment called the sound field system which apparent helps not only deafies but hearies as well. Great eh? 

Well unfortunately I didn't get that and ended up with something called a desk mate. 

I trialed this the next day and oh boy I loved it. It was so much clearer than a radio aid. The best way to describe what it look like is this: it has a speaker and head mike set. The speaker would sit on my desk or in front of me (a volume setting that I could turn up or down when I wanted) and the head mike would be around the person head. It reminds me of a person teaching aerobics at the gym. It's a funny sight and for once its not the deafie being conscious of having the equipment and standing out. Its the teacher. 

One teacher was freaked out by his voice, the fact that his beard has never helped me; this tech was a huge benefit! No longer the days of trying to make out what he was saying through the mumbles and the hair that covered his lip pattern. 

Another teacher thought it reminded her of Madonna singing in the 90's or something like that.  She kept wanting to burst out into song. 

Whilst that sounds all well and good that the desk mate is actually benefitting me. I am still having problems working out what my fellow peers are saying. The desk mate gives me directly what the teacher is saying but it doesn't help when someone at the other end of the room is saying something. I am back to square one on that problem....

This I have relayed to one of my T of D's and she said that "I just need to work on my listening. However, I shouldn't have to do that as I now have 'normal' hearing." 

This statement came about from one of the recent test I did with the T of D from Nottingham. The test involved me listening to the TOD read out a passage and I had to repeat what was said. I did this brilliantly according to her and was getting 100 words per minute, apparently this is was hearies should be getting. So I was please that I was achieving my best. I will point out that this test was done in a quiet environment with just me and her. 

This is what the local TOD couldn't grasp no matter how many times I said it.  I no longer felt I needed to do auditory training. 

What I needed was somehow solve the problem of not hearing my peers from a distance. Having a CSW did this interpreting anything I missed, but this had been pulled as I was seen that I no longer needed this kind support. 

Having CI's doesn't give me 100% hearing, I am always going to have off days where I don't want to wear my CI's due to listening fatigue or if it was being 'robotic' again like it is every time I go for a tunning.

Guess what the genius piece advice I was given by someone "maybe take the processors off" well slight problem there, no processors means no sound and I thought the whole point of me having the operation was to hear. Hmmmm... 

So come monday is a another week of 6th form and hopefully some miracle come out of it, some how I can hear my peers or my note takers develop the speed of lightening to write down what my peers are saying during discussion. 

That I will continue to like the deskmate. The only thing I am looking forward to is seeing my teachers expressions when I tell them that they have to wear the headmike. 

Annnndddd rant over! 

A year since...

A year since...

Almost anyone who knows me, wouldn't believe its been a year since my hearing 'packed up and left the building.'
Even I can't believe how much has changed!

A year ago at the start of January my hearing went, I wouldn't believe where I am now. A person who has bionic hearing, who can control my ears to what levels I want to hear. Even the hearies of my family are well jealous, I think hearing my sister play out a squeaky pop boy band is enough to drive anyone batty. Thank god for the remote that I have that came with my new Nucleus 6 that I received two weeks ago.

Oh yes! I finally got my Nucleus 6 after a long wait. However, the journey to getting them was a so not fun. Me and my mam got stuck on the motorway for 3 hours which eventually lead to me missing my appointment. But with my CI centre being such a lovely group of people I finally got them. It turned out I wasn't the only person to missed their appointment that day due to the horrid journey on the motorway. Thank goodness my audiologist was willing to programme them. Thank you my Audiologist C! 

'pimped' pink ci's

Whilst programming the CI's I noticed that they were so much lighter. So light that I couldn't feel them on my ears. It was so weird. Even now after getting use to them for a few weeks I can tell the weight is there but isn't as heavy as a my hearing aids or the Nucleus 5 was. In terms of size and shape they are defiantly a lot sleeker.
The colour of the CI's were slightly darker than my N5's were but I could solve this by 'pimping' them. As when I entered the room. My audiologist C, noticed that they were jazzed up with an shiny bright pink which caught her eye immediately. She asked if they were Skinits. I told her they were done with nail foils and this amazed her. So the 'pimping' effect is being spread further ha-ha! 

After the appointment...

Once I was finally programmed with three settings to work through like normally. However, I should finally be evening out my hearing levels according to my audiologist and won't need to have much volume as it should now be like 'normal' hearing. My next appointment will be a year since I got switched on and it will an anniversary of bionic hearing that I am eternally grateful for.
Anyways back to after the appointment. The CI's were really weird. It was like being back in August when I got switched on all 'Dalek' sounding. However speaking to some other CI's wearers this shouldn't really happen. Well I suppose its got to happen to someone, typical its me.
It took a whole week for the robotic/Dalek sounding to finally fade and I worked from the first setting to the second as it was sounding very quiet after two days. With having the remote handy, I was able to adjust the volume within the setting/programme.
Now nearly two and a bit weeks on since gaining these CI's I am on the loudest programme and the volume is nearly on full, (even now I am still brain training more than six months on).
I tend to adjust this due to the environments at 6th form. For example being in one class its continuously noisy and I am having to compete with the surrounding noises. Whereas in another it is so different by being so quiet. It also doesn't help when the teacher is softly spoken and has a beard which makes lip-reading difficult. However, I still rely on SSE in some classes such as the one above to cope with the lesson. Whereas in other classes I have relied on my ears more and its paid off!

Hopefully this progress keeps going and eventually I won't have to rely on sign language or lip-reading as much!

Well I'm off to christen my new CI's and pimp them with a bright outrageous colour!