Last Monday, I went back to the hospital to have my cochlear implant re-tuned. After a couple of hours or so, the sounds were more clear and familiar. I then went home. As soon as I started listening to my family and the television, the voices sounded more distorted and cackling. I felt I was in Pendle Hill, Lancashire where the famous witches lived! The sounds were unbearable that I even had to leave the lounge away from the television. I sent a SOS mail to the hospital and they managed to find me a free slot on the following day to further re-tune my device. The voices still sounded cackling but I could tolerate them for the next appointment a week later.
I can now hear people coming down the stairs and Harry walking about in his bedroom when I am in the study below. That is quite handy so that I know if he is in bed or playing about!
After a long hot spell, we finally had rain and I was able to hear the rain platting on the car while driving. Quite a nice and comforting sound.
In the office, I am hearing people have conversations although I do not (yet?!) understand them. I can even hear them walking about; the door being opened and closed. The keyboard is so loud and I know if my colleagues are typing or not. I am now very conscious when typing and try to press the keys gently. The air conditioner above me hums but it is not irritating.
I went to Sofia for a few days to watch the Deaflympics. I had a great time but it was so noisy most of the time that I did not have the chance to listen for new sounds. However, I did manage to go for a couple of runs in the morning and was pleased that my device (the outside part which is the processor) did not fall off. The magnet is strong enough to hold its place.
I have been practising listening to bird sounds through iPlayer and I believe the second bird song I heard last week (see my previous post) was a blue tit.
There is still a long way to go but it has been a promising start. I will be back in a couple of weeks with an update and hope to post a few more new sounds.
My sons and I are following Matthew's progress since his cochlear implant with interest. How, we all wonder, does Matthew know what it is that he is now starting to hear? We are all used to making the connection between what we see and the sounds we experience: rain falls and the gentle taps on the windowpane are, we come to understand, the sound that it makes when it hits the glass. But does Matthew know this in the same way that we who have always heard do? And perhaps we should pay careful attention to the sounds that Matthew describes to us: he has no prior conceptions about what sound he ought to hear. Familiarity with our experiences may not make us undervalue them, but it often means we pay far less attention to them than we should, and that we make our judgements about what we are experiencing too quickly. It is good to be reminded by Matthew's blog how paying focussed attention to our experience can be a rewarding and surprising experience.... Thanks Matthew -- looking forward to the next post..... Sue
ReplyDeleteHi Sue,
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for your post - very interesting indeed.
You have raised a very good point if I do hear the same sounds as hearing people do. I have worn hearing aids, so the sounds are not completely new - just crisper and sharper with more clarity. Visually, it is almost like watching from a black & white television to colour where the sounds become fuller and more complete.
Again, thanks for posting.
Matthew