how a deaf fluteplayer gets to hear again

[Innocent Bystander]

"Enjoying the music" - that's what we wanted to hear. It sounds like you have a constructive plan there, Berti. And everybody needs to unload now and then. It seems as though it might be coming together. My fingers are crossed for you.

[devondancer]

Lesley and I are so pleased to hear your good news, Berti. She asked me to see how you were doing and is delighted for you, as I am. Keep on going!
Roland

[mutepointe]

I feel a big laughter building in all our bellies just waiting to get out.

[Berti66]

it's a matter of time..........patience, sweeties, is a virtue.
at least I feel much more relaxed now

this time I cannot wait till thursday because it feels so different now.
berti

[Cork]

I am sooo glad for such progress! You certainly have earned it.

You might send an e-mail back to Advanced Bionics, suggesting that a copy of that mp3 file be given to every CI client.

So, your next appointment and your birthday are on this next Thursday?

[anniemcu]

Excellent news Berti! Excellent!

[mutepointe]

You're not quite there yet but don't forget to send the snail mail thank you card to all the bigwigs who stuck their nose in. This might prompt them to stick their nose in for someone else again. And my Mom would be so proud. Send a picture too.

[Berti66]

OK that mp3 calibrator is on www.citheory.com for every ci client to use for free.........the person who put it on there, also has a CI.
If you go there you are up for an interesting read.

He is "just" someone who has helped AB with the software used to program the CI's......doesn't work for them officially.
His name is Mike Marzalek.
He knows my story and I know him from the yahoogroup for AB CI users, that is how we got in touch and have been exchanging emails on regular base since.
This weekend he provided me with the calibrator and I really think that is a good tool for CI users to get the programming right.
Thursday we will see if that's true.

No bigwigs (what a word!) were involved in this. It was just my audi, Mike, and myself so far.
I will post again later this week.....
Today I learned that so far, EACH step learned me something new.
Today I learned that the HIGH sensivity, also has its uses: in traffic and for music.
So now I have learned that I should at least have one program in one slot, with high sensivity.

But till thursday, the high sensivity drives me nuts..........
I wish right now that I had any idea how sensitive YOUR (hearing people) hearing is.........so that I know what sensivity would be right....hehe....guess there is no way to figure out.
Meanwhile I "enjoy" the WIDE hearing horizon I have right now.........I hear the silliest things!!!!!
(very tiring)

berti

[hans]

I wish right now that I had any idea how sensitive YOUR (hearing people) hearing is.........so that I know what sensivity would be right....hehe....guess there is no way to figure out.
Meanwhile I "enjoy" the WIDE hearing horizon I have right now.........I hear the silliest things!!!!!
(very tiring)

Hi Berti - thanks for the link and all your reports, now I have a tiny bit of an idea of what it may be like for you! I wish you speedy progress!

I fully sympathize that hearing can be very tiring, i wish i could just switch my ears off sometimes, and i am often overwhelmed in situations with lots of different sound stimuli at the same time, like lots of people talking plus music playing in the same room. To have a sensitivity switch would be quite handy. We got it for the eyes - we can shut them - but not the ears.

How sensitive is my own hearing? Perhaps this can be expressed in terms of what quiet sounds i can hear. For instance i found the constant humming and whirring of my computer's internal fans too noisy, too distracting. So i just opened up the box and did a few changes to run the fans with a lower voltage, which makes them run slower and quieter. Well, maybe this is not such a good example.

Another one: if everything surrounding my home is fairly quiet, and i can just hear some birds chirping, some cars in the distance rumbling (there is no major road here), and i stroke with my fingers over the back of my other hand very softly, arms outstretched, I can hear this stroking of skin on skin. If i stroke with lots of pressure, and a bit more speed, it is a lot louder. Maybe this gives an indication of sensitivity.

I think also that the brain is very good at filtering out unwanted noise, to focus on specific sounds, and that the spacial perception (stereo) is extremely important and helpful for this.

Well, anyway, just some personal observations regarding sensitivity.

It is great to see you becoming more and more your own audiologist!

Best wishes
~Hans

[mutepointe]

Here's a suggestion. Have a hearing party. Invite a bunch a hearing people to a location and have them bring a bunch of sound systems. Invite them, or make seperate recordings yourself of traffic, dogs barking, babies crying, music, ...........Then place the sounds systems at different places and maybe even different distances and get a person to be with each sound system. Then get inside this circle of sound system with a group of people (children, teenage, young adults, old people) and have people play each sound system seperately gradually increasing volume and see when each person says they can hear the sound and when they've had enough. Children hear higher pitched sounds than old people, that's why I suggested different ages. I also think messing with the multiple sound systems so that the people sitting next to you can say what they can and can not hear compared to what you can hear.

Individual people are different. I can not stand to be in a room where there is silence, especially a big room. The silence bouncing off the walls is painful to my ears. Other people find this pleasant.

[Berti66]

Hi hans,
I think I can imagine very well what you are talking about.
I feel for you, because I *can* turn this off..... what a life you must have.
Is it possible to do something against your condition? Or do you just have to live with it?

Hi Mutepointe,
Thanks, interesting experiment albeit not practical.
I totally see your point.
BEFORE the ci, I just asked my 14 year old to describe what she could hear when sitting in our living room.
Right now, I can hear more sounds than she can..........so that's a sign I am too sensitive (better said, the processor is programmed too sensitive). I hear small sounds louder than she does, right now.....example, imagine the rustling sound of plastic of a package of paper handkerchiefs/ tissues.......it sounds like a sheet of cellophane.
But of course this has more to do with hans' story above.
I will keep in mind to ask some friends questions just to check what they can barely hear and what I hear and compare that (even when anyone has different sensivity).

mmm.
interesting.
berti

[mutepointe]

If there was cake and a keg a beer, I bet you could get people to want to believe it was a most practical of ideas.

[Cork]

OK that mp3 calibrator is on http://www.citheory.com for every ci client to use for free...

It's one thing for you to tell us about the mp3 calibrator, but, considering how long it took for you to discover it, perhaps it could be a good thing if it were more widely know, especially to others who could be new to CI technology.

That way, maybe they wouldn't have to wait for so long, for such a thing.

So, send that message to AB, and tell them to spread the word.

Meanwhile, I'm glad for the good news!

[Berti66]

cork, the message IS being spread, by all the members which are on the yahoogroup I mentioned earlier.......
AB DOES know Mike Marzalek as he is one of their software engineers
But I won't forget to mention him in my next post to AB, rest assured.

It was him who sent ME that mp3 calibrator to see if it would be helpful and now it is on his site I have already forwarded that calibrator to others, too.
see, message spreading.

I am also now seeing what's the use of all this happening to ME.......
Someone mentioned that what I go through, might help others in the future.
This turns to be true.
Why?
Because as a CI user I can tell much better where the audi's over here need to improve on and I have discovered some shocking facts about these same audi's which explains the low success rate of the AB ci users (and who knows other brands).
In a few days, another post will go to AB where I will also mention this.

(now, if all that work would include a FREE processor so that I can have my left ear implanted....but that's another story)
it's monday again.
counting the days.......

berti

[djm]

so that's a sign I am too sensitive

"I hear dead people!"

djm