UPDATE

Yes, it has been a while since my last entry. That's because nothing much is new with my CI. I am currently not working, but would like to if I could find a job. I haven't been for a re-programming in over a year, but I still hear quite well. Music still is bad. Hearing on the phone is OK as long as the speaker talks very slowly and in normal volume. Usually, I have to remind the speaker many times to slow down and not yell. Most are very nice about it. I expect to get an iPhone in the next week or so, and if the speaker sounds like my daughter's does, I should be just fine. I have decided not to upgrade to the Nucleus 5 since it appears to not be that much better than the Freedom for me, and I don't think Kaiser would cover the cost.

MY NEW JOB!!

Hi everyone again. I just want you all to know that Since May 25th, 2008 I have been working in sales at THE GAP store here in Santa Clara, Ca. My job, in part, is to greet and help customers in the baby and toddler sections. Our store usually has music playing on the PA, yet with my Cochlear implant I can probably hear 90 % of what by customers say. I use a sensitivity program, and try to cut out as much environmental noise as possible. My biggest problem is very fast talkers and folks with foreign accents. I am doing very well, and love the job. Not bad for a deaf 73 year old!!! I still do well on the phone and music is still pretty bad. Can't have everything.

SMART SOUNDS2 INSTALLED

I had Smart Sounds2 installed in program slots 2(Beam), 3(Sensitivity) and 4(Music) a couple of weeks ago. Truthfully, I don't find a great deal of improvement. Program 1 was allegedly left untouched, but I find the volume louder so I turned it down 1 notch. Beam is about the same. Sensitivity appears somewhat better in noise, but not a great improvement. Music may be marginally better, but hard to determine and quantify. Any program would be better than the last one which I had hoped would improve music. I guess music the way I remember it is a lost cause. Possibly things will get better as my brain adjusts to the new programs with Smart Sounds2.

SmartSounds2

I just found out that Cochlear Corp. is coming out with a new version of SmartSounds. It will have Beam, ADRO, and Autosensitivity in the same program. This will be great for hearing in noisy situations. It will also have a program for improving music listening....still my biggest CI problem. I contacted my Audie and told her I was very interested in this new version, but I was aware she did not have the software yet. She told me to remind her again in March, which I intend to do. Other than that, my hearing is about the same.

MY RECENT AUDIOLOGIST APPOINTMENT

Today I had an appointment with my Audiologist to see if changing processing speeds would help with my music hearing. We tried higher speeds(up to 2400+) without any improvement. Finally, she said lets try a new strategy. This is all in Program 4 spot only which I had my old regular program that I never use. I went through another T&C determination with the usual beeps after which the new strategy was entered into my processor. When I tried it, the music DID sound better.....not as squeeky and distorted. I was told this is a Freedom super fast strategy. Whatever it is, to my surprise something finally worked.........not perfectly, but better. We agreed that I will try it for a while and see how it goes. I will only use Program 4 for music.

UPDATE_____FINALLY!!!

Well, I know it's been close to a year since I last made an entry. Shame on me! Actually, nothing world shaking has been going on with my CI. I still very much enjoy conversation(face to face) and phone talk, but music is still as bad as ever. I have made 2 visits to my Audie since last update. On the first visit, I asked her to add a BEAM program to attempt to hear better in noisy environments. It really did not help much as the noise was nearly as loud as the the person I was speaking with. Thus, at my last visit, I asked for the addition of a SENSITIVITY program. With this, I can adjust the circle of sound. This has been described as dropping a pebble in the water....the larger the pebble, the bigger the ring of water it makes. One example where it has been useful is on my twice a week 1.6 mile walk with a group at the local Senior Center. We pass a street adjacent to an interstate highway. I have adjusted SENSITIVITY so that it eliminates the car noise, but not the person's voice that I am walking with. I am still experimenting with it, and I will try to re-adjust it the next time I eat in a noisy restaurant so I only hear the folks close to and at my table. Finally, I have decided to listen to a lot more classical and big band type music to see if my brain will ever wake up and hear it properly. I would still recommend going for a CI to anyone who qualifies and wishes to improve their quality of life.

MY 6 MONTH TESTING

Yesterday I saw my Audie for my 6 month testing. She gave me 4 tests in the "Torture Chamber" as follows: 1. Sounds - buzzes, beeps, etc. 2. She called out words and I repeated them 3. A recorded male voice called out sentences which I repeated. 4. A recorded male voice called out words which I repeated. While I don't remember the exact score for each one, they ranged from 75% to 87%. Considering these scores were 0% before my CI, my Audie thought I did great! Personally, I would have wanted to do better, but my ability to hear in so many ways real world-wise is sufficient consolation. The Audie also tweaked my regular program to cut down on the echo effect, and gave me 2 additional programs to try for music(I told her it still sounded very bad).