Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Second mapping :)

It was just a day like any other day. The only thing that made it significant was that…. I heard so much more!

Try this one on for size. Today was a beautiful Tuesday afternoon at my sunny little cubicle. The sun was shining brightly with a gentle breeze blowing through the windows. All of the sudden, I heard a strange whirring sound. I focused for a couple second before I gave up and asked the boss what the sound was. Do you know what she said? A HELICOPTER!! For those who do not understand the significance of the “helicopter” you can read here. I jumped up and practically turned upside down trying to find the helicopter. If I had Spiderman tricks up my sleeve, I would have been. Just a week ago, I had one fifty feet right on top of me and I could not hear it. I must have been grinning like a mule eating briars the rest of the day.

Shortly after that, I heard an alarm bell of some sort. One of my coworkers said that it was the fire alarm. I accepted that answer for about 30 seconds. Then it sounded like it was a fire department siren. I proceeded to drill the poor child by asking her if it was a fire truck or the fire department siren.

“Fire department.” She says.

Now last week, I could not even hear a fire truck with sirens on right in front of me. Damn Skippy, I’m on a roll!

Shortly after that (they comes in three’s) I was gathering my things to high tail it out of work when I heard this, beep, beep, beep. I recognized it straight away. It was a truck going in reverse, so I heard the back up beeping.

That was my afternoon! I am so happy that I was twitting my thumbs at a greyhound speed. Now there is a little matter of this morning moments. I heard this loud static rumbling sound. I turned to look outside and I did not see anything. Shortly afterwards, a garbage truck came up to empty the dumpster. Ta-dah!

I was doing some practice with numbers online this morning. This particular practice is a multiple choice of numbers. You play the sound file and then pick your choice. I had to play the sound several times to make sure. I got 9 out of 10 correct!

On the way to work this morning, I noticed that music was coming in a little better. Nowhere near perfect but I noticed that some parts of the song are coming in clearer. On top of that, I can hear the radio at work. I can distinguish whether it is a commercial with a male or female DJ or a song.

Voices are starting to sound different to me, as if their real voice is starting to poke through,. There is your proof that my neurons are firing all over the place trying to make sense of this organized chaos that is being sent to them. :)

Now for the juicy technical specifications of my second mapping! Jennifer my audi was impressed in the range that I was hearing. I took the advice of experienced cochlear implanters and kept a written journal of what I can/cannot hear.

My volumes levels have increased from 157 to 282 across all electrodes. Right off the top of my head, this is a 55% increase in volume.

My base program is HiRes-P with Fidelity 120, IDR of 60 with extended lows and a gain in high frequency. My audio mix is 50/50 Mic/Aux.

My noise program is HiRes-P with Fidelity 120, IDR of 45 with an audio mix of 50/50 Mic/Aux.

My music program is HiRes-P with Fidelity 120, IDR of 80 with an audio mix of 30/70 Mic/Aux.

My battery life is impressive. I slap the magnet on around 7:30am and take it off around 10:30-11:00pm. The next day with the same battery, it last about 4:30pm. That is roughly 24 hours.

Lucky me, I am the first one that has reported this particular type of problem. Apparently when certain high frequency sounds occur, my processor cuts off for a few seconds. I noticed that when my work phone rings (ringer is set at high) it cuts my processor off. I put the volume of the ringer to low and it resolved the issue. I have to keep an ear out (literally) on what sounds causes it to cut out.

In conclusion, I am one happy bionic woman. A computer in my head never felt so good. Now if only I can get my hands on a never ending supply of dark chocolate and red wine, life as I know it would be so complete. :) I kid, I kid…maybe not.

4 comments:

Jennifer said...

Wow!!! Abbie...that sounds awesome! Isn't it amazing what a difference a week can make?? I'm glad you got another shot at the helicopter...lol! I love hearing Harleys...I can hear those babies rumbling from a quarter mile away! :)

Anonymous said...

Wow! It is a big change from one mapping to the next. You sound like you are enjoying all of it. How are books on tape going? I am going to try a novel soon.

Also did you know that fire, police and hositpal all have different type of siren sounds? I can hear the sirens before I see them.

My co-workers, friends and family love to hear about my new sounds each day. I said the funniest thing today without thinking. I heard the rolling cart noise like a sweaking(like a mouse). I said wow has it always made this sound. Duh! To me everything is new and so so exciting.

valerie

Laurie said...

Wow! You are doing great! Just relax and let your brain and processor do the work! Congrats!

Yana said...

Yep, the trucks backing and going beep beep beep was one of the first sounds I recognized without help. :)

You are doing great!