Yesterday I had my second mapping on my cochlear implant. Wow. Now,there is noise everywhere, and everything makes noise. Loud noise! This is exciting and overwhelming at the same time.
The first thing we did was an audiogram. My sound detection barely registered. We then talked about the experience and I was hooked up to the machine. I have video of this, that I will post soon. I found my new maximum comfortable loudness level. It is much, much higher than what I had. I no longer feel physical problems with the sound stimulation.
So now there is so much stuff to hear. It is louder in my implanted ear than in my aided ear. It is such a fun experience. Everything is noise. I can’t identify much, but there is so much there. It’s exciting.
Practically it is like this: Imagine that you are watching TV and the volume is a comfortable low. You can hear and understand most everything. Suddenly, someone turns on the stereo, and puts the volume on the maximum level. The stereo is not set to any particular radio station, so it is just noise. The noise is so loud that it is hard to hear and understand the TV. That is what the implant is doing for me right now. On the other hand, it’s just fantastic, because I never knew about that stereo before!
I am enjoying this, and for me, this is a major, major breakthrough.
Hey Stephen,
ReplyDeleteI finally (after 9 years) created a google account so that I can post to your blogs. I'm really excited that your sound tolerance level went up so much. Now we just need the brain to start making sense of the new auditory nerve stimulation. Can't wait to see what you hear this month.
Love,
Heather
Thanks, Heather. This was important to me, because there is NO DOUBT that sound is coming in now.
ReplyDelete