Another Big Change

We are moving from Brazil to the USA in just a couple of weeks. This is the reason I have not been updating regularly. We are in a whirlwind of change.

My hearing with the cochlear implant is still improving, to the point that I am feeling more like I hear and less like I am deaf. I did have another mapping done and, to be honest, I am not sure it was the best.

On the other hand. I left my remote control in the USA during my last trip and I can’t adjust anything. That may be part of the problem. Everything is just too loud right now.

My natural hearing is getting a little stronger as well, to the point that if I put on my hearing aid and you speak pretty close to my ear, I can understand. I need the cochlear implant to hear far away, however.

I will write another post soon to talk about our move and why. I got a job that has a pretty strong hearing requirement. That is worth a post in itself. Until then…

Bible Storying for the Deaf

Deaf with a capital D. That is, those who were born deaf and have committed to using non verbal means of communication, like sign language.

I only learned a little sign language at my church when I was a young teenager, and refreshed a bit in college. Both times it was out of a desire to communicate with Deaf friends. Though I have been deaf on 4 distinct occasions in my life, I have always relied on speech for communication. (I was suddenly and unexpectedly deafened when I was 11, again at 21, another time at 32, and yet again at 36.)

That being said, I am a missionary and a Bible storyer. This video, from one of my latest facebook groups, is just beautiful to me. I hope it encourages someone who stops by my blog here.

 

Ran into a Deaf Friend

Yesterday as my wife and son and I were walking down Rio Branco Avenue, here in Juiz de Fora, I saw a young girl smile at me. I kept thinking, where do I know her, then I remembered. I called my wife to stop walking and we all turned around. The girl and her family turned around too.

We had met several years back. She was unable to hear much and her speech was extremely limited with a strong deaf accent. She was about 8 years old at the time.

Now, she is fourteen. She looked at me and saw my cochlear implant. Then I saw hers. She smiled and spoke in a very clear perfect sounding Portuguese. Her hearing seem effortless. (My hearing comes with great concentration, frustration and repetition). After our families caught up, I asked her how long she had been wearing a CI. Turns out it’s been 2 years since her activation.

She said the first year was a big struggle, but now she hears very well and dominates nearly every social situation. Wow. I am so pleased for her.

I am still in the first year. I’ve made amazing advances, but I also have a long way to go. I do hope to be hearing as well as she is soon.

Both of us have MED-EL Opus 2 processors and were operated by the same doctor. Neat.

Listen and Read

Listen and Read is a website intended for elementary school children learning to read. It features a picture and a text, with a button you can press to hear the text read aloud.

This is exactly the kind of resource I was looking for a few months ago to train my listening skills. I have graduated beyond this to not needing the words right in front of me for comprehension, but I wanted to put this up for others who might need training resources while learning to hear again.

Related Posts:

Another Step towards Speech Recognition 

A Social Network for Cochlear Implant Users

20 out of 30 correct hearing responses

I am on program three of map five.

In yesterday’s visit to the audiologist, I was given a list of 30 sentences. I read them aloud one by one, then returned the list. My audiologist covered her face with a screen, so I couldn’t read her lips. She then randomly read the sentences. I was able to hear and repeat correctly 20 sentences on the first try.

Of the 10 that I couldn’t do immediately, I needed one word repeated one time for three of the sentences. I needed the sentence repeated one time for 5 sentences. I needed two sentences repeated more than once.

Recovery is ever so slow, but perfectly consistent.

More Phone Calls

In the last couple of weeks I’ve made more phone calls using skype and either a usb phone receiver or headphones and a microphone. I’ve been able to have several conversations. I struggle and do not understand without a good bit of repeating, but I do it.

It makes me happy to talk on the phone.

A Social Network for Cochlear Implant Users

Med-El has just launched a great site that is a kind of Facebook for people who use or work with cochlear implants and their interested friends and family. It’s called HearPeers.

 I just set up my own profile.

 

Here is a video about the site.

Three Weeks of Improvement

This is late being posted, but I had two hearing tests three weeks apart. The audiograms below are of my right ear.

May 21, 2012

June 11, 2012

As you can see there was a nice jump there in that three week period. My hope and expectation is that it will continue to improve until it gets into that purple area. That would be good enough to, with a hearing aid, hear well enough to function normally.

Bonus:Cochlear Implant Hearing Test

Getting better!