new sounds

[Guest guest]

Robin,

Thank you for sharing your new sounds. It is great to be on this list to

learn about different people with new experiences. Larry

[Guest guest]

hi all

hope you all had a great weekend!

you will never belive it, but it's true...

we didnt make it to the fireworks.

but, we did have many new sounds...

we went to the park first, and because the police were trying to keep

the crowd down, they bariered off the two main roads into the area

where his friends were.

he tried so hard to find a way in, but no lucky for his poor butt!

but we did see a few of his friends parked in another area, and we

stopped and chatted for a few.

there were a couple who were not aware of his implant, and it was

great to see the expressions on thier faces to know he could hear

thier voices!

cherry also heard the cars going by with their windows open and loud

music. his friends had the chance to see him responding to the

environmental sounds.

he is doing so great with that, being able to distiguish soft sounds

i thought would be much more dificult!

i see two things happening when his hearing friends encounter him.

first they start communicating as always, no voice, just their own

kind of visual communication that i sometimes cannot understand, but

they get into it!

then they test him, covering their mouth, asking if he can hear them.

they see how they have to speak clearly and loudly enough for him to

understand the words, but he definately hears their voices!

because they've known each other for so many years, growing up in the

same neighborhood, some met after high school, they never had a

problem understanding each other.

and now they have to learn all over again!

i do have to remind them to use their voices! it was so cool.

last night we went to his favorite watering hole, and he got to hear

hi favorite dj, and his voice too!

our intention was to go there for the bathroom before walking to the

art museum for fireworks, but he was worried about being too far to

walk from there.

so we decided to try to get a spot a bit closer.

we drove around for almost a half hour before going back and parking

at the club.

by that time, it was almost 10pm and if we had tried to walk at that

point we would have missed it anyhow.

darnit!

so we hung out there and wathed on tv, with him listening to music.

he tells me he really misses the bass. he is trying to hear that so

much. but he definately hears the voices, and i try to tell him

atleast the corus lines of whatever songs i know so he can anticipate

those words so he can try to catch them.

that's my new favorite saying, about him catching the words, or how

he puts it more often, pick pick pick.

then today he told me that at work he heard the sound of the coins

going in the candy machine, and then the candy bar dropping through

the machine!

tonight was much more interesting to me though! and i think him too!

our good friend June, HoH, came to visit him for the first time after

his activation.

she and her husband, , also HoH, have been very curious to see

what happens with Cherry.

when we first told her about him wanting an implant she had great

fear for him. she told me about a friend who didn't do so well with

it, and was even having problems.

we sat at my kitchen table with her telling me the horror stories and

me telling her how much Cherry just wanted the chance to hear the

simple things she is able to with her HA.

she did leave that night with some understanding about Cherrys dream

and a whole lot of curiosity.

well, it was sooooooooo wonderful to see her again!

we sat for two great hours, the three of us talking about everything

he is hearing and how he is trying to pick pick the words.

Cherry was wearing his body worn, and i brought down the ear worn for

her to look at.

she held it in her hand like afraid to drop it! especially after we

told her how much it cost!

he showed her his headpiece and how it's a magnet, and even let her

put it on his head.

it was so amazing to witness.

she asked all the questions and will be back again to watch Cherrys

activation video with !

well, enough of that before i cry!

Cherry reports he can hear the coins going through the vending

machine, and the candy bar dropping through it!

he heard the sound of punches in a movie tonight, and his drinking a

beer from the can, slurp slurp (i heard him from the top of the

stairs so that propted me to ask!!!)

he is hearing everything and is learning soooooo fast!

well, i gotta try to sleep now!

sorry about the late post, our computer has been mad at me all day!!

nite nite, an take care,

m ;-)

[Guest guest]

Anne, for me, the good, easy understanding of voices didn't come right away.

It got better quickly but, since it didn't get really good right away, I'm

gratified to find that, after about 11 months it is still slowly improving

and that conversations, one on one, or in very small groups are relaxing and

enjoyable.

Sound, for me, is very different from what it was with a hearing aid.

Primarily, I think, because of the loss of low frequencies due to

limitations imposed by electrode insertion and to the few, wide, frequency

bands with poor frequency discrimination. BUT, the understanding is there.

I don't mind much that voices sound wierd so long as I can understand them.

I always kinda liked Alvin the chipmunk anyway <g>.

It's still exciting to me to experience so many sounds I was missing before.

It must be even more of a strange experience for you. Enjoy the ride.

Virg

From: " Anne Marie Geyer " <artlover2k6@...>

> How long did it take for some of you to get used to it and that

> it'll become more clear to the point you can hear voices clearly?

> I'm unsure of what the potential CI could do for me.