We were in the kitchen the other night getting dinner ready, when Nichole said
"I came home from school today and decided to watch TV before starting my homework. After about 5 minutes, I realized that the closed captions were not on. I hadn't even noticed!"
This from the girl who ALWAYS uses closed captions and gets annoyed if they are not present. In the past, she wouldn't even go to movies because they don't have captions. I guess that means that after three months with bilateral CIs, she is hearing better than before going bilateral. At least she is hearing well enough to understand television without the captions. Of course, once she realized they were off, she turned them on. Old habits are hard to break.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
Bilateral CI helps Nichole with localization of sounds - 9/8/2008
When Nichole just had one CI and one hearing aid, she didn't do that well locating the source of sounds. And if she turned off either the CI or the hearing aid, she of course did even worse. We were curious if having two CIs had any impact on her sound localization ability.
This past weekend, the whole family played a game with Nichole - "Find the portable phone". Our portable phone has a button on the base station that causes the handset to start beeping, allowing you to find where it was last put down.
We had Nichole stay in the kitchen, then one of us would go either in the basement, or upstairs, and hide the phone. We then started the phone beeping and Nichole had to use her bilateral CIs to locate the handset.
We were amazed at how well she did. In all but one or two cases, she would zero in on the hiding place fairly quickly. Even when we hit the phone in cabinets and containers. She would walk into a room, turn her head left and right, then head off in the direction of the sound. Once, when I had hidden the phone in the ceiling of our basement (can't make things too easy for her :-), Nichole navigated herself to a spot directly below the phone, and was going crazy because she couldn't find the phone on the floor, or on the nearby shelf. Then, she looked up and noticed the open ceiling tile, and the phone. From then on , when she couldn't find the phone, but knew she was in the right area, she would tip her head to the side (one ear up, one ear down), in order to determine if the sound was above or below her.
So besides the improvement in basic hearing, understanding speech and having a "backup" ear in the event one stopped working (or the FM in her case) , we can add sound localization as another benefit of going bilateral! And that is only about 3 and a half weeks post activation!
This past weekend, the whole family played a game with Nichole - "Find the portable phone". Our portable phone has a button on the base station that causes the handset to start beeping, allowing you to find where it was last put down.
We had Nichole stay in the kitchen, then one of us would go either in the basement, or upstairs, and hide the phone. We then started the phone beeping and Nichole had to use her bilateral CIs to locate the handset.
We were amazed at how well she did. In all but one or two cases, she would zero in on the hiding place fairly quickly. Even when we hit the phone in cabinets and containers. She would walk into a room, turn her head left and right, then head off in the direction of the sound. Once, when I had hidden the phone in the ceiling of our basement (can't make things too easy for her :-), Nichole navigated herself to a spot directly below the phone, and was going crazy because she couldn't find the phone on the floor, or on the nearby shelf. Then, she looked up and noticed the open ceiling tile, and the phone. From then on , when she couldn't find the phone, but knew she was in the right area, she would tip her head to the side (one ear up, one ear down), in order to determine if the sound was above or below her.
So besides the improvement in basic hearing, understanding speech and having a "backup" ear in the event one stopped working (or the FM in her case) , we can add sound localization as another benefit of going bilateral! And that is only about 3 and a half weeks post activation!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
First day in 11th grade for Nichole with Bilateral CIs
Today was Nichole's first day in 11th grade after having gone bilateral this summer. I asked her during dinner how school went. She said it was pretty good, but ... her right (older) CI wasn't working for the first two classes. Arggg.
She has Freedom FM receivers for both ears. During the first two classes, her older right ear was not picking up the FM signal, nor was it picking up sounds of the other students using the processor mic. But her newer left ear was working. She said she could hear the teacher clearly through the FM on the new side, and best of all, she understood almost all of what the teacher was saying (though she did say she supplemented with reading their lips). Not bad for just two weeks post-activation! But the point is, if she hadn't had the new implant, she would not have gotten much out of those two classes.
Between her second and third class, she removed the FM receiver from the old ear, and re-installed it. This brought it on-line. She guessed that the FM insert was not properly seated, thus not working. Whew!
So for the rest of the day, she had a clean FM signal to both ears. However, she said she still couldn't hear other students around her in her right ear. It wasn't until she got off the bus after school that it occurred to her that the night before, she had been playing around with the FM-only program her audiologist had put in P4, so she could listen to music from an MP3 player. That setting cuts the mic input to 1/9th the FM or direct audio input. No wonder she couldn't hear her class mates on that side. She will remember to user her regular P1 program from now on.
So all in all, going bilateral was a good thing, since it gave Nichole a "backup" hearing capability over last year. And her brain is re-wiring nicely to utilize the new implant.
She has Freedom FM receivers for both ears. During the first two classes, her older right ear was not picking up the FM signal, nor was it picking up sounds of the other students using the processor mic. But her newer left ear was working. She said she could hear the teacher clearly through the FM on the new side, and best of all, she understood almost all of what the teacher was saying (though she did say she supplemented with reading their lips). Not bad for just two weeks post-activation! But the point is, if she hadn't had the new implant, she would not have gotten much out of those two classes.
Between her second and third class, she removed the FM receiver from the old ear, and re-installed it. This brought it on-line. She guessed that the FM insert was not properly seated, thus not working. Whew!
So for the rest of the day, she had a clean FM signal to both ears. However, she said she still couldn't hear other students around her in her right ear. It wasn't until she got off the bus after school that it occurred to her that the night before, she had been playing around with the FM-only program her audiologist had put in P4, so she could listen to music from an MP3 player. That setting cuts the mic input to 1/9th the FM or direct audio input. No wonder she couldn't hear her class mates on that side. She will remember to user her regular P1 program from now on.
So all in all, going bilateral was a good thing, since it gave Nichole a "backup" hearing capability over last year. And her brain is re-wiring nicely to utilize the new implant.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
First full day with new CI - 8/13/2008
Well, today was the first full day with Nichole's new left implant activated. I was at work most of the day, but saw her at lunch time, and she had not really tried much "listening" yet. We took a family walk after I got home from work, and I told her that it seemed she was much less interested in exploring sounds with this implant than she had been with her first one last year. She agreed. She said that with her old (right) CI, she now knows all the new sounds so it isn't as exciting trying to hear them with the new (left) CI.
She said that in the late afternoon, she did try the different programs which Marilyn had saved in the Freedom processor. Program 1 (P1) is basically what felt comfortable at the end of her activation on Tuesday. P2 and P3 are increasingly louder versions of P1. Marilyn thought that those three would give Nichole enough to work with until her next mapping, which is 9 days after her initial activation. She wasn't even sure Nichole would get to P3, but gave it anyway. Well, Nichole is already comfortable with P2, at volume = 9 (full volume)! She has tried P3, but it is a bit too loud. I reminded her that this isn't a race, and that she shouldn't feel the need to push herself too fast.
As for speech recognition, it didn't seem she was understanding much, if anything, by just observing her during normal conversations. So tonight, at about 11:15pm, after everyone else was asleep, I asked her if she wanted to play the "closed set" game. We pick a category (numbers 1 thru 10, or colors, etc), she faces away from me, and tries to repeat each word I say. I was not too optimistic given it was only day 1, and that I hadn't observed her understanding much earlier in the day. Boy was I in for a wonderful surprise!
I started with the numbers 1 thru 10 in random order. Nichole correctly repeated 8 of the 10 on the first try. For the two she got incorrect, I repeated the number once, and she then got it correct. Yahoo! I moved on to colors. Out of 11, she got eight correct first try, two correct on my first repeat, and one (indigo) she couldn't get. Next was animals. She correctly repeated nine out of 14. She got seven out of 11 sea creatures and five out of six oceans/seas (south china sea, she missed the "china").
So her "first try" success rate was about 80% for most lists, with 65% for the two really hard ones of animals and sea creatures. I have shown her raw results below, so you can get a feel for the difficulty of the words I picked, and so I can keep a record somewhere.
We have her first Listening Therapy session tomorrow afternoon.
Raw Closed-Set Listening Results, I have bolded those items where a mistake was made. Where two percentages are shown, they represent raw score on first try, then with a word repeated if it was wrong the first try. If she had no guess, I put a ????.
Numbers (80%, 100%)
Colors (72%, 91%)
Animals (65%)
Sea Creatures (63%)
Oceans/Seas (83%)
Shapes (88%)
She said that in the late afternoon, she did try the different programs which Marilyn had saved in the Freedom processor. Program 1 (P1) is basically what felt comfortable at the end of her activation on Tuesday. P2 and P3 are increasingly louder versions of P1. Marilyn thought that those three would give Nichole enough to work with until her next mapping, which is 9 days after her initial activation. She wasn't even sure Nichole would get to P3, but gave it anyway. Well, Nichole is already comfortable with P2, at volume = 9 (full volume)! She has tried P3, but it is a bit too loud. I reminded her that this isn't a race, and that she shouldn't feel the need to push herself too fast.
As for speech recognition, it didn't seem she was understanding much, if anything, by just observing her during normal conversations. So tonight, at about 11:15pm, after everyone else was asleep, I asked her if she wanted to play the "closed set" game. We pick a category (numbers 1 thru 10, or colors, etc), she faces away from me, and tries to repeat each word I say. I was not too optimistic given it was only day 1, and that I hadn't observed her understanding much earlier in the day. Boy was I in for a wonderful surprise!
I started with the numbers 1 thru 10 in random order. Nichole correctly repeated 8 of the 10 on the first try. For the two she got incorrect, I repeated the number once, and she then got it correct. Yahoo! I moved on to colors. Out of 11, she got eight correct first try, two correct on my first repeat, and one (indigo) she couldn't get. Next was animals. She correctly repeated nine out of 14. She got seven out of 11 sea creatures and five out of six oceans/seas (south china sea, she missed the "china").
So her "first try" success rate was about 80% for most lists, with 65% for the two really hard ones of animals and sea creatures. I have shown her raw results below, so you can get a feel for the difficulty of the words I picked, and so I can keep a record somewhere.
We have her first Listening Therapy session tomorrow afternoon.
Raw Closed-Set Listening Results, I have bolded those items where a mistake was made. Where two percentages are shown, they represent raw score on first try, then with a word repeated if it was wrong the first try. If she had no guess, I put a ????.
Numbers (80%, 100%)
| I said | She repeated |
| 5 | 7, then 5 |
| 3 | 3 |
| 4 | 4 |
| 10 | 10 |
| 1 | 1 |
| 7 | 6, then 7 |
| 9 | 9 |
| 6 | 6 |
| 8 | 8 |
| 2 | 2 |
Colors (72%, 91%)
| I said | She repeated |
| Blue | Blue |
| Yellow | Yellow |
| Red | Red |
| Black | White, then black |
| White | White |
| Pink | Pink |
| Orange | White, then orange |
| Green | Green |
| Brown | Brown |
| Indigo | ???? |
| Violet | Violet |
Animals (65%)
| I said | She repeated |
| Cat | Cat |
| Squirrel | Squirrel |
| Bird | Bird |
| Dog | Bird |
| Snake | Snake |
| Fox | Smocks |
| Beaver | ???? |
| Robin | Robin |
| Chickadee | Chickadee |
| Hawk | ???? |
| Bat | Bat |
| Blue Bird | Little Bird |
| Great Blue Heron | Great Blue Heron |
| Owl | Owl |
Sea Creatures (63%)
| I said | She repeated |
| Whale | Whale |
| Dolphin | Dera fin |
| Tuna | ???? |
| Oyster | Oyster |
| Clam | Clam |
| Sea Horse | Sea Horse |
| Skate | Snake |
| Jelly Fish | Jelly Fish |
| Shark | Shark |
| Walrus | Walrus |
| Seal | Snail |
Oceans/Seas (83%)
| I said | She repeated |
| Pacific | Pacific |
| Atlantic | Atlantic |
| Arctic | Arctic |
| Indian | Indian |
| Red Sea | Red Sea |
| South China Sea | South ???? Sea |
Shapes (88%)
| I said | She repeated |
| Circle | Circle |
| Oval | Oval |
| Square | Square |
| Rectangle | Rectangle |
| Star | Star |
| Ellipse | Erect |
| Octagon | Octagon |
| Pentagon | Pentagon |
| Triangle | Triangle |
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Left CI Activated - 8/12/2008
Early today Nichole had her new left side CI activated. Her audiologist, Marilyn, got her all hooked up to the programmer, and started out setting the T-levels (threshold levels). This is the minimum stimulation which Nichole can detect. Nichole then used the keyboard and software to set the C-levels (comfort levels) herself. This sets the stimulation level where she can hear, and it is comfortable, versus being too loud.
Once all the T and C levels were set, Marilyn turned on the microphone (after reducing the overall volume a bit to avoid Nichole being overwhelmed with sound). Nichole said that it hurt, kind of like an electric shock. Using a little electronic keyboard, Nichole played the notes, and told Marilyn exactly which notes caused discomfort, and which felt ok. Based on this information, Marilyn modified the T and C levels to a point where Nichole could hear sounds, while at the same time feel no pain. In fact, the contour of the new levels (viewed on a graph on the software) closely follow the "telemetry" readings that Marilyn took while Nichole was still on the OR table. I am not 100% sure what these are, but Marilyn said they can predict what her C-levels will probably look like after she gets acclimated to the implant. Nichole was happy with how the new levels felt.
An interesting observation was how Nichole described what she heard when she played a scale on the small electronic keyboard (left to right which would be low to high pitched notes). She said the first 6 or so keys went from high to low pitch (opposite what I hear), then the next bunch of keys went low to high (correct), then the last two were low again. I seem to recall her making the same observation at an earlier mapping session with her right CI. Not quite sure what it means though.
Once all the T and C levels were set, Marilyn turned on the microphone (after reducing the overall volume a bit to avoid Nichole being overwhelmed with sound). Nichole said that it hurt, kind of like an electric shock. Using a little electronic keyboard, Nichole played the notes, and told Marilyn exactly which notes caused discomfort, and which felt ok. Based on this information, Marilyn modified the T and C levels to a point where Nichole could hear sounds, while at the same time feel no pain. In fact, the contour of the new levels (viewed on a graph on the software) closely follow the "telemetry" readings that Marilyn took while Nichole was still on the OR table. I am not 100% sure what these are, but Marilyn said they can predict what her C-levels will probably look like after she gets acclimated to the implant. Nichole was happy with how the new levels felt.
An interesting observation was how Nichole described what she heard when she played a scale on the small electronic keyboard (left to right which would be low to high pitched notes). She said the first 6 or so keys went from high to low pitch (opposite what I hear), then the next bunch of keys went low to high (correct), then the last two were low again. I seem to recall her making the same observation at an earlier mapping session with her right CI. Not quite sure what it means though.
I asked Nichole how it sounded when we spoke (with her other CI turned off). She said that if she looks at our lips, she can make out some of the words we are saying. Wow! That is much better than when her right side was first activated a year ago. At that time, she could hear us talk, but had no idea what we were saying (we sounded like a waterfall or birds chirping). Maybe the fact that that this ear was her better ear helps. Or maybe the fact her brain has had a year with the right side CI will help it decode the new left CI. It could also be that Marilyn is using a slower stimulation rate (720Hz) which is what Nichole eventually settled on with the right side (so we wouldn't sound so "chirpy"). Most likely, it is a combination of all of the above. In any case, all the electrodes are working, and I am confident her brain will re-wire to accommodate the sounds from the new implant. I just hope it happens as quickly as it did last year (see my Day 1 Update post from last year to see how quickly she started understanding speech). She starts junior year of high school in two weeks!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Participating in CI/HA research at MIT and Northeastern
Nichole has been participating in two different research programs. The first is at MIT. They are testing Nichole's hearing ability with her Cochlear Implant. There are a number of different tests they are running. Some deal with her ability to identify vowels, some consonants, others the pitch of musical notes. The main researcher, Ray Goldworthy, who has a single CI himself, is eventually hoping to modify maps to allow CI users to hear better in vaious situations. he even spent some time in Australia at Cochelar learning more about their processors.
The second study is taking place at Northeastern University. Dr. Ying-Yee Kong is the principal investigator on this study, which is looking at people with one CI and one Hearing Aid (HA). They are running similar tests as those done at MIT, but with some variations, including testing in noise. They are interested in testing Nichole, because they want to see how she performs using one CI and one HA, then retest her after her second CI is fully "integrated". The results of this testing will possibly help other single CI users decide if going bilateral is better or if keeping one HA and one CI is best.
Nichole has enjoyed participating in both studies. She likes the idea that all this testing (and it is quite tiring - I know because I enrolled in it as a normal hearing study subject to help out), will eventually help other people struggling with the decision of going bilateral, or staying with a single CI. In addition, she is earning money, which for a 16 year old approaching her coveted driver's license, is a big deal :-), especially at $4 for a gallon of gas.
In addition to the main thrust of the NU study, Dr. Kong recorded Nichole speaking in order to determine if her speech generation improves, declines or stays the same after going bilateral. Here is a 3.5 minute long MP3 sound recording of Nichole telling a story. They gave her just the starting point, and told her to make up a story on the fly (thus some "ums" as she pauses to figure out where to take the story next).
I thought some parents of smaller kids would be interested in hearing how Nichole speaks. Keep in mind that she was not diagnosed with a hearing loss (70dB flat - moderate-severe bilateral sensori-neural hearing impairment) until 18 months old, and only spoke a handful of words to that point. She started wearing hearing aids at 20 months. We did Auditory Verbal therapy until she was 3 years old (though of course we continued doing it at home). Her hearing stayed at that level until her teenage years, when it started getting worse. She was at about a 100dB loss when she/we decided to get her first implant (right side) at age 15 (last year). This recording was made on July 2, 2008, just before her surgery to implant her left ear.
Of course, I understand Nichole perfectly, but I would really like to hear from other parents to see what they think of her speech. Does she sound "normal" to you, or can you tell she has a hearing problem? I am too close to tell. Any comments?
The second study is taking place at Northeastern University. Dr. Ying-Yee Kong is the principal investigator on this study, which is looking at people with one CI and one Hearing Aid (HA). They are running similar tests as those done at MIT, but with some variations, including testing in noise. They are interested in testing Nichole, because they want to see how she performs using one CI and one HA, then retest her after her second CI is fully "integrated". The results of this testing will possibly help other single CI users decide if going bilateral is better or if keeping one HA and one CI is best.
Nichole has enjoyed participating in both studies. She likes the idea that all this testing (and it is quite tiring - I know because I enrolled in it as a normal hearing study subject to help out), will eventually help other people struggling with the decision of going bilateral, or staying with a single CI. In addition, she is earning money, which for a 16 year old approaching her coveted driver's license, is a big deal :-), especially at $4 for a gallon of gas.
In addition to the main thrust of the NU study, Dr. Kong recorded Nichole speaking in order to determine if her speech generation improves, declines or stays the same after going bilateral. Here is a 3.5 minute long MP3 sound recording of Nichole telling a story. They gave her just the starting point, and told her to make up a story on the fly (thus some "ums" as she pauses to figure out where to take the story next).
I thought some parents of smaller kids would be interested in hearing how Nichole speaks. Keep in mind that she was not diagnosed with a hearing loss (70dB flat - moderate-severe bilateral sensori-neural hearing impairment) until 18 months old, and only spoke a handful of words to that point. She started wearing hearing aids at 20 months. We did Auditory Verbal therapy until she was 3 years old (though of course we continued doing it at home). Her hearing stayed at that level until her teenage years, when it started getting worse. She was at about a 100dB loss when she/we decided to get her first implant (right side) at age 15 (last year). This recording was made on July 2, 2008, just before her surgery to implant her left ear.
Of course, I understand Nichole perfectly, but I would really like to hear from other parents to see what they think of her speech. Does she sound "normal" to you, or can you tell she has a hearing problem? I am too close to tell. Any comments?
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Hearing at a Carnival - 5/17/2008
Last night Nichole went with her friends to the travelling carnival that comes to town each year. It comprises a bunch of loud rides, arcade booths, food vendors, etc. I walked through it with my other daughter just to see what they had. It was *very* loud there. Hard for us to communicate, and we have good hearing.
I asked Nichole if she enjoyed spending the evening there with her friends. She had. Then I asked the inevitable question - could you understand any of the conversations the group had? Nichole said that last year when they went, she only caught a couple of words during the evening. But last night, she understood almost all of the conversations! The only time she had trouble was when one friend whispered into her left (hearing aid) ear. She couldn't make out what she was saying. But when she turned her head, to use her CI, she did get what was being said.
Can't wait for the second implant. Hope it will make hearing in these noisy situations that much better!
I asked Nichole if she enjoyed spending the evening there with her friends. She had. Then I asked the inevitable question - could you understand any of the conversations the group had? Nichole said that last year when they went, she only caught a couple of words during the evening. But last night, she understood almost all of the conversations! The only time she had trouble was when one friend whispered into her left (hearing aid) ear. She couldn't make out what she was saying. But when she turned her head, to use her CI, she did get what was being said.
Can't wait for the second implant. Hope it will make hearing in these noisy situations that much better!
Friday, April 25, 2008
Vestibular Testing at Mass Eye & Ear - April 25, 2008
Today Nichole underwent vestibular (balance) testing at Mass Eye & Ear. Because of the size of the testing room, they didn't allow me to come in (which for an engineer, is a bummer!). I will get a description of what they did from Nichole later and back-annotate this post.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Bus Stop Listening - Woodpecker getting breakfast (4/18/2008)
I walked Nichole to the bus stop this morning. As we were going down the driveway, she stopped and looked around, scanning the tree tops. She said "I hear a woodpecker". I too heard it. It was near the top of a 70 foot tall tree, who's trunk was about 70 yards away (about 75 yards from the bird to her ear). While she could not locate where the woodpecker was "ratatat-tatting", she could clearly hear it (along with other birds chirping). Maybe after her July surgery to go bilateral, she will even be able to locate the sound source too!
Friday, April 11, 2008
Speech Perception Testing 9-month post-activation (4/11/2008)
I received the Speech & Language assessment report from Children's regarding Nichole's referral for a second (bilateral) implant. The clinician had interviewed Nichole, asking her lots of questions, and had her do a list of Word Association for Syllable Perception (WASP) words that she had been tested on last year, prior to receiving her first implant. On the original pre-implant testing, Nichole scored a 33% accuracy with auditory-only information. On the retest with her CI (now 9 month post-activation), she scored 96% accuracy!!! Now if *that* doesn't show people the benefit of a CI, I don't know what does!
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Approved for Bilateral CI !!! - April 3, 2008
We met with the Speech and Language Pathologist and Nichole's surgeon at Children's today. These were the final two appointments we needed to "pass" in order for Nichole to be approved for her second implant. The language testing went fast - Nichole has a very advanced vocabulary.
The meeting with Nichole's surgeon went very well. Dr. L. stepped through all the pros and cons of a 2nd implant. She told him how the CI on her right side was *so* much better than the hearing aid on her left side, and that she had tested both in different situations, and really wanted to have her left side implanted. He said he fully agreed, then said, "lets go get you a date"!! I had been expecting that their team would have to meet to discuss her case, as happened with the first one last year. Nope. He walked us to Sarah, the implant team coordinator, and asked her to schedule us for surgery. She immediately asked if July 11th would work for us! Yahoo. She knew we were looking for a slot right at the beginning of summer, and had lined things up for us. She is fantastic!. Nichole was very happy on the drive home! So now we wait.
The meeting with Nichole's surgeon went very well. Dr. L. stepped through all the pros and cons of a 2nd implant. She told him how the CI on her right side was *so* much better than the hearing aid on her left side, and that she had tested both in different situations, and really wanted to have her left side implanted. He said he fully agreed, then said, "lets go get you a date"!! I had been expecting that their team would have to meet to discuss her case, as happened with the first one last year. Nope. He walked us to Sarah, the implant team coordinator, and asked her to schedule us for surgery. She immediately asked if July 11th would work for us! Yahoo. She knew we were looking for a slot right at the beginning of summer, and had lined things up for us. She is fantastic!. Nichole was very happy on the drive home! So now we wait.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Hearing a Distant Sound While Cross Country Skiing - 2/24/2008
The family all went cross country skiing today. We were stopped for a few minutes, enjoying the peace and quiet while the kids were taking turns skiing down a little hill, taking a jump at the bottom. I was waiting to take a picture of the next run down the hill, and Nichole was standing at the top of the hill, about 40 feet from me, just resting after her last trip up, when I heard a snowmobile start zipping across the neighboring lake. It was about 3/4 of a mile away, through a line of trees. About a second after I first heard it, I noticed Nichole turn her head left and right, trying to see what she was hearing. She quickly spotted the snowmobile moving across the open lake, and returned her attention to the skiing. It was cool to see her being tuned in to the sounds of her environment!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Hearing with a CI on a Noisy Chair Lift While Skiing - 2/20/2008
We were skiing at Sugarbush today (February Vacation week). I was riding up the chair lift with Nichole and her sister, Corey. I was sitting between the two of them, turned so that I could face Corey while I told her about a conversation I had with another skier on an earlier lift ride (when I was just with my son Mitchell). The snow guns were running (for non-skiers, they sound like jet engines, though a little "deeper" in tone). The wind was blowing at about 30MPH (yes, it was *very cold). These are about the worst conditions for listening. When I finished relating the story to Corey, Nichole asked me "what was that?". I turned around to face her, and stared to retell the story from the beginning. She interrupted me, and said "I heard all of that. I just wanted to know the very last thing you said". I was amazed. With my back to her, over all that noise, with her wearing a helmet, and my voice muffled by a neck warmer pulled up to my nose, she had heard and understood a one or two minute story, only missing the very last sentence! She certainly never would have heard *any* of that with just her hearing aids. From past ski trip experiences, Nichole usually would just space out and turn "inward" on the lift rides, never even trying to participate in conversations, since she couldn't hear anyone, and with face masks on, couldn't read any lips.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Nichole's "Bilateral" E-mail to her Audiologist
At dinner tonight, I told Nichole that I had exchanged e-mails with her audiologist, Marilyn, regarding Nichole getting her other ear implanted. One thing Marilyn noted was that with two implants, she would not hear *anything* when her processors were removed. Nichole then sent the following e-mail to Marilyn, copying me. For those with very young kids, who can't really give you feedback, this is what you can look forward to as they get older.
Hi Marilyn,
My dad asked me if I was willing to give up my remaining hearing in my left ear for a second implant. Definitely!! I would give my residual hearing in an instant because as my little investigations have shown, a CI is about 100% better than a hearing aid. The only hearing (without the hearing aid in) I would be giving up is:
-hearing the water hit my ear in the shower
-myself humming with my hands over my ears
-an MP3 player on Volume 30 (maximum volume setting-I can barely hear it)
So I wouldn't be losing anything really except the title of having a hearing loss.
Thank you for the tip on how to turn off the FM microphone but keep the CI one on. It has made school life a lot more tolerable than before : D
Thanks,
Nichole
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Second (bilateral) Implant Insurance Approval - 1/30/2008
I just got off the phone with Blue Cross of Mass. They pulled up Nichole's records, and confirmed that an implant for her left ear would be covered 100%. Look out bilateral hearing, here she comes!
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Audiologist agrees with Nichole going Bilateral - 1/29/2008
I received an e-mail reply from Nichole's audiologist at Children's Hospital Boston (Marilyn) regarding Nichole wanting to get her left ear implanted this summer (1 year after her right was done).
I had to go to Nichole's High School at lunch time to check her FM transmitter (it was having some issues). After dealing with that, I told her what Marilyn said in the e-mail. Nichole's face lit right up! You would have thought I told her she won the lottery. Now I just have to check with Blue Cross of Mass to ensure it will be covered.
I see no reason why Nichole can't get a 2nd CI and in fact it's a great idea. She just has to be prepared how
quiet things will be with her ear gear off (she may hear a few loud sounds now.)
I had to go to Nichole's High School at lunch time to check her FM transmitter (it was having some issues). After dealing with that, I told her what Marilyn said in the e-mail. Nichole's face lit right up! You would have thought I told her she won the lottery. Now I just have to check with Blue Cross of Mass to ensure it will be covered.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Decision on second (bilateral) implant - 1/28/2008
Unbeknownst to me, Nichole has been doing a lot of thinking about getting her second ear implanted.
She loves her CI, but at first, she thought she would wait until the summer of 2009 to get the left done.
That would have been a two year delay following the first implantation.
On her own, she has been doing experiments in different settings over the past few months, enabling only her
hearing aid (left) or CI (right) to compare the benefits/drawbacks of each. Her basic comment is that with
just her hearing aid, she can't really understand many of the words her teachers are saying (even with the FM).
If watching TV, she only gets about 1 word every few minutes. With her implant only, she understands almost
all of what the teachers are saying, and is able to understand TV shows quite abit (though she still uses the
captioning). The *only* thing about her hearing aid that she lists as a Pro, is that if her teacher is wearing the
FM transmitter, and has left it on while conferring with another student, thus disturbing Nichole, she can flick
a switch on her Hearing Aid's microlink to kill the FM input. Conversely, the only Con in the CI column (and yes,
she made a Pro/Con table :-) ), is that there is no way to shut off the FM input on the Freedom receiver. This
would be a good piece of feedback for either the Phonak rep, or the Cochlear rep - allow the wearer to easily
shut off the FM input while still using the processor's mike. I passed this to Nichole's audiologist, who told me
what sequence of buttons to push to disable the FM input. While not as easy as flicking a single switch, like
with her hearing aid boot, it should be a usable option.
Driving home from one of Nichole's last driver's ed class (yes, she is eligible to get her learner's permit in just
another week!) , Nichole informed me that she wants to have her left side implanted right after she gets out of
school at the end of this year (June 2008), similar to what she did just six months ago. Time to start talking
with the team at Children's Boston to start the process!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Ski Racing with a CI - 1/15/2008
This is Nichole's second year racing for her High School Alpine ski team, thought the first with her CI. I asked Nichole how the CI worked, what with wearing a ski helmet and all. She said it was *much* better than her hearing aids. She can hear a lot more, especially because she doesn't get any feedback with the CI. Last year, she would turn the volume down on her two hearing aids, to keep them from whistling. Now, since she can hear so much with the CI, she simply is turning off her hearing aid and relying completely on the CI!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)