Hook-up...Take 2!

January 4, 2006: INITIAL STIMULATION
Well, it’s a done deal – I am officially bilateral!!!! 5 years and 4 months after being turned on with a C-1 device in my right ear, I am now being turned on with a HiRes 90K in my left.

As I sat in the waiting area, I was contemplating how different this experience was compared to my first hook-up. I arrived with a lot more knowledge due to having done this before, working for Advanced Bionics (where I am learning TONS!) and because I’ve been reading so many posts on the forums about other people’s experiences. I was obviously, anxious and ready for hook-up with a “hope-for-the-best-but-expect-the-worst” attitude in terms of what I would initially hear. I also had comfort in the fact that I always have my C-1 side to fall back on as I go through the learning process.

Julie, my audiologist, arrived, looked at me and said, “Ready?” I then followed her to the oh-so-familiar programming room. On the table were my batteries in my charger and beige metallic Auria. I chose the Standard Plus Power option so I have two PowerCel slims and two PowerCel plus batteries. Shortly after we settled in the room, my sister-in-law, Rebecca, came in to take pictures.

The first thing we did was set my magnet strength. As was the case with my first CI, the regular magnet strength was not enough and so, she had to add on another magnet. Thick head or thick hair? :) It did the trick!

Right about then, my surgeon, Dr. Novak, came in to check my incision. I mentioned that I thought one of the dissolving stitches was poking through my incision and he confirmed this. He said that it was no big deal and I could just clip or pull it out! I said, “You’re sure I’m not going to unzip my incision or anything right? Kind of like pulling that loose thread and undoing a hem?” He said I was safe. Phew! He said the incision looked great, wished me luck on my programming and then left the room.

I turned off my trusty Platinum BTE and we started with setting my M-levels which Julie describes as my “comfortably loud” levels. She continued to comment that compared to programming my C-1, because we only need to do M-levels (as opposed to also doing T-levels which represents the softest levels that I can hear) and that we do this only on the 4 frequency bands which encompasses all 16 of my electrodes (as opposed to programming each of the 8 individual electrodes), it was about 4 times faster in programming time. She wasn’t kidding! This portion took all of maybe 10-15 minutes! As a late-deafened adult as well as an experienced CI user, this was not a difficult task for me. I often think about families of young children or children who don’t have the language to be able to do this by themselves. Sometimes they use picture cards. I think it’s also great that audiologists can get objective information in the Operating Room or through the CI in the programming room so they at least have a good guestimate of a starting point. I noticed my objective measures on a worksheet on the table which Julie used as a starting point.

To me, the sounds I heard on the first 3 bands sounded very similar whereas the 4th band was the same sound but with a more electric quality. There was a slight perception of octaves or different pitches in between bands as well. My first thought of what these sounds were like took me back to my childhood home…on the way to our basement where my room was, were stairs that had wooden banisters that went from the top of the stair to the ceiling. I remember as a child, taking my hand and running it across the banisters as I walked down the stairs. Thus, towards the top of the stairs, the sound was more high pitched (shorter banisters) while the bottom of the stairs had a deeper, lower sound (longer banisters). The sounds coming through my HiRes 90K and Auria, reminded me of going down the stairs and hearing this “thunk thunk”. As I listened some more, I used more descriptors…hitting a bongo drum and even one of the sounds was like a……fart.

Next, came the moment of truth…turning on my CI and listening to speech. The first thing I heard was like fireworks off in the distance, somewhat muffled…silence, then I heard myself say, “ba ba ba” (go figure – I’m an audiologist!). I immediately started laughing because my voice sounded so robotic! Very monotone and choppy. When I tried to talk in sentences, I talked very monotone and choppy. I wasn’t able to tell any inflection yet but I could definitely tell syllables. As I listened more, voices started coming through but sounded somewhat like an alien on helium (!). We continued to talk and I continued to talk like what I was hearing.

For you techies, I am using the default program HiRes-P with an IDR of 60 dB. I have 3 programs with the #2 and #3 just louder versions of #1 which gives me some headroom as I start adapting to these new sounds. All of my electrodes were inserted and they are all functioning just fine!

She unhooked me from the laptop and we put on one of my PowerCel slim batteries. Julie then asked me to put my C-1 on. As soon as I did and started talking, Julie and Rebecca immediately noticed a change in the way I talked – much more natural again. There was a very slight echo quality as my brain tried to integrate the two signals but not nearly as bad as the very delayed effect of when my C-1 was turned on and I was using my hearing aid in the opposite ear. The best part was being able to hear IN STEREO!!!!! It’s been so long since I’ve had any usable information from that left side that immediately, I felt balanced.

Next, we tried some very informal perception tasks. Julie went across the room (about 9 feet) and I knew what was coming…Ling sounds (“ah”, “oo”, “ee”, “sh”, “s”, “m” and later I discovered she did “f”!). She said, “OK, when you hear a sound, raise your hand” which shows that I am able to detect the sounds. She started, I heard, I raised my hand and then I digressed.  Instead of raising my hand when I heard the sound, I started trying to guess what I was hearing. After all was said and done, I was able to detect all of the Ling sounds and I was able to discriminate “ee” and “ah” consistenly, and “oo” and “m” somewhat consistently. I could definitely hear “sh”, “s” and “f” but I was not able to identify them correctly yet. Because Ling sounds represent different frequency ranges across the speech spectrum (e.g., “s” and “f” are high frequency sounds whereas “ah” and “oo” are low frequency sounds), the idea is that if you are able to hear (detect) and identify (discriminate) these sounds, then you should be getting good access to speech sounds.

Julie then left the room and came back with some noise makers. She pulled out a red “Barrel O’ Monkeys” and started shaking it. I listened. I said, “Pennies?” Julie opened up the barrel and inside were pennies!...and nickels and dimes and quarters. YAY! She then went to reload. She shook the barrel again and I could tell it was different. Unfortunately, I looked up and I got a peek at what she had put in (marbles) and so I didn’t get a chance to really guess but I could definitely tell that it was a different sound. Awesome!

We then went through my various accessories and I got to put my color caps on. I chose Techno Colors! In putting on my Auria, I realized how awkward it was for to do this on my left side (I am right-handed). That plus the magnet is not where I expect it to be and so it will take a little while getting used to. I gathered up all of my goodies and put it into my awesome AB totebag. My next appointment is in 2 weeks and we’ll see what kind of adjustments I need. I am so blessed in that the CI center is so close (15 minutes) and accessible to me.

As I walked out of the office and over to the parking garage, I was hit with a barrage of new sounds…elevator doors, the “ding!” as the elevator stopped at each floor, people coughing, people talking, the wind outside, the rustle of my coat, car door slamming, key turning in the ignition, radio blaring! (I had just been listening to the musical “Wicked” ) I could definitely tell the difference between environmental sounds and people talking. Music is all a jumble still. After I turned the volume on the radio, I turned to National Public Radio (NPR), which is what I usually listen to. I noticed that I can’t discriminate male vs. female voices – this is opposite of my C-1 experience. That’s ok – it will come. However, if I listened really hard, I was already able to pick out a few words. After 10 minutes of just sitting in my car in the parking garage (and SEVERAL disgruntled people honked at me for not moving – at least I think it was a honk…), things started clicking. I found that the weather forecast was easiest – probably because there is a much more narrow set or words compared to world news where I have NO idea what could be happening or what names they are using. I think I got about 50% for weather and maybe 25% for world news.

After my appointment, I went straight to my babysitter’s house to pick up Maddy. I could definitely tell the difference between her voice and my babysitter’s voice. That tells me that I’m starting to hear some pitch differences. We get in the car and Maddy asks for music on the iPod. I’m kinda half-listening and watching her sign in the rearview mirror. She asks for VeggieTales – I highly don’t recommend trying to use VeggieTales for auditory training. Synthesized voices (especially Larry the Cucumber) on top of perceptions of synthesized voices, does not sound very good. Yuck. I think I’ll try and stick to more naturally produced sounds.


EVENING AFTER INITIAL STIMULATION
I’ve been bilateral now for 7 hours and just came back from working out. At the gym, I could hear the distinct “thump-thump-thump” of shoes pounding the treadmill in front of me. Those sounds reminded me of a hitting something with a whiffle bat. Lots of new sounds to take in. I look forward to using my Direct Connect earhook and listening to my iPod the next time. I’ll probably go to the library and see if I can get some books on CD. It’s been a full day and I’m pretty pooped. We’ll see what tomorrow brings…



January 5, 2006: DAY #1 with HiRes
As I write this, I am sitting at my computer listening to NPR – I am so lucky that I can focus on auditory training while I work. I’ve decided that while I work, I will only use my Auria unless I need to answer the phone or something and then I’ll grab my Platinum BTE. Actually, this morning, I listened in on a webclass while bilateral. It was very nice getting a stereo effect. Even though I know I wasn’t understanding a whole lot with my new side, I felt like it was still contributing to my overall sense of sound. I’ve been trying NPR but have also tried some classical music. Still somewhat soft and not very clear but I can sense the different rhythms and changes in tempo.

This morning Maddy was a rock star, specifically, a drummer. It was so interesting just sitting there and watch and listening to her hit metal mixing bowls, plastic mixing bowls, my 2 quart roaster, a medium pot and my little skillet. Already, my brain is starting to make sense out of these sounds and I could close my eyes and guess at which “drum” she was hitting.

When I woke up this morning, it was quite sore behind my ear. I think it’s because the Auria was rubbing on that stitch that was poking out. Matt clipped my stitch and it feels much better.

On Program #2 today – things don’t sound like whiffle bat mode anymore but it still sounds like one of those voice synthesizers. If I stop typing and just listen to the news broadcast, I feel like I can understand about 50-75% of what they’re saying. As I was just typing, that filler NPR music came out – the kind in between stories. This piece happened to be jazz – I could tell immediately that it was instrumental only and it almost sounded “musical”. :)

Thanks to everyone for the good vibes, wishes and prayers!

Hear Hear!