All right, guys,

I've been waiting for someone in my family to review this special update, 
but I guess they can correct me if I'm wrong on any point.  So here it is:

Third Sound Mapping, and Silence

Posted February 6, 2008



Well folks,



On January 17, my niece took me to see Jenna again for my third

sound mapping. As we were walking toward the clinic, the mother of the deaf

little boy that Judy and I had befriended greeted us, telling us that he did

well on his activation! Jenna gave me even more sound to work with, and

created the four programs to send alternative kinds of stimuli, rather than

to be progressive in the same type. Number 1 is what we thought was my

favorite setting so far. Number 2 is an automated sensitivity adjuster that

changes according to my environmental needs. Number 3 is called adro, which

is an alternative setting to try in any situation. And number 4 has a lot

of low pitches which, so far, I don't like. I'll have to play around with 
the others to see which ones I like best for a given environment.



I can now communicate more without using my regular hearing aid, and I find

that I'm able to recognize some sounds, and hear some voices beneath the 
bells and whistles, which often seems to be decreased, and vary more widely 
with the added stimulation I've been given! I also realize now that voices 
do indeed sound cartoonish, as some have described them. Voices that I would 
otherwise recognize can sound distorted. Since the settings are not perfect,

or my brain isn't fully adjusted, I hear some things in what I can best

describe as a bad machine language accent. If I ask how you're doing, and

you say, "I'm doing okay," it can sound somewhat like, "I'm doing o kerr." 
Although music is often not very recognizable yet, I can sometimes hear the 
rhythmic jingling and tinkling as my system picks out the beat, etc. It got 
me thinking of just how complex our technological minds are; whatever it is 
that makes the music source play, and the things that make my electrodes 
stimulate to tap out the rhythm!



When I first turn it on in the morning, the sounds are an awakening shocker, 
sort of like when you sleepily walk into the bathroom and douse your face in 
cold water. Otherwise, I don't remember any sounds driving me really crazy, 
though I did feel tired, at least once. The most annoying ones I can think 
of are when I've heard myself speaking high-pitched consonants that I hadn't 
heard much of in a long time, like, "Thisss nexxxt Sssattturrday" and the 
"er" sound when others speak. But I gladly welcome the high pitches, which 
give me the ability to hear speech, and the world, more clearly, and I aint 
goin back!



I still often use my microphone system with my hearing aid I'd been using 
before, but for part of the time, I turn my microphone off and leave my 
hearing aid in the mode that only picks up sounds from that, and nothing 
else. That way, my brain gets more of a workout with the processor.



I don't have to go in for another mapping session until next month, 
hopefully February 14, if I can get

a ride. I hope we'll play around some more.



After I finished my mapping session, my niece and I went to the hospital

where my dad lay in the ICU ward, unable to speak. He'd gone in to have his

second carotid artery cleaned out, but the doctors discovered a hematoma

near the surgery site, so he went back under the scalpel to get part of it

removed. As a result, he swelled up so much that he could not breathe

entirely on his own. Thus he was languishing on a ventilator, with a tube

down his throat and toward his airways. It was the next day when we dropped

by, and I later returned home with Judy, and my mom, who has been staying at

her house at night.

I appreciate the fact that I am capable of choosing how I view any given 
circumstances. I see an inspirational, yet funny picture with the positive 
and negative events that have occurred simultaneously: Me getting my hearing 
improved so I can listen, as part of the communication process, and my dad 
being unable to speak to me, the other side of the communication process. It 
is crucial that we talk, and listen actively, to one another, in order to 
boost our sense of well-being, and to keep any kind of relationship alive 
and burning brightly!

And that's the news for today.

Sharon