-------------- Original message --------------
From: Sharon Hooley <[log in to unmask]>

> 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, rat her 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 a ny 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 wit h 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
>