A Hearing Breakthrough

I mentioned in an earlier post that at each mapping my audiologist goes through each electrode and I tell her how many beeps I hear.  After this she tests my thresholds, to see how loud it can go at each frequency (electrode) and still be comfortable.  At my recent mapping my thresholds were higher so there was a bigger difference between where I heard beeps and how loud I could comfortably handle the volume.  From the very beginning my audiologist said my mapping looked so different than those of her other patients.  But not anymore!  For whatever reason, my brain started getting used to this new way of hearing. 

My audiologist can set up to four programs on my CI.  At this recent appointment she set up my first program with what Cochlear America calls SCAN.  In this program, the processor  constantly evaluates the surroundings and automatically adjusts to what it thinks the listener needs in their current environment.  My second program was set up with what we call "home", just my basic go-to program that was established from the results of my testing.  The third program, called Cafe, was set up to help me hear in an environment such as a restaurant or coffee shop.  My fourth program was set up as the SCAN again, but adjusted with higher volumes.  

Once the programming was complete my audiologist transferred the information to my processor.  Immediately I could hear remarkably better.  My audiologist no longer sounded like Minnie Mouse, and neither did I.  Our voices sounded much more natural.  I also heard the clock ticking very loudly as well as a whirring sound I couldn't identify.  We figured the whirring sound was the fan in her computer tower.  Wow, was it loud! I had never been so excited after an appointment.  

As I sit in my home office writing this, I can hear the robins outside the window chirping very loudly.  And the window is closed.  How do I know it's a robin?  Because it's the same sound I hear when I walk outside.  Some people may think it's an annoyance, but not me.  I love hearing all these sounds.  After all, if a sound gets on my nerves enough, I always have the option of taking off my CI.  It is just one of the few perks of being hard of hearing.