Birds and Barking

Greetings!

Fairfax, Virginia weather has finally turned a corner. Its a gorgeous Saturday morning so I'm sitting on the patio of my apartment, enjoying the sunshine and warm temperatures. I'm also having fun with "outside" sounds!

But let me back up a second and talk about how the rest of the week has been unfolding.

On Wednesday, Matthew and I returned to Baltimore for my 2nd day of Activation. The first twenty minutes of the appointment, I just sat there and listened to a rhythmic, repetitive sound very similar to hoof beats. Every once in a while, I'd notice the rhythm would change slightly, either slowing down or subtly increasing in volume. After my doctor was satisfied with the sound mapping he had completed, he turned my implant back on to the normal setting.

We did a variety of therapeutic activities. First, he opened his little box of musical instruments and shook, rang, and banged the different instruments and asked me to describe the sound. What I heard was a dramatic improvement from my 1st day -- instead of hearing a swooshing, buzzing sound when he shook a particular rattle, I heard a squeaky sound. His face lit up with delight because what I was hearing was much closer to the natural sound the instrument was producing. When he rang his little bell, it definitely sounded like a ring-a-ling rather than a buzz-a-buzz! This simple exercise was so exciting because I could see the dramatic improvements myself.

Next, we did our "oooooo"s and "aaahhhhh"s and "eeeeee"s. He covered his mouth and I repeated back what I heard. I did well, but he raised the bar when he brought out "mmmmmm" and challenged me to recognize it when he alternated between "oooooooo" and "mmmmmm." Those are the two hardest sounds for me to recognize independently of lip-reading. "Aaahhhh" is the easiest!

We moved onto word recognition next. He covered his mouth and asked me to repeat back simple, everyday sentences we often encounter. I did pretty good! Some were more tricky than others. It was an encouraging experience for me though because when I did goof up, my mistakes were actually not too far off from the real words. Most of you know how crazy my sentences can be if I lip-read wrong! The most exciting part of this activity was I could acutely hear the sound "ssshhhh" which still blows my mind. So when my doctor said the word "see", I was slow to recognize it but I definitely heard the "sssss" sound at the beginning! These clues will help my brain learn how to hear better.

At the end of the appointment, my doctor said: "Just for fun, I'm going to put the program that you had before today's appointment, back on your processor." I said okay ... waited a few seconds ... then my doctor started talking but I couldn't hear him. So I lipread him saying: "Its on." I couldn't believe it. The first program I had on my 1st day was so quiet compared to the one I have on now. That whole first 20 minutes of the appointment where I was listening to hoof beats, he was gradually stimulating my auditory nerves, increasing the intensity. He showed this to me on his computer screen -- it was very cool to see where my neurons were firing! I have a lot more juice in my implant now!

I left the appointment excited about my progress!

Wednesday and Thursday evening were challenging, however. After so much stimulation, I was exhausted in the evenings. My doctor had warned me that there would be times when I just wanted to take my processor (my hearing aid) off because I'd be so tired of sound. I thought he was nuts when he told me this but I definitely understand now.

After a full day of work and then class, when I get home, I'm wiped out. Everything sounds louder and more intense. My darling dogs--I've wanted to hurl them out the door because they just LOOOOVVEEEE barking hello at everyone who walks by the window. Or leaves. Or sometimes, nothing at all! The barking is so intense. I used to think Matthew had very little tolerance for their racket but now, I completely understand. I hate barking.

My friend made me feel better about my frustration over being so tired in the evenings. She told me I was like a newborn! Babies sleep so much because they're thrust into this new world of sound and activity. My brain is so overstimulated at the end of the day, I'm just tired! Yesterday was better -- I was able to go out with some good friends and I had a good time.

And now...I'm sitting outside on my lovely patio listening to birds!!! I was out here studying and noticed I kept hearing this repetitive sound. I asked Matthew to come outside and help me figure out what I was hearing. I wagged my finger to show him each time I heard the sound. Immediately he started grinning and told me I was hearing birds! I've never heard birds before!!! Annnnd I thought I was also hearing some odd white noise because it was a fast tapping sound....but those sounds are baby birds talking to loud momma bird!!! Haha! I love this.

So this is where I"ll be for a majority of the afternoon...working on my paper, listening to the birds.

=)

I go back to Baltimore on Tuesday for another sound mapping appointment. I'll post again soon!

Love,
Becky