Sound

Amazing Sound!

(June 8, 2005) Finally, my activation day arrived. My wife accompanied me, along with my 18 year old son Alex and my 15 year old daughter Emily. My older daughter, Angie, was at work, and little Ryan was with Shelly's parents.

The audiologist, Debby Laprete, spent about 30 to 45 minutes getting the device configured just right for me. She first tested each electrode. I didn't hear anything during this phase, but the computer indicated that all 22 electrodes worked very well. She then went through and established the lowest sound that I could hear for each electrode (the threshold). This was a little difficult for me, because I was having some mild tinnitus (ringing in the ear) and was sometimes unsure if the sound was real or in my imagination. A little mark on the computer screen would flash when there was a sound, which also made it hard to tell if I was seeing the flash and imagining the sound or really hearing it. To solve this problem, Debby had me look away from the computer and tell her how many beeps I heard for each frequency. That worked well, except that I noticed that Shelly unconsciously nodded her head each time there was a beep. We had a good laugh about that, the nodding stopped, and we were able to get the thresholds set.

Debby then went through and established the loudest comfortable sound for each electrode (the "ceiling"). She handed me a laminated card with a scale ranging from "quiet", passing through "just right" and ending at "STOP! Too Loud!" I would move my finger along the scale as the volume increased. After establishing ceilings for each electrode, Debby then "balanced" the electrodes by playing four of them in sequence. I would tell her if the four were all about the same loudness, or if one needed adjusted.

At last, the big moment arrived, and it was time to turn on the device. Before turning it on, Debby told me that she would clap her hands as soon as it was on, so that we could see if it was working. When she first hit the button to turn it on, there was a pause of a second or two, and then I was startled by a loud warbling sound. It seemed as if a surge of energy was going into my brain. After 10 or 15 seconds, the sound seemed to calm down Debby clapped her hands, and I heard that clearly. She spoke to me for a minute or two, and I understood almost all of it. Shelly, Emily, and Alex each said something to me. Shelly and Emily each told me that they loved me, and Alex told me that he hoped there would be lots of pretty girls at college in the fall. I heard each speaker well, although I need to have Alex speak a bit more loudly. He's used to just whispering what he says to me (knowing that I will read his lips), and then signing it also. During all these years of not hearing, my brain has "imagined" voices as people talk, voices that sound very real to me. Since I last heard Alex speak when he was a little boy, I've always imagined a little boy voice when he speaks, even though he's now 18 years old and I know that his voice must have changed. Thus, it was neat to hear his voice as a young man.

Debby then tested me on some easy words, with her mouth covered. First she said the days of the week, in random order. I was able to successfully repeat all of those words back to her. Next, she gave me a list, with each line containing 3 or 4 words, and would say one of the words. I had to tell her which word she had said. I got them all correct. Then she did the same thing, but I had to tell her which sentence she said. Again, I got them all correct. Next, she read sentences which I had on paper, but there would be one word pair that she would randomly select a word from, such as "He gave me the (ball/bill)." I got all of those right too. We concluded the day's session as Debby read me some short, random sentences, which I did not have on paper, such as "Would you like some water?" I got those all correct also. She had Alex read me some sentences, and I heard them too.

Debby then programmed the processor with 4 "maps" (programs controlling the sound for the computer). These included a main map, a "noise reduction" one using a technique called autosensitivity, and a louder one, in case I wanted more volume.

Although I seemed to be doing very well, I knew that I was in a quiet environment, and listening to people who were enunciating clearly and at an ideal distance from me. I know that hearing in the "real world" would be much tougher.

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I hear the warbling sound, as the implant is activated.

Debby covers her mouth and reads one word from a list. My job was to identify which word she read.