Hey there folks, I thought I'd give you an update on my partners 1st month with sound. Things started off a little rocky. He'd get tired of me asking "can you hear this?", while rattling or banging on something. His first sound map was very basic, and everything sounded like hammering. This resolved itself over ten days, while he became accustomed to general sounds. He could hear things but couldn't understand what he heard at all. The 2nd sound map was switched on 12 days ago, and things sounded better in some circumstances (quiet environments, one person talking at a time..), but worse under others (noisy restaurants, TV..). This past Saturday, he switched over to the third map, and noticed almost immediately that he was able to hear A LOT more than previosuly. It takes the brain a couple of days to adjust, but by Sunday morning he was hearing things that he hadn't previously. I looked out the window, and saw him standing in our backyard, so I went out to see what was happening. A Mockingbird was sitting in our tree, and was belting out the best hits of bird-dom. He asked me what that was, and I pointed to the bird. He was amazed that it was so loud. He really enjoyed it. That afternoon, we were driving near San Jose, and stopped for some coffee near a pet shop. We went in, and the place was filled with birds. We walked around all the different cages, and listened to all of them. He couldn't believe their variety of song. I couldn't believe that he was picking up this much information, and was able to discern its variety. The previous maps tended to "blur together" if too much noise was occuring at one. This time, everything seemed to maintain its own distinct thread. We got home, had some dinner and watched a little TV. Len asked me what the sound was between when one person spoke, and the other replied. I didn't understand what he meant at first, and realized that he was talking about the laugh track. When you explain what a laugh track is to someone, you realize just how stupid a concept it is. We shut off the toob, and went to the Irsish pub on our corner. The police had cordoned off an area to handle the spill-over from the bar, so needless to say it was pretty raucous. We got inside, and ordered some beer, just in time for a couple of guys with bagpipes to set up right next to us. I mentioned to one of them that my friend had never heard bagpipes before, and they were only too happy to oblige. I couldn't believe it, but Len was able to distinguish the notes, and asked me what the constant low tone was. He was hearing the drone from the bagpipes, even though the place was so loud with people. It was an amazing day, and by far the best day that he's had since activation. We return to the audiologist next Monday, and are looking forward to receiving the next set of maps. Cool stuff. By the way, he still prefers early 80's music over everything, and really enjoys Kraftwerk with the new map. I put together a good mix for him to listen to in his car...
|