The last couple of days, I have been surrounding myself with voices and noises to train my brain as fast as I can before school starts. It has been an eye-opening experience! It can be a very draining and tiring process as well. I have been taking a few naps and auditory breaks. The biggest task has been recognizing the sound, identifying it and moving on. It is not so much learning to listen, but actually learning to not listen to the unnecessary sounds in the environment. Most of these sounds are ones that most hearing people have tuned out. Major sensory overload, but no headache yet! So grateful for that!
My first big discovery of sounds happened right after I left my audiology appointment. I went to lunch at City Cafe with Sarah and her mom (who drove from Rollingstone by Winona to join us, thank you!). We walked through downtown Rochester which was FULL of noises from traffic and construction, I could not figure out any of the sounds, but could still hear Sarah's voice. After we sat down, I started punching numbers on my cell phone to call my family, I heard the tiny beeps that it made. Then, I went to the bathroom which was very quiet. I washed my hands and I heard the water rushing out of the faucet, then the paper rustling when drying my hands, my feet shuffling on the tiled floor and the zipper on my purse. It was quite the experience in the bathroom! I was glad no one had come in because I was just standing there in wonder of all the noise that I was recognizing!
Afterwards, I started to write down all the various noises I was recognizing: the ice cubes rattling against the glass when stirring with a straw, the click of the pen cap coming on and off, laughing noises made by the tables around me, two men talking next to me, silverware tapping on the plates when eating, the rustling of the menu when turning the page over, dishes being put away near by, some of the beats of the techno music being played at the restaurant, a woman talking down the hall when walking in the subway level to the parking lot, the rubbing of hands together when Sarah put on hand sanitizer, rubbing of my skin when I put on sunblock, raindrops pounding on the windshield and the tap of a drum on one of the CD's I was listening to in the car.
After I arrived home, I met eight of my college friends at a bar / restaurant. I was curious how I would be able to handle this. Normally, it is a struggle especially when there are no sound absorbent ceilings and the floor was made of wood. Overall, it did appear to be easier to follow some conversations. It had been only seven hours since I was hooked up, so I had to give myself some credit. One thing I noticed that I could understand my friend Betsy very well. She has a soft and quieter voice and it had always been difficult for me to understand her. She sat on my right side (which was my implant side) and I felt like I understood everything she said for the first time! It was really a cool experience to have a full conversation with her without struggling. Yay!
Later, I went to the Trudeau's house where six other friends were. We were in the basement where it was quiet and I turned off my hearing aid and used only my implant. I tried to hear their voices through the implant. All of them sounded entirely different! I felt like I landed on a different planet and all of their voices had been changed! It was interesting, since you are used to people sounding a certain way, so I will need to relearn all new voices! It is a little challenging when trying to determine who is talking when in a large group.
The next morning, I woke up and decided to start training my brain right away by using only the implant. I started typing on my computer, I heard the clicking of the keys right away. Then I was hearing this noise that was going in and out, and I looked around for a while in my condo trying to figure out what it could be. Then I turned the sensitivity down on my implant (this means the distance of how far the sound will be picked up, normal people hear at a sensitivity of 10). I still heard the noise. Then after five minutes, I thought it might be my breathing, so I breathed dramatically and sure enough I discovered my breathing, ha. Once I recognized the breathing it was not annoying for me anymore.
* Just now, while I type to you on my balcony, I finally heard and recognized on my own the chirping of a bird in the tree!! I have heard multiple noises and others have told me these are birds, I finally heard a single bird chirping! Very cool. Also, I think I might be hearing the leaves rustling in the wind, not sure yet.
Other things I discovered were scratching noise when I scratched my face, coins clattering together when thrown in the wallet, my clothes touching each other when I walk, my keys jingling, the beep of a car alarm, people talking out in the hallway, air conditioners and a car starting in a parking lot. My worse enemy are FANS! VERY difficult to distinguish, they are much louder for me than others. I am determined to tackle the fans!
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