Surround Sound

I am thrilled beyond words and completely exhausted from my first day of surround sound!! God blessed me above and beyond what I could ask or think. To understand speech right out of the gate was miraculous to me, albeit a bit strange-sounding and demanding that I look at the person. My activation day eight years ago with my first CI also gave me speech understanding, but it was a robotic noise that did not sound human. Today it was "people talk" right from the get-go, and there was a difference in the sound of each person in the room: Gerry, Dad, Mom, Lisa (my audiologist), Barbara (an audi in training), and me.

I now can understand why those who go bilateral find it hard to go with the newer implant only (I've been advised to do so as much as possible in order to awaken and train those dormant neurons of mine that have been inactive for decades). The stereo sound is truly incredible with 2 cochlear implants!!! It's kinda like taking a deep breath and experiencing an instantaneous unplugging of all your blocked sinus passages and the whole world comes alive with full sound. When I have them both on, everything is louder and it seems like 2 voices speaking at the same time, the new ear receiving a slightly higher pitched version of the person speaking. I guess my brain is processing it all but hasn't learned to blend yet, bilateral but not binaural.

It's so hard to answer the question of what the Harmony 120 sounds like when it's first turned on, but my best attempt is to say that people are down in a deep galvanized well, giving voices a distant, clank-y quality. Gerry, whose voice is often described as a rich, robust "radio" baritone, is sounding a tad higher pitched than "normal" with a tinny, buzzy follow-up. As I type this tonight, sound is already changing and improving. Experience tells me that it will get better and better. Oh, the wonder of technology!

Surprises on Day # 1:

• I preferred 120 over HiRes. The audi says that's probably because of my music background.
• The kit comes with more "standard" equipment than my Clarion kit years ago, such as a charger car adapter, travel case with built-in dri aid, patch cord, and spare T-mic. Thank you, AB.
• When doing the initial mapping, there was no need to determine threshold for each frequency, only the upper volume comfort levels, and no need to sweep each pitch to match the loudness.
• Since I have always done so well with high frequency sounds, I didn't expect that things that are high-pitched would have additional sounds. For example, walking on dried leaves, the start-up sounds of my computer, and the water boiling in my kettle all have more definition and "extra" sounds that were not there yesterday.

The differences for me in C1 and Harmony on Day # 1:

• Lighter weight on the ear
• Smaller battery (since I ordered the slims for my tiny ear)
• Ability to distinguish between voices
• Hearing half-tones on a piano keyboard
• Second map is scheduled for a week later, rather than the next day
• Better hearing of voices in a noisy restaurant

Activities on Day # 1:

• Visit with my optician to straighten the temples on my eyeglasses to accommodate the new processor
• Lunch at an Italian restaurant - crunch of bread was so much louder
• Continued with our current book-on-tape in the car en route from Mom and Dad's to home - fine with both, but not enough speech understanding with the new one alone (sound too distant and tunnel-y and too much road noise)
• Heard beeps from the cash register while using the restroom at a Circle K mini-mart. My goodness - - - and I was at the other end of the store!
• Experimented with a piano keyboard - could hear every note and a lot of the vibrato and harmonics that "trails" each note
• Listened to a bit of TV - - - great to realize that I understood without reading the Closed Captioning if I saw their faces and if they spoke at a normal speed.

Minor adjustments to make in daily living already:

• switched batteries for C1 from right side pocket to left to accommodate storing new battery pouch on right
• No need to always walk on Gerry's right side
• Less need to worry with seating in restaurants because no longer have a deaf side. Yippee!!

I am overwhelmed. An early Easter for me, the resurrection of my right ear.