Yesterday evening I participated in a Messianic Hanukkah Celebration. This was my first such invitation to a Hanukkah Celebration. It was also my first time in a social gathering with several people, post-activation. I still am doing some "deaf" behaviors, such as using my vision, lipreading, observing and maybe being a little on the quiet side. Conversations are not always coherent to me, so yes, I lipread. Speech is sounding more "human" to me. I am listening with my cochlear implant, or trying to.
I thought back to my younger sister's analogy of how my brain is "pinging" for sound. It is kind of like this. Words which initially sounded "underwater," "echoey," are starting to connect with my visual picture of lipreading a conversation. The sound is starting to connect with lips moving, if that makes sense.
I found most of my Christmas CD's, with the exception of the N'Sync Christmas CD. I will look some more for that one. I put on Amy Grant's "A Christmas to Remember," and recognized the tune but not the lyrics. I can pick out the instrumentation, whether it is piano, drums, horn, whatever. I hear snatches of song, such as ,"Nat King Cole," but it sounds like Amy Grant with a scratchy voice. I do not know if that is me, or if the CD is dirty or the CD player in the car is dirty or what. People's voices will sound human but "scratchy."
I also think there is some vibrating in the singing - the voice, that is, while listening to various CD's. If one has ever heard opera, you know what I am talking about, whether a voice is soprano, alto, etc. The hearing of vibrating voices in singing is different. It is at a different frequency than I have heard. I also think that I am hearing at "normal" frequencies vs. "amplified" frequencies, like you would with a hearing aid.
I had a good time with friends and liked my first Hanukkah Celebration. I also liked the food and took second helpings, much to my friends' delight. They are a young married couple, and have been married three months. It was a bit disconcerting to see Hebrew/English being recited reading from a smartphone, but I had to remind myself that these people grew up with technology!
I was able to carry on conversations without too much difficulty. If I goofed and didn't understand a word or missed a sentence, that was okay. I was with friends who knew for the most part that I had received a cochlear implant and am getting used to it over time.
I have two more holiday gatherings to go to this month, as well as a retirement party for a coworker who is retiring at the end of this month. I will see how I do in socializing post-activation.
I do have some "off" days with my cochlear implant. I will sometimes have trouble localizing where sound/noise is coming from. My office building has been undergoing extensive renovation, so things can get noisy. I kept hearing this "bam" noise, and kept opening my office door out into the corridor to locate the noise. Nothing. Then I turned and looked out the window, and realized the noise was coming from the construction outside. I felt a little foolish.
Sometimes I will just have to stop, observe, listen, be quiet, in order to figure out where the sound/noise is coming from.
Well, tomorrow is another day post-activation.
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