I can now hear feedback from the subway train operator's public announcement system, shrill braking from buses, trains and trucks. A very high "EEEEEEEE" sound. It has been bitterly cold and windy. I definitely hear the wind. I hear snatches of words and sentences without visual cues. A tiny victory: actually hearing the message to press "five" from the phone menu for renewing prescriptions when dialing my internist's office. It has been one month and three days since the cochlear implant was turned on.
Voices are sounding more "human." A package from a beloved aunt and uncle arrived recently. I opened it, and it was a beautiful glass snow globe which plays "Have yourself a Little Merry Christmas," and I recognized the tune.
My world is still noisy. I can now hear the hinges of my office door squeak as it opens. I can hear someone talking over the speaker phone in the next office, although I cannot understand any of the conversation. I can hear a co-worker pop gum in her mouth while she chews gum. I hear environmental noises outside, and hear people walk up and down the corridor with my door closed. I can hear a person's radio playing Christmas music in the main office when I go upstairs.
I think the reason I am sleeping so soundly at night is because my brain is tired from processing all the new sounds and noise. My brain is finally matching up sound with what it hears. Speech is sounding less disconnected and more connected.
Still, when I think back of my Activation Day, November 11th, when people's voices sounded underwater, my wild and crazy first week of sound, and now, sounds are starting to make sense to me. I am tired, but I am not wiped out or exhausted. What a huge difference from "hearing " with a cochlear implant and "hearing" with hearing aids. The implant and the sound processor continue to do its job.
Technology is so amazing, and hearing with a cochlear implant is such a gift.
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