I have a pair of cardinals that regularly visit my crape myrtle tree and boxwoods. I figured out why I was able to hear cardinals from inside my kitchen. One cardinal (usually the male one) likes to hide in a boxwood beneath my kitchen bay window. The female cardinal likes to perch somewhere on my crape myrtle tree. There's a lot of flying and swooping and bird calling.
Six months after activation, I have discovered that my townhouse isn't as soundproof or quiet as I thought it was. I can not only hear the cardinals, I can hear my next door neighbor's dog barking and I can hear cars, trucks and SUV's go by as well as some other noises I haven't quite identified yet.
Even walking to work from the subway station, I can pick out the bird calls from other city noise.
In a quieter environment I can hear cell phone ringtones, a co-worker in the next room popping gum.
We had an all-hands office meeting recently. It was my first meeting with my office as a group since I underwent cochlear implant surgery and had it activated. It was amazing. I could hear each person's voice as clearly as if he or she were sitting right next to me, no matter where that person was sitting at the table.
With hearing aids and what little hearing, office meetings were really a challenge. I would talk with a co-worker afterwards to see what I had missed.
The difference in the quality of sound with a cochlear implant is amazing. It was WOW! Just absolutely astounding.
A few weeks ago I went over to a friend's townhouse. We were going out to dinner. One of the cats, a sleek, black cat with green eyes, came up and rubbed against my legs, wanting attention. I petted him, and as I did so, I kept hearing intermittent "tings." I realized it was the bell tinkling on the cat's collar!
They say the cicadas will be here in five weeks. I wonder what that will sound like with a cochlear implant? I remember cicadas - an buzzing, humming sound when I wore hearing aids in both ears.
It is challenging hearing with a cochlear implant in a noisy environment. I appreciate "quiet," so that I can listen for new sounds, like hearing the bell on the cat's collar.
Amazing. Hearing is such a gift.
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