How my hearing works during online class!

English version :)

N6 activation

Here's the video from my N6 activation, sorry it doesn't have subtitles in English or Spanish. In this video you can see, my reaction at the very first moment when my audiologist turn on the sound processor. It is important to let you know that there were two audiologist with me, one of them is a Cochlear specialist so she gives all the technical support my audiologist needed it, but also test my hearing with the N6. She asked me how I felt, I said I felt different, but in a good way, and as I always share with you in my previous posts I told them that my voice changed, I could hear myself better and more clearly than I used to be.

Upgrading...The whole N6 experience

This is my third sound processor, I consider myself very fortunate to have experienced the benefits of older processors and what each one has contributed to the recovery of my hearing. 

My Nucleus 6 was activated last year on November 6th, and it was extra special for me because I’ve been waiting for so long for it and I had all these emotions contained in me. Usually, when I suppressed my emotions, I stay quiet like I was in That moment. What were my expectations? So many, what more can I hear? Is there any chance that I still don't remember a sound and this SP would give me the opportunity to hear it?, the sound of my voice would improve? The sound quality will improve? .... Anyway, a ton of questions in my head!  

Once I was activated, I felt something weird... not in a bad way at all, I remember my answer to my audiologist question what am I feeling?, was: something weird, but good eh! that first activation of the N6 was like I relived my life as a hearing person, not a deaf person, it  took me a few minutes to absorb what was happening to me, it was a unique moment because I never thought I would feel that way again. My voice has never ceased to amaze me since it's been the hardest thing for me discriminate, with this sound processor it got better. I'm comfortable with it. 

The first week was full adaptation to the new system the Scan, IQ, this system automatically analyzes the sounds of the environment and changes in your sound processor, it took me days to get used it, specially to not to reach my control remote and change program myself. For example: if I was walking down the street and it was windy, or was listening to music, or was talking to someone in a noisy environment I feel how it changes to wind, to noise,  to speech in noise, music, quiet, speech, without pressing a button. This smart system allows me to feel in a certain way like the hearing person I used to be.

The first week my husband bought a new iPod speaker, and he turns up the music in the living room, I'm like 2 feet away from the speakers and I felt that something change in my sound processor; when I check on the remote control reflects the symbol of music on the screen. Amazing! Talking on the phone exceeded my expectations I have no need to use speaker to talk anymore because the voices sounds very clear, without interference, echoes. 

To have a pleasant conversation has become, without limitation, the I feel like the background noise is suppressed and my voice when I'm talking increases its sound quality and very nice sharpness or when the person are speech or two when they are talking in a group experience the optimization of the voices of others and also noise abatement without external deprive me of what happens in the atmosphere is awesome. Allowing me to follow a conversation in large groups, to understand what they are talking about and participate. It makes me feel like a person with bilateral hearing, despite my deafness. Was a very nice feeling.

What can I say about my dogs barking? Oh dear…! Another awesome thing, and I can clearly distinguish the barking of my german shepherd Ringo from my Labrador Onyx. And it’s not only my dogs barking that I can hear, it’s their growling when they are playing with anything they took from the laundry caddy, and even when they are walking behind me very quiet and I hear their paws; there’s no way now they can surprise me without me notice it. When we play in the backyard, I'm very comfortable with the breeze blowing my hair, and as it does I can see how my N6 control remote shows the Wind symbol, nothing sounds distorted and playtime is more enjoyable.

Now for my second week being in the classroom, at work, at home, was the time for me to get used to the automatic changes in programming. 

Another improvement is that while in class I can project my voice better despite the background noise of people talking when I was doing a presentation, and also the acoustic of the classroom improve because taking notes while the teacher speaks wasn't that difficult anymore.

It’s been 9 months now since I have my Nucleus 6, and my hearing gets better every day, it has amazing features that I enjoy, like for example the cable coil is much easy to handle, so it won’t break. The coil, don’t have that rubberish material around the magnet, it won’t melt with the sun (happens to people who lived in hot weather), they make it of resistant material, so far so good! 

Of course…. I'll tell you more in my upcoming articles and videos!

A promise is a promise

Today I was checking my blog and I remembered I made a promise to share my experience at the beach from a preview article that I wrote, textual quote: “I know that for some people or hearing people may think it’s silly, but I have a dream and that is to hear the sea again and the sound of waves breaking on the shore. It will be very rewarding for me because brings me so many beautiful memories of my childhood, when my father used to take my brother and I to the beach to enjoy those sounds and relax. I'll tell you my experience about this in an upcoming video.” I was able to make my dream come true after 6 years since the last time I went to beach and 4 years of being deaf.

On last December I went to Cancún-México for the GICCA(Grupo Iberoamericano de Implantes Cocleares y Ciencias Afines or Iberoamerican Group of Cochlear Implants and Related Sciences)  Congress. I was there to  promote the N6 sound processor and myself as a N6 user, it was a great experience and an opportunity to meet the physicians from all over the world and share experiences, updates about the Cochlear brand, and how this sound processor makes a positive impact on me.


Here's a pic...

Now about that paragraph I quoted, let me share with you that moment at the beach. So, here we were at this stunning beach my friend and I, and I heard shhhhiuusushh shhhiiiuuushhhs over and over again, the breeze is messing my hair, I feel this energy inside me and started running, play with the water, stomping the sand so hard with my biggest smile. By that moment I was the child that used to go to beach with her dad and brother to have a relaxing day, it was a special moment for me.  

I enjoyed those sounds so much, I wasn't able to relax at all; because all my senses were at high functioning, specially my hearing. To be able to hear the sound of the waves, of the breeze, of my stomps in the sand, of our laughs has no comparison. Maybe that’s why I waited so long for this moment and didn't take the chance with my 2 previews sound processors, because I wanted to really enjoy it with this smart sound processor the N6.

Nothing compares to having all your 5 senses at 100%, it was multi-sensory experience. My CI completed it.

Here’s the video!

What’s new? It's been a while since my last post

So we meet again, after 2 years since my last post, a lot of things have happened and I would like to share it with you.

In 2011 I got an amazing job as an adviser at a local Cochlear distributor in my country, Adrial Médico Quirúrgico. Main part of my job is to guide cochlear implant candidates and recipients based on my experience as a CI user and the training that I have in the area given by Cochlear.

When I first meet a CI candidate that is going to buy an CI to our offices I don’t try to be like a salesman: if you buy 2 cochlear implants the third one is for free, no! Is not like that at all… I am familiarized with the prices but I do not talk about any topic of the sales department, that just would send the wrong message to the candidates and their families and I’m just an adviser, a guide in this amazing journey they are going to begin.  My work is based on 3 steps:

1. Getting to know the person in front of me: what is his/her story? How old is he/she? Who is his/her family? And…. Let me stop right here! With this I’m trying to know what happened before they started losing hearing. Or he/she was born deaf? How this hearing loss or deafness affects the family, friends, co-workers, but most important himself. What are his/her expectations about the CI? What are his/her aspirations in life? And if it’s a child that I’m trying to know depending of his/her age I try get the answer my strategy change, I love to to some playtime, if it’s a toddler again, like I said before I change my strategy and try to get to more the mommy this time. That’s how I get to know the real person in front of me!
2. To know the exact diagnosis of the candidate: a toughy one, oh yeah! Because you have of this medical terms and also, you have to have some knowledge in the field of audiology. I’m not an audiologist, but been able to work in this company has bring the opportunity to learn the diagnoses for hearing loss, I've been in CI surgeries as an observer to learn the surgery process live, and being trained by Cochlear also completes me in a way the I can at least understand what the candidate are talking about when they share their diagnose with me.
3. Cochlear implant introduction: Based on the information I have now from step 1 and 2, here comes the basics of the cochlear implant Nucleus 6 or CP810 the latest technology and how this is going to change his/her life for good. In this step I see how after I present the CI information to them how their expectations take place and as adviser try to give them the best guidance so those expectations don't sabotage their hearing learning experience.

What about recipients? Well, I have a volunteer network and we work in Cochlear Awareness across country so the information about Cochlear CI can reach to those who need the most. And also I give them training in: how to use the remote control, how to improve hearing in noise environments, to use the phone, to keep clean the sound processor, to improve hearing when listen music, and the list continues because it depends on what the recipient needs.

It’s been very rewarding to do what I do in Adrial, I can continue typing of what I do there and just be happy to do share it!

Here are some pics of my job! He he! As working lady!

But, that’s not all… I started studying psicopedagogía it’s similar to educational psychology. I’m now 2 semesters away from graduate! It’s wonderful to study this because completes what I do at work. Sure, you’ll know what is psicopedagogía? Well, is a branch of psychology that studies the cognitive and emotional development of individuals from infancy through adolescence and how this affects their learning acquisition process.  It is able to detect early signs of learning difficulties in their schooling.

I guess, I miss something very important to share with you… Last December I upgrade to Nucleus 6! :D I have a story for that! he he!

Stay connected to my blog and I’ll share my upgrade experience very soon!

Upgrade to Freedom to Nucleus 5

I´ve been losing hearing from age 17 due a progressive bilateral hearing loss. Nowadays I’m deaf. At that moment I could no longer understand movies without captioning and had to start relying on lip reading to communicate with people on a daily basis. It took a long time for me to finally accept my hearing loss. Besides my deafness I had other symptoms like, dizziness, headaches, disorientation, and my ears were ringing all the time. The diagnostic for my illness is called tinnitus. I was feeling very sick.

For me this whole thing of being deaf wasn’t easy to deal with, because I was losing one of my senses and this make me feel so bad.

I was implanted and activated 2 years ago and my hearing experience has been amazing!! I really started hearing again 6 months after the activation. The first sound processor that I had was Freedom; thanks to it  that communicational barrier stop existing and I had the chance to re-learn the sounds like my dog barking, the doorbell and even my own voice which I didn’t like at the time because it sounds funny like the chipmunk from the movie.

Then I learned about the N5 sound processor. It’s the smaller in the industry, improves your hearing in noisy environments, it’s water resistant and it has a remote control that lets you know graphically any failure in the S.P., you can switch to telecoil and programs established. The sound quality it’s unbelievable everything sounds so clear and Sharp it makes me feel like a hearing person again. In fact, The N5 s.p. allowed me to recognize sounds that I took for granted before I loss hearing like: the sound of the wind, the sound of a kiss, the sound of my own steps, my voice sounds nice it doesn’t bother me know.

I know that for some people or hearing people may think it’s silly but I have a dream and that is to listen the sea again and the sound of waves breaking on the shore. It will be very rewarding for me because brings me so many beautiful memories of my childhood, when my father used to take my brother and I to the beach to enjoy those sounds and relax. I’ll tell you my experience with this in an upcoming video.

I can tell you that I’m very happy with my C.I. is the best decision I ever made, thanks to my C.I. I feel confidence with myself again.

My testimony!