Results and etc.!

Gleaned the following from an article online somewhere...(no idea where now, had cut and pasted it on here 'for later', then forgot about it). So, apologies for not quoting the source.

"Een CI blijt een hulpmiddel", legt Esther uit. "Het zal nooit een normaal horend oor worden."

Translation:
'A CI remains a tool', Esther explained. 'It will never be a normally hearing ear.'

Nicely put Esther, whoever you are :) 

I think a lot of folks think that a CI turns the wearer into just that... someone with normal hearing. Someone even made it clear they thought that now I'd had the operation (and still had no processor on my head at all!) I could now hear. This is of course not so and I can't stress it enough - If the CI is not worn... deaf. CI worn and switched on and even tuned in as best as possible... well, it's next to perfect for each individual (and always an advancement I'd think?) but everyone is different. If I'd been born deaf and never heard a thing ever, then got a CI, I would think any amount of sound could be classed as perfect (I surmise). I am (ok, was) a hearing person, with knowledge of sounds, so what I'm hearing now is (for me) close to perfect, but still not quite. So having one is beyond fabulous, but I do still miss certain sounds a normal ear picks up. Ears are fabulous things - really incredible! 

Having said that all that... check my results here below!! They came in with the post today. Bloody good eh? This sort of test is taken in optimum circumstances (soundproofed room) with an articulate speaker, enunciating nicely. So 'normal' circumstances it ain't. But it of course gives a fabulous indication of improvements. Take a look.

CI = Cochlear implant, HA = Hearing Aid, R = Right, L = Left, xxx = not measured

                                  Sounds / Words
Pre-op
HA L                           41%       18% (?? so low!)
HA R                          33%       18%
HAs R and L              62%       33%

Seems that this definitely advocates for two HAs and shows that having only one HA in is a real disadvantage. With two the scores are so much better (if still crap). I had no idea that this happened, although if I think about it, of course two was always better than one. The debate continues about two CIs, but that's for another day.

Post-op (aka last Thursday!)
HA (R) only                 62%      36%  
CI (L) only                   74%      45% 
CI+HA                         84%      61%

Not sure I understand this result as HA (R) looks like it's more or less the same as having both HAs in pre-op, hmmm... perhaps I'm reading it incorrectly? Will inquire.

--------------------------

CI+HA                          Pre-op     Post-op    
sentences (syllables)  57%         90%   (speaker's mouth not visible)
                                      xxx           100% (speaker's mouth visible) (!!!)

stories                          xxx           44 words per minute (wpm) (mouth not visible)
                                     xxx           86 wpm (mouth visible) (I was getting tired now - I mean                                                                                                           perhaps I'd have done even better if                                                                                                 less whacked out.)

As you can see, I apparently only 'got' just over half of sentences (syllables) spoken before I had a CI, now I get 90-100% depending on whether or not I see the mouth. Again, in these optimum circumstances. But that's incredible really. Very pleased about it all and it's nice to see it in statistics.

We're off to Edinburgh this weekend so I'm quite looking forward to being surrounded by English (ahem, Scots) speakers with my accent. I want to see how I fare there because I do think it's less tiring, just 'hearing, without actually listening'. I am fluent in Dutch but I do have to concentrate more although that's also to do with my deafness. English, and Scottish English more particularly, just gets through easier... I think. Of course J and I speak English all the time to one another, but I don't pick up gossip in the bus, or in any kind of group situation other than in Dutch (or diverse 'English as a 2nd language' plus Oz, Yank and SA accents, if I'm around any of the International Almere crew). In fact I tend to (have tended to) switch off (not literally, just in my head) and don't actively listen any more because I miss(ed) half of what was said - as is clear from the results above! The speech therapist mentioned that I have to relearn, teach myself, not to do this. You folks with working ears can't switch off like I can! nja nja, ni-nja nja! Pardon my vacant look, I'm actively not listening!

Hearing only half of a conversation is tiring... (but so now, is hearing the whole bloody thing!) And it's not that you hear the best half - it's perhaps ever other word, or every familiar word, or three whole words together, then a jumble of grunts, then yaaaay a whole sentence because it was said louder for some reason, then two exclamations and a laugh. So you laugh too! Hoping no-one asks you what you thought of that then! If you're lucky, your brain will have filled in the missing bits fairly accurately. If you have a brain that resembles soup (on a good day) you have totally misjudged things and make a complete tit of yourself. You have to laugh! Which I have found myself doing often enough when I really wanted to cry and hide my face in embarrassment. 

Now? Now I'm being bombarded with, my god... whole sentences! How cool is that? But let's have a proper listen Caroline. But wait... do shut up you there, you're literally doing my brain in! Must you shriek so? You do know what you're saying is bollix eh? Zip it Mrs... You said that already! Jeezo!

So... train, train and train that brain. To accept this bombardment. To decipher it all. Nobody can do it all at once, even if you (me!) do think you can do that 'nae bother!' It's definitely a gradual thing. 

But yeah, wonderful. Honestly, wonderful.

p.s. if this all appears in various fonts and looks terrible, apologies but I have no idea why, or how to fix it.