Sights and Sounds

I had a really rather lovely day yesterday. Took myself off to the annual contact day of the Society for Sudden (& Late) Deaf... stichting plotsdoven.
Was well organised and in a lovely spot. Got me out of bed at the crack of bloody dawn for a change and had me back in my bed totally bushed, before midnight (very unusual these days). It was very enjoyable and I was home around 7pm so it's not that I was partying late or anything, but they had me marching across fields and suchlike so...

How could I resist those ears? Answer: I couldn't :)

The day started with a 'klankenconcert'... a concert of sounds. I had no idea what to expect but understood once it started. It wasn't so much a 'concert' as such... more just a demonstration of all the gongs, bowls, bells and etc. that were in the hall. Really relaxing actually, and lovely how they slowly went through the audience of around 100 folks, letting us feel the sound waves and hear the sounds close up. Not everyone there could hear everything (if anything) so it's a lovely way to include all folks with all types of hearing levels. I could hear most things but I was continually lifting my CI off my head to hear the difference with just one hearing aid in... and it was a huge difference! A tuning fork buzzing on your spine is quite amazing, and to feel sound waves as far away as 2 inches from the brass bowls... wow. The Tibetan ringing bowls of varying sizes were nice to listen to and the giant gongs... wow again. And you've never lived until you feel a didgeridoo through your stomach. All very clever, I can really recommend it, for those with good hearing too... have a look at klankenkaravaan.

Next up, we were kind of a 'captured audience' for filling out a questionnaire on a bunch of films we had to sit through. All for a good cause though, and fairly interesting. It was for 'Dutch assisted with signs' (NmG - not the same as Dutch Sign Language btw) signing translators. We had to watch 2 little films three times. Each film was signed, three different ways. Once with every word said, fully articulated and with NmG, then with more mimicry (? or grimacing), then with practically all facial expressions and signs.
Now, although I have had 2 courses of NmG, I'm not at all practiced in it, so missed 98% of the conversation at the best. I also found the sound being on distracting because well, you're listening and trying to watch lips which are running behind what you can sometimes hear. Also, for HoH folks (like me), while I understand that expressive faces can be helpful, I cannot follow a conversation when I can't read lips... CI or no. Or put another way, I pick up more of a conversation when I can read lips, so, just the odd word thrown in, and loads of facial expressions with no words and with signs... nope, no good to me at all, even if I knew all the signs. So I chose (at least I hope I did) the films being signed NmG, translated with no extra facial expressions and fully articulated repeat of the words spoken.
This is what they wanted to know I suppose. "What's the best way of translating via signs, when using NmG (as opposed to Dutch Sign Language)". The questions asked in the questionnaire were a bit confusing too as they swapped values from one question to the next... so there was '...1 being bad and 5 being fantastic' to '...1 being best and 5 being worst'. Perhaps it was deliberate? Sure made you pay attention, but asking for problems I thought. The subject matter was beyond boring too, but that was perhaps just me hahaha... seeing each film three times for 4 or 5 minutes... sheesh! Anyway, hope it all helps, and I'm curious to know the results of the limited research. Great initiative from the society so, well done them.

Next item on the agenda was lunch, which was nicely presented and everyone chatted away to everyone else. I'd met up with T and her man again, so that was nice but they had to leave after lunch. The afternoon was for varying activities and I'd picked walking and mandala drawing. The walk was just lovely as the surroundings were great, company was good and the weather delightful. Or swap the adjectives around.
Was nice talking to different people too... each and every one with a different tale to tell. Some new to the CI like myself, some with years of experience with it and varying degrees of hearing troubles. Others with not so great experience with a CI too! No two 'histories' the same and quite strange really. You tend to think... 'HoH/deaf, gets a CI, now can hear. It's totally not like that, not even a little bit.

I got back in time to join the mandala colouring although I missed the presentation. Folks were still 'chocolate tasting', 'beer sampling' and 'flower arranging' and there was a 'wellness' room where massages, manicures and other pamperings were taking place. Was terrific really. Very well organised and I'm glad I went. A free shuttle bus took me to the train station at 5pm and I was home around seven. Actually bumped into a woman from Almere heading home too, and hadn't even met her all day. We were of course discussing our CIs and I had surrounding passengers feeling my magnet strength, they were so interested hahaha - the Rondo gets lots of attention, even among other CI wearers.

More photos of my day, on facebook, here.