Ever since I was implanted, I have been pretty active in the CI community. It’s my way of saying thank you to those who helped me while I was researching, having the surgeries and going through the post-activation process. And one of my most favorite haunting places is Hearing Journey. And, I am also a mentor at the Bionic Ear Association.
For those of you who have not been to either of the sites, I want to share with you a small tidbit of the questions and concerns I come across on the Hearing Journey forums as well as referrals made to me via BEA. I will be doing this on a regular basis as the questions and concerns come in. In the meanwhile if you have one please do feel free to drop me a note.
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Thanks for sharing me your blog and I found your blog very informative. I am profound deaf and do not have the capability to discriminate speech. I want to thank you for sharing tons of information… especially the links to CI websites and technical information about differences between HiRes 90 and 120.
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I have questions about your auditory training. I heard from some audiologists and other CI recipients about “Above and Beyond” and “Making a Connection” auditory training software. I was wondering have you used them for auditory training? If you have, were they helpful? Would you recommend them?
And my response…
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Glad to hear from you. And no problem, its what BEA and AB has us for!
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To answer your question, no…I did not try the training software. I did attend speech therapy and it was beneficial in that the therapist was able to help me do some reverse lip-reading. That is, since I was so good at lip reading, she was able to associate sounds with the forming of my mouth. You’ll be surprised how that helps. I also used audio books or books on tape/CD.
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I have to tell you a funny story about the Books on CD though. I never really paid attention to the fact there are abridged and unabridged versions. I can’t remember off the top of my head what the name of the book was but it didn’t matter. The first night, I popped the CD in and plugged in the direct connect. As I am following along the paragraphs, I am really enjoying it since I could follow it so clearly and understandably. Then all of a sudden…
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Giving up…I finally start from scratch. Two minutes later…
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Giving up, I returned it to the library and I told the librarian of my dilemma. She took one look at the cover, one look at me and asked if I was newly implanted. I said yes. She said “sir, you have the short cut version” and we both laughed. So to make a long story short, Books on tape/CDs are a great way to learn. Just make sure you get the unabridged version! The rest of the learning process was a natural progression since the CIs made it so much easier to lipread.
Keep in touch!
Sam
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