Today is the first mapping session for the new ear after 5 days of flipping between HiRes-P and HiRes-S. Supposingly, the Advanced Bionics rep will be in today so the agenda for the day will be:

• I just feel that I have progressed so well with the second ear that if possible although not on the schedule, I would like to go in the sound booth to see how the ears look on paper. And then make adjustments based on those observations.
• Put some more volume on the left side HiRes P; open the “window” a little more to balance out the lows and highs. Right now, it seems to be a little too much lows (bass) which explains why I am enjoying the HiRes S more, for music.
• Determine why the right ear sounds muffled since the left ear sounds so much more crisper and clearer.
• Figure out a way to stop the twitching in HiRes P on the right side.

Speech comprehension seems to be improving. Last night, I watched some tv without the captions. Shows where the speaker is facing the camera such as the news are the easiest. Shows where the captions are in synch with the speaker’s voice give me an opportunity to test how well I can comprehend the words. In the past, I would focus more on the captions; last night, I took a quick glimpse of the captions then watched. It was amazing at how much easier it was to understand the speaker although the hardest part was trying to focus on the spoken words rather than lip-read the speaker.

Even in the office, conversations are much easier. I think this is partially due to the fact that the left side seems to have more clarity and crispiness. It does help to have two ears and I would strongly encourage anyone considering it, to go for it! That means you Abbie!

More later…after the mapping session!