rain rain go away.

Ever since I was a little girl, I have hated [only] a few sounds.. 

Those sounds would be: running water, the toilet flushing, the water from the shower hitting the tub, and of course the sound of rain hitting the roof! 

Notice it is all water-related? It is because the first time I heard with my cochlear implant outside of the testing room at NYU's cochlear implant center [it was located back in 1995  at the Bellevue Hospital] when I was 5... It was at the bathroom as I needed to go. went to the bathroom. I had to go to the bathroom and my mom made sure I washed my hands. I have hated those sounds ever since! Even today, when I go to the bathroom, I make sure I turn off my implant. It's weird I know, but it is the only way I can cope .. If I don't turn it on, the sound itself is practically unbearable. 

As for the sound of rain, it's just annoying to hear drip, drip, drip.. clack, clack, clack [my interpretation of how rain sounds to me]. I just try to avoid hearing it much as possible, and it makes sense why my implant tends to be off during rainy days haha. I know I should embrace the sound of rain, but I don't think that'll ever happen, unless of course, i happen to be driving, being with other hearing people or whatever.. it'll be on.

On another note, waking up at 6:30am, has been EPIC FAIL. I don't know how i'm going to wake up next week.. Let's just hope I can do it!! aaah. 

-Linds

hearing stuffieo

Hi All! 

Let's see what I did today... 

oh yeah, that's right! I went to the city to go to New York University (NYU) Tisch's Cochlear Implant (CI) center to see what I can do with my N22 Freedom Cochlear Implant.* 

*First of all, let me explain what the N22 Cochlear Implant is to people who may not be aware of this acronym.  The N22 is the shortened name of the cochlear implant I was implanted with (in my head literally) back in early 1995. Yes 1995, believe it or not! The N22 stands for the Nucleus Cochlear Implant which has 22 electrodes. These 22 electrodes were placed into my head to stimulate sound in my cochlea. This was the only manufacturer and cochlear brand available at the time I was implanted as compared to today's variety of choices. There are several different Companies, but I just happen to use Cochlear.

Cochlear Implants used by me.. (and made by Cochlear Corp, of course): 

1)  Spectra Nucleus 22 body-worn Processor 

                          (1995-mid 2000's). 

2) Esprit 3G BTE (aka Behind the Ear!!!) for Nucleus 22 Users

(middle school- mid 2000's until Early 2009)

3) Freedom BTE for Nucleus 22 Users 

                              (February 2009-Present) 

[This is not an accurate definition, but for further information please visit this link: "How does a Cochlear Implant work?" (Courtesy of Cochlear Americas' website for the information & for the photos shown above. Thanks for Google & this site!]

 (CLAIM: I just happen to be a customer of Cochlear due to it being my cochlear manufacturer, but I am not promoting the company for my own financial gain.) 

I was so upset earlier today because for two reasons.. 

1) I used to be able to hear better with the EsPrit 3G, and my voice didn't suck as much. 

2) I want my "old hearing" back!! 

So I had a bunch of "constructive" -if it could be called that- complaints about what's been happening the past month or two.. I haven't been able to hear well on the phone at all, which is a MAJOR disappointment, seeing that I used to be able to discriminate well between my mother and sister, which is NOT the case anymore. I have had to consistently ask the two to identify themselves which is frustrating. My sister just doesn't get it, so I had to give my mom a password, which will have to do for the time being. [I think giving her a password is pretty funny! Does anyone think so?] At least, I can still understand what my mom says, right??

So at my MAPping (like a "car tuneup" but for my CI itself), my audi [name not mentioned for privacy] decided to play around with the electrodes and sound levels. For some reason, some levels give me more of a crisp sound in which I hear voice quality better as opposed to some giving me the sense of hearing "distortion" which I quite can't explain.. Distortion to me is like "blurriness in a picture", but rather, the poor quality and quantity is what makes me have a harder time to hear, if that makes any sense at all? 

I got 4 programs, all of which I hope will sound better than the previous month or so!  

These programs are labeled P1 for Program 1, P2 for Program 2, and so on.. 

P1: New Thresholds and comfort levels

P2: Speech sounds louder than background noise

P3: Soft sounds louder

P4: music [love this. EsPrit 3G didn't have it before]

I really hope these 4 programs will help me to experiment and see what I like in terms of my hearing (that is of course, through my only and one cochlear implant that i've always known)... i'm completely deaf haha.. 

well, I can't believe it is 3 AM already. I'll blog more later about stuffieo, but enough's enough for tonight... 

peace & hugs...

-Linds

MonoLink

AMAZING TELiCOiL <3

Hi all!

I've decided to start up again by blogging on my website. It's been so long, that I don't know where to begin. I hope to continuously update this blog much more often as opposed to once in a blue moon when i remember to update it. Must be a ADD trait of mine that causes me to forget. xD

As for life, It's been pretty good so far. I finished my freshman year of college at two different schools, (WOOT!) I started off my freshman year -first semester that is- at lovely McDaniel College in Westminster, MD where it was alright, but not the right fit for me. I decided to move back home to CT, and while figuring out what to do, I decided to attend Central CT State University (CCSU) for a semester.. CCSU wasn't the best place to be at, but I survived!

After summer's over, I get to finally attend the [third and last!!] college of my choice. that is,  NTID/RIT is where i want to be! I'll be a first year again (i know, i know.. it sucks but as soon i get the 39 credits needed to be a second year, then i'll get rid of the first year status xD). I am so excited about this... finally being able to study what i want, which is graphic design!!

Well, I'll continue this on another post later.. but for now,  I am going to chill since I got a NYU appointment in New York City tomorrow afternoon for my cochlear implant. I got alot of questions that need to be asked! :)

Goodnight All!

-Linds.