Anyway, the audiologist was pleased with my progress so far and decided that I should have hearing tests. There were 2 main tests:
- Listening and lip-reading a man on television. He spoke without any facial expressions (like a robot!). He spoke approximately 20 sentences.
- Again, listening to the same chap on television but without lip-reading.
Before the operation, using hearing-aids, the success rates were 94% and 49% respectively. Now, 3 weeks after the operation, the success rates were 95% and 66% respectively. Quite a big improvement on the second test, so that was very pleasing.
Next month, a telephone workshop is being planned to test if I can use the device. It would be great to turn the clocks back to over 20 years ago when I was able to use the telephone (with limited use). Will see.
There is an useful short video (2 minutes) describing visually how a cochlear implant works (don't worry, there is no gory!).
How a cochlear implant works.
Walking in the town at lunchtime today, a stranger came to me to say that she noticed my cochlear implant and just wanted to say that her friend had his operation last year. She added that he was making great progress especially with his speech. She then said, "It is a pleasure to meet you" and walked off! It has made my day :)
So, just over a month in and you are now attracting unsolicited attention from strange women... Is there a way you can amplify THAT part of the implant's program?! On a more sober note, I watched the videos describing how the implant works and found myself musing on the assertion that the implant is a medical device that, uniquely, can restore one of the five senses. I wondered about the process -- who programs the micro-computer -- in other words, whose sense of hearing are you relying on to identify the sounds that the implant then picks up? Are the programmed sounds extrapolated from a huge number of individual inputs, or are they based on a single sensory input? I guess what I'm getting at is this: what is the provenance of the sounds you are hearing? Is it like colour -- seen a bit differently by each person? As always, Matthew, a fascinating entry in your blog, and one which stimulates reflection on what it means to be an individual.... Sue x
ReplyDeleteHi Sue,
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for your comment. You have raised a very interesting question regarding the sensory inputs and I had to think carefully here!
A cochlear implant contains between 12 to 22 electrodes spaced 1mm apart depending on the make and model. Advanced Bionics Naida which I have, has 16 electrodes.
In simple terms, each electrode represents an array of an audio frequency. The electrodes are made to resemble to what humans hear as close as possible. There are 16,000 delicate hairs that are used for normal hearing and 16 of my electrodes have to try to match them!
This would also explain why at first time, cochlear implant users hear robotic sound of human voices perceived through the cochlear implant as "a croaking Dalek with laryngitis" or similar to radio static and voices as being cartoonish.
This is the fifth week since the cochlear implant was switched on and sounds are still getting better and better. I don't lip-read as much as since the operation. Yesterday, I even heard someone walking upstairs into the office - a first. I didn't know who he was. Perhaps I will in future if I listen and recognise everyone's footsteps!