Just a little quiet. . .

I've been a little quiet this week. Was "mapped" again this past Tuesday and was completely overwhelmed with sound. Kathy came with me this time and was fascinated by the whole process. Bill moved me from two programs to four and it was just too much. I have a program for regular everyday use, one for the telephone/cinema, one for music, and one for noisy situations. I just couldn't handle the sound overload and even turned the volume on all four channels from 9 (the highest) to 1 (the lowest). And it was still too loud. On Thursday night, the sound of the newspaper pages turning and aluminum foil crinkling hurt my ears! I went back to Bill yesterday afternoon (Friday) and he dropped me down 11 levels, whatever that means. It is almost too quiet now but I need to be patient and just take one day at a time. I will admit that I am a little discouraged with the sound quality but I will not give up! Everything sounds like static and voices are not sounding "natural". Music is not as good as it was before so I've set the iPod aside for now. But, this is part of the process to figure out what my "hearing fingerprint" is.

Even though I am not crazy about my current "map", I am hearing sounds louder and clearer and still having some CI moments. Kathy and I took a walk on the Greenbelt after my session on Tuesday. I was able to hear a cricket as we walked by some trees and heard the water trickling down the stream. The sound of cars and trucks going by drowned out the sounds that I wanted to hear, like my voice and Kathy's. I can hear the blinker in my car better but now I hear the car running, too. Not sure if I like that. I really haven't "heard" background noise before and it is something I will have to get used to. We do live in a noisy world!

Chester, our cat is sitting in my lap as I write this. I can hear her purring!