My. Order of AB's swim cap arrived just in time for my trip to Brighton for mums 65th birthday weekend.
The hotel had its own pool which was the perfect opportunity to take my bionic ear into the pool.
After some fiddling around I managed to to clip my Neptune processor to my swim cap it was straight into the pool. Plunging under water set off a gurgling sound then went eerily silent till I resurfaced!
Carrying out conversation with my sister seemed the norm. The sounds of the bubbles when in the jacuzzi was loud.
I was also able to hear splashing and also the ripples of water. I spent an enjoyable 45 minutes in the pool!
Friday, 11 January 2013
Friday, 14 September 2012
Report on Lost and Sound
Saw this very interesting and informative documentary at the Hackney Picture House last Sunday.
The film followed three people on their hearing journey from losing hearing in one ear which made music sound flat to learning music from scratch through an implant.
Scientists showed that different parts of the brain are activated when it experiences music such as feeling and emotion! Now I know why some people can be moved when listening to music.
My view after watching the documentary is that music forms a big part of people's lives anyone can experience music as the brain had many different strategies to deal with this.
The film will be broadcast on tv and released onto DVD
The film followed three people on their hearing journey from losing hearing in one ear which made music sound flat to learning music from scratch through an implant.
Scientists showed that different parts of the brain are activated when it experiences music such as feeling and emotion! Now I know why some people can be moved when listening to music.
My view after watching the documentary is that music forms a big part of people's lives anyone can experience music as the brain had many different strategies to deal with this.
The film will be broadcast on tv and released onto DVD
Saturday, 7 July 2012
Report on HLAA conference
attended the HLAA conference in providence USA from 21st to 23rd June
2012.
The conference though aimed at the older age range of American deaf/hard of
hearing population was well worth attending there was a large and
informative exhibition hall with the three main ci manufacturers along with
various other American companies.
Remote captioning on mobile phones is a big thing here in America with
several companies competing with each other for users. It's a shame that
such services are not available in the UK. I wonder if communication giants
in our country can be persuaded to take on board technology that is readily
available worldwide as we have remote captioning centres based in the UK so
don't see why a app can't be developed for smart phones to allow this
technology to be used on the move.
Workshops in general were very technical and scientific it would have been
nice to see some workshops of practical nature rather than sitting through
information heavy sessions trying to take in all the information.
A session on captioned radio turned out be be very interesting this was a
company that is due to roll out captioned radio programmes this year some
software needs to be downloaded to a computer or a smart phone to use the
service and can be accessed world wide. Ireland are the next country to
trial the technology and if successful the UK could well soon benefit as the
BBC already use the technology to subtitle its online content
The research symposium - how the brain makes sense of sound was split into 4
separate talks by different professors from John Hopkins University these
were on central auditory system basics and the effects of abnormal auditory
input to the brain , listening in noise, music perception And hearing loss
in ageing.
I only went to the second and third talks which were very interesting and at
timed difficult to understand what they were taking about!! I won't go into
detail what I picked up though people can contact me on ben@benleigh.co.uk
if they would like more detailed information.
I also went to Geoff Plant's talk on music for adults with cochlear implants
which was essentially a theoretical overview of what us Brits have
experienced at his practical workshops
People were pleased to see someone from the UK and asked after Stuart
McNaughton and Tina Lannin I said hello for you
I must add that I experienced Water fire on Saturday night which rounded off
a great conference with a beautiful atmosphere of fires on the river an
music playing out all along the waterfront.
2012.
The conference though aimed at the older age range of American deaf/hard of
hearing population was well worth attending there was a large and
informative exhibition hall with the three main ci manufacturers along with
various other American companies.
Remote captioning on mobile phones is a big thing here in America with
several companies competing with each other for users. It's a shame that
such services are not available in the UK. I wonder if communication giants
in our country can be persuaded to take on board technology that is readily
available worldwide as we have remote captioning centres based in the UK so
don't see why a app can't be developed for smart phones to allow this
technology to be used on the move.
Workshops in general were very technical and scientific it would have been
nice to see some workshops of practical nature rather than sitting through
information heavy sessions trying to take in all the information.
A session on captioned radio turned out be be very interesting this was a
company that is due to roll out captioned radio programmes this year some
software needs to be downloaded to a computer or a smart phone to use the
service and can be accessed world wide. Ireland are the next country to
trial the technology and if successful the UK could well soon benefit as the
BBC already use the technology to subtitle its online content
The research symposium - how the brain makes sense of sound was split into 4
separate talks by different professors from John Hopkins University these
were on central auditory system basics and the effects of abnormal auditory
input to the brain , listening in noise, music perception And hearing loss
in ageing.
I only went to the second and third talks which were very interesting and at
timed difficult to understand what they were taking about!! I won't go into
detail what I picked up though people can contact me on ben@benleigh.co.uk
if they would like more detailed information.
I also went to Geoff Plant's talk on music for adults with cochlear implants
which was essentially a theoretical overview of what us Brits have
experienced at his practical workshops
People were pleased to see someone from the UK and asked after Stuart
McNaughton and Tina Lannin I said hello for you
I must add that I experienced Water fire on Saturday night which rounded off
a great conference with a beautiful atmosphere of fires on the river an
music playing out all along the waterfront.
Tuesday, 20 September 2011
Hearing Moment
As an "old" time ci user I can share my experience of identifying sounds as of this morning 20th September 2011!
On putting on my implant I became aware of an odd "gargling" sound that did not sound like water draining away down the faucet! More like a grating sound as if someone was gasping for air!
On further investigation I found that what had made the noise was my flat mates lawn mowers being moved into the hallway and it was the sound of the roller hitting concrete!
This goes to show that even after 12 years of experienced CI use the journey of exploring and identifying sounds continues!!
On putting on my implant I became aware of an odd "gargling" sound that did not sound like water draining away down the faucet! More like a grating sound as if someone was gasping for air!
On further investigation I found that what had made the noise was my flat mates lawn mowers being moved into the hallway and it was the sound of the roller hitting concrete!
This goes to show that even after 12 years of experienced CI use the journey of exploring and identifying sounds continues!!
Saturday, 25 June 2011
NCIUA meeting
I had a nice day at the event today the first talk was given by Phil Groomfield and Sue (can't remember her surname) from addenbrooks university in Cambridge
They spoke about how sounds get transmitted from the ear to the brain the sound passes through a series of nerves
Everyone suffers from some kind of Tinnitus and in usually generated from inside the body others are more severely affected than others.
Tinnitus is created by the ear/brain when the brain tries to interpret missing or incomplete information
This can occur when people suffer a sudden drop in hearing or who have been deafened in other ways. The brain is missing the auditory connection between the ear and the brain.
Studies have shown that having external aids such as hearing aids or cochlear Implantation tinnitus in the majority of cases disappear or are suppressed by the sound coming into the brain.
This talk concluded with hints and tips on how to keep ones tinitus under control as until more resarch is done there is no known cure for tinitus.
The other main highlight was Geoff Plant's presentation and Zach a mor's performance of DEACON BLUE! This is a musical performance specially created for Cochlear Implant Users.
Set in the 1800's it tells the story of William Brodie through classical music and song (male vocal)
A short subtitled. Animation sequence was shown proceeding each piece of music/vocal to set the scene. Any song lyrics appeared on the screen at the back of the stage making it very easy to follow the songs
How did I find the music/performance as a CI user?
Well overall the performance was good when it boils down to personal musical tastes. The saxophone at times sounded rather harsh compared to the nice melody that the other instruments produced.
At the start of the performance the loud harsh tones of the saxophone drowned out the sounds of the softer sounds coming from the other instruments (note to composer) perhaps bring saxophone part-way in through the piece of music ?)
How did it make me feel? Confused is my initial reaction all my life I never had a liking for classical music and through the implant the music is loud and clear and of fantastic quality and my brain is going "hello hello hello what's all this?
This classical musical experience and the simple pieces that Zach has put together is weird and very clever!
I have a free CD/DVD of the performance and plan to watch again with a patient hearing person to help decipher the complex classical bits that shouldn't appear in this simple composition of music!
The DEACON BLUE experience has opened up a new chapter for me on my musical journey with my CI I hope Zach will come up with the next chapter in this kind of musical theatre!
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Go to group website
Remove me from the group mailing list
They spoke about how sounds get transmitted from the ear to the brain the sound passes through a series of nerves
Everyone suffers from some kind of Tinnitus and in usually generated from inside the body others are more severely affected than others.
Tinnitus is created by the ear/brain when the brain tries to interpret missing or incomplete information
This can occur when people suffer a sudden drop in hearing or who have been deafened in other ways. The brain is missing the auditory connection between the ear and the brain.
Studies have shown that having external aids such as hearing aids or cochlear Implantation tinnitus in the majority of cases disappear or are suppressed by the sound coming into the brain.
This talk concluded with hints and tips on how to keep ones tinitus under control as until more resarch is done there is no known cure for tinitus.
The other main highlight was Geoff Plant's presentation and Zach a mor's performance of DEACON BLUE! This is a musical performance specially created for Cochlear Implant Users.
Set in the 1800's it tells the story of William Brodie through classical music and song (male vocal)
A short subtitled. Animation sequence was shown proceeding each piece of music/vocal to set the scene. Any song lyrics appeared on the screen at the back of the stage making it very easy to follow the songs
How did I find the music/performance as a CI user?
Well overall the performance was good when it boils down to personal musical tastes. The saxophone at times sounded rather harsh compared to the nice melody that the other instruments produced.
At the start of the performance the loud harsh tones of the saxophone drowned out the sounds of the softer sounds coming from the other instruments (note to composer) perhaps bring saxophone part-way in through the piece of music ?)
How did it make me feel? Confused is my initial reaction all my life I never had a liking for classical music and through the implant the music is loud and clear and of fantastic quality and my brain is going "hello hello hello what's all this?
This classical musical experience and the simple pieces that Zach has put together is weird and very clever!
I have a free CD/DVD of the performance and plan to watch again with a patient hearing person to help decipher the complex classical bits that shouldn't appear in this simple composition of music!
The DEACON BLUE experience has opened up a new chapter for me on my musical journey with my CI I hope Zach will come up with the next chapter in this kind of musical theatre!
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
Go to group website
Remove me from the group mailing list
Thursday, 16 June 2011
Ben's 8 year ci review
Hi everyone!
As many of you know I attended my 8 year ci review this afternoon. This consisted of three parts.
Part 1 A mapping session with my auidologist. I had some minor tweaks done to my first map to level out the loudness and comfort levels I have kept my IDR on 75 with clear voice on high.
My second map I have been finding that with the current settings it was just too noisy. This was supposed to be a music map which did not live up to much so I have got a noise map created as I have a hard time in noisy surroundings. The IDR is reduced to 65 with clearvoice on meduim (I think) I will report back on how I get on with this (family members will see this live in action on Friday night!)
My 3rd map is 50/50 with telecoil and has been left unchanged.
Part two of the visit was the well known sentances test in quiet and in noise the scores below are in percentage out of 100 what I heard correctly
Todays scores as of 16th June 2011
Harmony processor
Sentences in quiet 100 percent
Sentances in noise 97 percent
Scores as of 10 may 2007
Auria processor
Sentances in quiet 98 percent
Sentances in noise 91 percent
The harmony performs better in noise! Well I appear to be doing so anyway!
As I do so well with speech comphrension there was a small improvement on this front
The last and final part was a simple hearing test in which I heard all the usual frequency ranges a good ci user hears
This info can also be viewed on my blog at www.harmonisedhearing.blogspot.com
Cheers
As many of you know I attended my 8 year ci review this afternoon. This consisted of three parts.
Part 1 A mapping session with my auidologist. I had some minor tweaks done to my first map to level out the loudness and comfort levels I have kept my IDR on 75 with clear voice on high.
My second map I have been finding that with the current settings it was just too noisy. This was supposed to be a music map which did not live up to much so I have got a noise map created as I have a hard time in noisy surroundings. The IDR is reduced to 65 with clearvoice on meduim (I think) I will report back on how I get on with this (family members will see this live in action on Friday night!)
My 3rd map is 50/50 with telecoil and has been left unchanged.
Part two of the visit was the well known sentances test in quiet and in noise the scores below are in percentage out of 100 what I heard correctly
Todays scores as of 16th June 2011
Harmony processor
Sentences in quiet 100 percent
Sentances in noise 97 percent
Scores as of 10 may 2007
Auria processor
Sentances in quiet 98 percent
Sentances in noise 91 percent
The harmony performs better in noise! Well I appear to be doing so anyway!
As I do so well with speech comphrension there was a small improvement on this front
The last and final part was a simple hearing test in which I heard all the usual frequency ranges a good ci user hears
This info can also be viewed on my blog at www.harmonisedhearing.blogspot.com
Cheers
Monday, 8 November 2010
Expansion of sound
2nd November through to 8th November 2010
I went in for a follow up tuning since my upgrade to my Harmony Processor at the end of August. I got programme one in IDR 70 with Clear voice IDR 80 without Clear voice in programme 2 and a 50/50 programme on 60 with clear voice with T-coil enabled.
Initial reactions were that sounds were LOUD!! Music was clearer speech slightly fuller and crisper. The sound of a nearby locomotive was like a mini jumbo preparing for take-off.
I could not write a report without adding a good dosage of Clear voice! It took my brain a good 24 hours for it to "register" that it was there!
Music sounds clearer on 70 with Clear voice switched on. On the 80 IDR setting without CV I pick up a lot more of the vocals and surrounding music, however I seem to pick up a lot of "unwanted" noise which can sometimes overwhelm the sounds I want to hear!
I have also found that some music sounds better on 80 than on 70 and vice versa. I find this difficult to explain fully at the moment.
I’d be interested to hear from other users who use 80IDR for music listening vs 70! I will post more news soon.
I went in for a follow up tuning since my upgrade to my Harmony Processor at the end of August. I got programme one in IDR 70 with Clear voice IDR 80 without Clear voice in programme 2 and a 50/50 programme on 60 with clear voice with T-coil enabled.
Initial reactions were that sounds were LOUD!! Music was clearer speech slightly fuller and crisper. The sound of a nearby locomotive was like a mini jumbo preparing for take-off.
I could not write a report without adding a good dosage of Clear voice! It took my brain a good 24 hours for it to "register" that it was there!
Music sounds clearer on 70 with Clear voice switched on. On the 80 IDR setting without CV I pick up a lot more of the vocals and surrounding music, however I seem to pick up a lot of "unwanted" noise which can sometimes overwhelm the sounds I want to hear!
I have also found that some music sounds better on 80 than on 70 and vice versa. I find this difficult to explain fully at the moment.
I’d be interested to hear from other users who use 80IDR for music listening vs 70! I will post more news soon.
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