Living with a Cochlear Implant

What a year it has been!  Here I am on the verge of 2008, reflecting on the year behind me and thinking ahead.   First off, I am sitting here by myself listening to Simon and Garfunkle singing "Sounds of Silence"...just harmonizing away and filling my eyes with tears.  The reason why the tears?   Kind of funny....many moons ago when I was a CI candidate (2001-2002) I was doing all this research online and reading eveything I could get my hands on.  I ran across an AB users blog and she had "Sounds of Silence" playing as her theme song.  I remember wondering if I would ever hear it again.  Apparently she was doing well with her CI and enjoying it.  All I had at that time was silence...music was a vacant memory and a distant dream.   I knew I was going to get a CI, but didn't have much hope that I would have speech, never mind glorious music!  

I am sitting here almost six years later bathed in the sound of music on a daily basis.  I am not only hearing music, I am hearing it with beautiful clarity and quality.  It's not exactly what I had when I had normal hearing, it's very close...but you know, it's actually appreciated more now.   I took it for granted growing up, it was a part of my life and I owned it.  I was wrong, we can't own anything with any certainty. 

I became a grandmother on December 10th!  My gorgeous daughter gave me a grandson.  Little Avery Blaze arrived after a grueling 108 hours of labor and ended up being delivered via C-section anyway!   He is just a precious bundle wrapped up in warm cotton and smelling the sweet smell those newborns have.   I heard him cry.  I am so used to my CI now that it seemed so natural and normal.  I didn't reflect on it or sit and cry myself..I giggled at how loud he was and immediately put him on my non CI shoulder!  

I never heard my daughter when she was growing up, I was the "deaf" mom.  I did great, but every day I woke up wondering what unexpected crisis I was going to have because I couldn't hear.   I didn't want Tara to grow up thinking back and saying to herself "If my mom had been able to hear"...how life might have been.    I knocked myself out being as normal as I could be.....and a lot of time I "passed" for a hearing person...well, because I really was a hearing person, I just couldn't hear! 

Grandmotherhood is going to be vastly different.  I will be able to hear him growing up and get to experience all the things I missed the first time around.   I hope he sings and plays a musical instrument and is in school plays.  I have no doubt he is quite bright, the family (at least on my side lol) is filled with analytical minds and artistic souls.  We are just filled with enough Irish craziness to flush out some of the heavy stuff!   

I have a new man in my life, his name is Brian.  We met on my cochlear implant list about three years ago.  It's been fun developing a relationship based on respect and friendship.  We have spent a lot of time together over the last year and have determined we have what it takes to co-habitate!    We spent a lot of time zeroing in on where we wanted to live.  As I mentioned in my last post we had centered on Carlsbad CA.  One of my daughter's friends and her husband plan to move to Carlsbad, CA at some point.  Never been there before, but checked it out online and Brian and I liked what we saw!    It's a very nice, laid back, beach community near San Diego.   We found our house after a LOT of searching and I will be ready to move in in about a week!! 

What I am going to really enjoy is being in an artsy type of community...looking forward to setting up a new art studio and painting again!   I am an abstract watercolorist..studied with some good people and hope to continue that in Carlsbad.   There are also a lot of concerts and plays.....can you imagine living somewhere they have concerts within a block of your house?   We are going to be living in what is called the "La Costa" area and it has an amazing library with an art gallery and also a concert auditorium!   Whoo!!

I will be changing medical insurance when I move and will sink my old HMO down to the deep blue sea and kiss it goodbye!   I have been working on trying to get another CI in other ear since Spring.  It's been like knocking your head against a brick wall!   HMO's are not the friend of CI users!!    I am listening to Wilson Picketts "Mustang Sally"(Best of Wilson Pickett)  by the way lol!!   Hopefully I will succeed with my new medical plan where the old one fizzled out.   I have heard rave reviews from everyone I  know who has taken the plunge and gone bilateral.  I have the most amazing music with one CI, but know full well I have "head shadow effect" from only hearing on one side.   We have two ears, they should both be operational! 

Enough already....I shared all the good stuff.  I am grateful that AB (and Leo) dreamed up Fidelity 120 for us and look forward to being able to march down the yellow brick road in CI hearing!    Got to give it up for the folks at AB...I am so glad that Leo and the gang didn't decide they wanted to own a pizza place instead of going to school forever to learn what they know.  They are changing lives on a daily basis.   It's the quality of CI hearing that gives us a quality of life we never dreamed of. 

Happy New Year to everyone reading this.....more to come!!  

Love Deb

Well, I was looking at a friends blog (http://abundantblessings.spaces.live.com/) and she actually made reference to the fact that I had not been tending MY blog...I actually had to click on the link to my own blog on her blog to see how long it has been!!  Over a year!!!!   Ouch!!  Oh well...

Let's see...this last year has been good on the hearing front.  I have my own personal Harmony now and enjoying it to no end.  I traded in an Auria for it.  Right now I am listening to Yanni and enjoying his genius with the keyboard.  Sipping some Pinot Grigo and nursing a cold.  I have been told not to drink wine when sick (by the doctor ex that I was married to) but what does HE know!  : ) 

I sold my big old house and am currently living in a cute townhouse apartment.  Apartment living is new to me, since I have lived in a house I owned for the past 25 years.  It's kind of fun...I do hear things I never imagined I would hear!  Like the neighbors taking showers!   HA!!  Interesting stuff!   Two days ago we had a big fat white rooster get into our common area.  I was just sitting here working on the computer (and yes, I do "work" on the computer that brings in $$..PrePaid Legal!!) lol..just in case you were wondering!!   I heard a rooster crowing for the first time in, I would guess, 40 years!!  Made me laugh out loud!!  Animal control finally showed up to dispatch the poor rooster....he was limping and the apartment manager and I gave each other agonizing looks, wondering if he was going to be "put down".  Sigh.

I came downstairs the other day, keep in mind I flew to NY to attend the ALDA convention and flew home four days later..so I had jet lag and whatnot, plus got exposed to a woman sitting next to me on the plane holding a box of kleenex!  She knew full well she was exposing us to her germs..and looked guilty.  Next flight I take I will take a pill called "Air Borne" that is supposed to protect you from sick people on flights sitting next to you.  My friend Roy from Lake Arrowhead told me about it.

Where was I?  Oh, anyway, I came down without my CI on...and was walking around and sat down at the computer and put some music on..and I sat there wondering what on earth???  Where was the music?  I checked my volume..nothing was muted.  I finally figured it out and hightailed it back up the stairs to get the Harmony and regain my hearing.  I am normally more alert than that!  I barely function without my CI.  I feel like I am walking around in chains and weigh a ton when I am deaf.  Thinking back, how did I manage 31 years in silence??  I would love to wear my processor 24/7..but that is not very practical. 

At the ALDA convention I was talking to one of the new Cochlear reps named "Drake".  Nice fellow, we had fun chatting back and forth.  He introduced me to this new Bluetooth device that draped over the ear and clipped to the collar.  You put it on and flip to the t-coil and "boom" you can hear very well!   I can use the over the ear Bluetooth with the T-mic, but I do like the thought of this new one and might buy it.

I am going to move!!! There is more news!!  I am going to be a grandmother!!  My darling daughter broke the news to  me about five months ago.   I have been waiting a long time!!  My little grandson is due on Dec 12th!  I have decided to go ahead and move down to the beach in the San Diego area to be closer.  Kind of centering on a town called Carlsbad.  My artistic soul is leading me in an artsy area where I can soar with my own art studio and see where that takes me.  Don't know if I mentioned this on the blog or not..but I am an abstract watercolorist and am damn good at it!!  : )  I have not really painted much since getting my hearing back and am curious to know how my eye might have changed.  I will be going from painting in silence in the past, trying to capture lost sound on paper, to painting with music playing.  Can you imagine? 

Still discovering new music, I feel like I have normal hearing.  Of course I know I don't..but for the most part I barely think about this marvelous bionic part of me..it seems so natural!    I got into the shower the other day and forgot to take it off...OOPS LOL!!  It's all good, my Harmony is water tolerant..meaning I remembered I had it on and took it off and set it on the bathroom counter and continued to create a steam room.   No harm done.

It's been a year of changes, being introspective, doing the right thing for myself in many areas.  I have been busy with traveling all over the place.  Going again in a week to Texas and Maine for family visits.  Have a baby shower to attend the minute I get back from Maine.  It's going to be at a five star restaurant in San Diego called La Strada...they have the best Italian food!!  Very swanky...a fitting place to celebrate the upcoming arrival of my first grandchild.  He will be 1/2 Irish and 1/2 Russian LOL...I hope THAT works out!!!    And above it all, I am still counting my lucky stars I can hear again...I never dreamed I would hear my grandchild, and now it is going to be a reality. 

 

Well, I have finally worked my way around an AOL problem that was  not letting me connect to my blog site!!  Sorry for the delays...been driving me absolutely bonkers!   I am using IE now.

I was very patiently waiting for Americal Idol to start up again so I could check it out in real time with my 120 channels and the BOSE headphones!  Whew!!   Wow!!! 

It's hard to stay grounded when your feet are off the ground!   I am hearing this very very well and it is better than last year!   The contestants are better this year....but that is not what I mean.  I hear MORE this year!! 

Wednesday night Gideon started off the show with "When a Man loves a Woman" and I was about to die from it!  That song is a favorite of mine!  This kid is only 17...but he has a voice that is going to charm the ladies for decades to come!   He got booted last night...it was sad and I am going to miss him.

I agreed with the judges about who was going to get the "AX"...I did not think Gideon should have been booted...I think Bucky the cowboy checked his personality at the door and is still looking for it! 

All the singers are charming me to death and this year I am just so into their voices that I can't even vote.    Just what is the difference between listening with 120 channels and listening with 16 channels? 

It's hard to explain, but I will try.  The whole experience with 120 channels is fuller and grander in scale.  To put it into a visual perspective....trying to make it easier to visualize...maybe this will help.  Let's say you love Van Gogh's painting "Starry Night" and want to hang it on your wall.  Most of us are happy to have a poster and are satisfied with that type of thing.  But what if we went to Paris and saw it hanging in a museum...the real deal, and were just awe struck with it?  Would you still be satisfied with a run of the mill poster on the wall?  Probably not!  At the very least you would want something with more fire and more true to life than a drab poster.  Maybe a very well done copy on canvas...something with some depth and texture to it! 

There is more depth and range with the 120 channel programming.  It's fuller and rings truer to memory.  I have been using it for awhile and am feeling very spoiled and pampered with it.  Listening to the car radio is easier...it just is easier all around in all areas.  There is more to enjoy and it brings home to me how far we have come with our hearing.  I will not be taking it for granted! 

 

I have to say I feel very smug..LOL!!   I have a TV set that is about 6 years old now, (36" Sony Triniton XBR) and it came with wireless infared headphones.  I did not have my CI when I got the TV, and just tossed the headphones in a drawer.  I got them out about a year after activation...just slipped my mind that I had them!   The are wonderful for listening to the TV!!!    They work with T-mic or T-coil.

For Christmas last year I got some BOSE Quiet Comfort 2 "noise cancelling" headphones. They have a tremendous sound quality.  I have been trying to get them to work with the TV all this time...just to see if the sound quality was better than the other headphones.   We finally figured out ( it took a M.A.N. lol) to get this done...and it has to be done with a long cord ( Radio Shack) ...so it is not wireless. 

The sound quality for the TV is amazing!!   I was scrolling through the music channels on the satellite dish...and about to die from the exquisite sounds!!!  I am sure the new software also contributed to this!   So I am listening with the very latest in advanced music software and using the top of the line headphones...seems too good to be true!    I will probably watch more TV now, have discovered those PBS channels with the long winded ( but no commercials) funding drives...if you can find something to do when they are giving the 15 minute pledge talks....worth the while checking out because of the music shows!

 

Ho Ho Ho...got through Christmas intact!   This was my first Christmas with the 121 channel virtual programs and I did indeed have some CI moments to talk about!!  

Cooking in the kitchen with three people...background music blasting, assorted kitchen sounds, pots banging, water running etc.  I was able to carry on a conversation with my back turned, listening to music and could hear through the running water!   That has always been a challenge for me...running water seems like such a loud and rude sound...drowning out everything if I was close to it.  Not yesterday..the water ran and I was ok with it! 

Corona anyone?  One of my guests for Christmas dinner brought a six pack of Corona beer for his drinking pleasure.  He asked if I had a bottle opener...ME???  LOL  Yes, I sure had one, and handed him my newest kitchen gadget.   A bottle opener that talked every time you used it!!  LOL....I could hear him opening his beer from all over the house! 

Playing Scrabble...we set up the game....big long table with people talking on one end, music playing and the speakers about 10 feet away.  I was able to follow the conversation to my left, listen to music and carry on a conversation with my Scrabble partner!!   Now, to make this easier to understand why this is cool...anyone with a hearing aid or CI usually had the "hearing in noise" problem.   Meaning that background sounds can drown out speech, making it hard to understand without lipreading.   I do have a "noise" program on my CI that I can switch to that will effectively dampen down background sounds.  What it does it makes it so I can hear at the table...but everything from about 8 feet away would be cut out by lowering the sensitivity on the processor ( my program is -10 sensitivity).  What would have happened at home if I had used this noise program would be that I might be able to hear in the kitchen up to a certain distance..but would NOT have been able to also hear the music or anyone in other rooms.

Just using the normal 121 channel program I was able to hear the music ( we traded in the Christmas music for 60's rock n roll! ) listen in to chat on the left and enjoy a conversation at the game....all at once!   The important thing was not just "hearing" it....it is understanding it through the noise!  I totally feel my bionic hearing has taken a leap to the next level....move over Lindsay Wagner!! 

Been kind of busy these days, checked my blog and was shocked to see I haven't updated in ages!  In answer to Thema's question about the T-coil or T-mic.   Keep in mind the Auria already had an external T-coil that I have been using for a long time...assuming I wanted to use it! 

Right now, I just have to say I think the T-mic is more all purpose than a T-coil.  Yes, the T-coil works fine, but in my opinion there is not as much use for it here in the US.  Apparently it is a different story in Europe where, by law, everything is supposed to be "looped" for use with T-coil.  In the US I have not found too many places to use the thing!    It does work very well with my infared headphones that I use with the TV set....but so does the T-mic.  I don't really care much for the T-coil with the phone.  It works well, but the thing about it is that you have to hold the phone up to the "SPOT" and keep it there...the slightest movement away from the spot.....all is lost and you have to find it again.   Not being able to hear my voice using T-coil feels weird ( 100% setting) and I don't like talking to people that way.

I guess its all going to boil down to personal choice for the person using the device.  We will be able to have our processors mapped with whatever we like.  I suppose a person that has used hearing aids for a long time and is a seasoned T-coil user might insist on it...and that is fine as long as its what they want and like.   I personally don't have a lot of uses for it...but when I did use it the few times in a looped setting, it worked wonderfully well.   I don't think we will be giving up the T-mics any time soon!! 

I am just killing time here waiting for my daughter to swing by and pick me up for a quick trip to Las Vegas!   My sister and nephew flew out from Maine & Connecticut and they are here for 5 days.  We are staying at Bally's. 

Going to casinos has changed quite a bit!  Before my CI, the only way I knew if someone won a jackpot on the machines is if I saw the flashing lights.  Now days, I can hear the machines going off all over the place!   I don't necessarily like listening to countless coins crashing into a hopper...I'm sure the winners love the sound..but I never win and have not grown to appreciate the sound.  One good thing these days is that a lot of casinos are using a ticket system to take your winnings with you.  You can poke a $20 into a slot machine and then play the credit tab and if you have any winnings you want to take out or leave the machine, you can hit a button and a ticket will slide out with the amount.  Next machine you go to...you just slide your ticket into that machine and it will compute your amount and you can start playing!   Cool!  Now if they could only do something with the cigarette smoke!! 

I talk to my sister on the phone most every day!  She has a new phone program and they have unlimited 24 hour calling to absolutely anywhere in the US for $60!  Pretty good!   Looking forward to seeing my nephew....I never heard his voice while he was growing up and hearing him with a deep "sexy" male voice seems very ODD!!  What happened to my cute little nephew?  Oh well...time waits for no man!! 

Got a hot tip for the sports book at Ballys...my good friend Roy in Lake Arrowhead wins all the time and gave me directions on a sure thing!  I am supposed to turn $10 into $160 by betting on HIS sure bet teams....going to give it a whirl!!   We will see!

Got my CD's all ready for the trip...we are going to be listening to some hot music....hopefully with the top down...driving too fast, just two chicks out to have a good time!  : )

 

With the waves from Katrina still lapping at our hearts, it brings me to mind that we need to be prepared for emergencies.

My brother lost his home in New Orleans and my childhood home in Biloxi, MS is gone.  My brother is fine and had plenty of warning to evacuate.  I now live in CA near the San Andreas fault and I am always prepared for an emergency.  I was here for the "Lander's quakes" and know they can mean business! 

The Advanced Bionics cochlear implants use the wonderful rechargeable batteries as the primary power source.  In an emergency when there is no power, you will want to be sure you have a PowerPak for the Auria that will keep things going with an AA battery.  This PowerPak was originally designed for children and it helps to keep the BTE's on their tiny ears by having the power source off the ear.  The PowerPak is about the size of a tube of lipstick and clips to a collar, bra strap or pocket and comes with different length cords.  Mine has a 22" cord and I just tuck the battery part into my bra usually.  People that wear the body processor also have AA adapters they can use in place of their rechargeables.  There is also an adapter for the car to use with the battery charger if you wanted to do that.  The car does not have to be running to power the battery charger.  You can also use an AA battery pack to work with the battery charger if you want to make one up...directions for this are on the CI Central website ( currently undergoing an update, but the old link is still there) click on "Tips for Clarion users" and follow directions. 

Once the crisis is over, and the power back on...it will be business as usual and you would go back to your rechargeables.  Better to be prepared ahead of time!

Some systems use hearing aid batteries and although it might seem like it would be more convienient that way...it isn't necessarily so.  In an emergency situation, AA batteries would be pleniful and easy to come by, I am not so sure how it might go with hearing aid batteries.

All the CI companies were there after the hurricane to give aid to their users. Advanced Bionics immediately sent aid and if anyone had any power needs ( say they didn't prepare) AB was there with what they needed.  This says a lot about the integrity of the companies and the support they give for years after getting our implants. 

One great thing is that the Auria is very water resistant and has been independently tested and is the most reliable BTE today.  Less than 2% of Auria's have had issues due to mositure..nice to know! 

 

I went to Salt Lake City, last week to attend the ALDA con!  This is an organization for late deafened adults and they have a yearly convention in different cities.  I had a great time and got to see a lot of friends!   ALDA stands for Association of Late Deafened Adults, and you can do a search and join them if you want!  A great group that has local chapters all over the country.  Very supportive! 

I attended the Advance Bionics CI workshop given by a clinical specialist.  These workshops are basically for CI candidates that want more information.  I also attended the Cochlear Corporation workshop..see what the other guys were up to!   They all attended the AB workshop and were scribbling notes like crazy.....guess they were given a lot of information they didn't expect!

I pretty much knew what the AB clinical specialist was going to present...seeing that I am actually wearing the new goods!!   He had one thing to say that had me smiling!  Seems the 120 channel software that I am using is just "the tip of the iceberg" and there is a possibility that we might have thousands of channels to look forward to!!!  Woo Hoo!!!  Where do I sign up?  One day at a time of course...but this is very exciting...we are getting closer and closer to experiencing the best hearing possible with a CI...and then some!! 

Meanwhile...went out of town today and took all my driving CD's with me to keep me company for the two hour drive.   I think I will have to buy a new car with a 6 CD changer!   It's just so hard to decide what to listen to...did I want to drive with the Beatles?  I settled down with Bob Marley and Patty Page...and some instrumental "relaxing" music to get me through the LA area rush hour.  I used to NEVER drive down that way with no hearing.....just too stressful. 

Getting a CI takes some adjusting to...remember what I have now is the result of hard work and excellent technology....music didn't sound this good at first!   I wonder if the new people starting out with the virtual technology ( 120 channel software+) will hear music better from the get go?  Probably...makes sense they would! 

When Michael Chorost's book "Rebuilt" came out, I read it with 
great interest, but it was his website that caught my attention even more.   I
found out he was also in the same AB 120 (actually it is 121 channels) channel 
software trials that I am in, and I was interested on his take.  Apparently  he
knows more than I do about it...if you have not seen it...here is what he had
to say: 

>>I spent the day today at _Advanced Bionics_
(http://www.advancedbionics.com/) , the maker of my  implant, testing out how my ear is doing with its new
121-channel software. My  pitch discrimination has improved from 70 hertz to 30
hertz when listening to  tones between 2000 and 2450 hertz. In other words,
within that frequency range,  I can now reliably distinguish between pure tones
that are only 30 cycles per  second apart instead of 70.

So how does that compare to normal hearing? In my Psych 101 class at Brown, 
which I took in 1984, I learned that the normal discrimination threshold for 
tones around 2000 hertz is 16 hertz; that is, people with normal hearing can 
usually tell the difference between tones of 2000 and 2016 hertz, or 2016 and 
2032 hertz. My discrimination threshold of 30 hertz therefore still falls
well  short of normal hearing — but it’s a huge improvement over 70 hertz. That
is  definitely one of the reasons why music sounds so much better to me on the
new  software. <<

I can imagine that Michael C. is looking at this from the scientific 
angle...he wants numbers.  The only number I wanted was to know how many  channels I
am using....there will be wide variations in how many extra pitch  percepts
anyone can use, (each channel is an extra previously unheard  pitch)...I am
happy to say my poor old broken down cochlea has exceeded my hopes  and I have
jumped from using 16 channels with HiRes to 113 with the  new software! 

   
Three years with my CI has been the most amazing experience!  Switching  from
CIS to HiRes was also an adventure.  It took me about a month to get  the
hang of HiRes, I needed some frequency boosts etc and once they got me  situated
with the right mapping, there was no going back...I was  hooked!  

 
I went about testing the 120 channel software the same way I compared CIS to 
HiRes.  My first step...and the exact same thing I did the day they turned 
on HiRes, was get my cell phone out and make some phone calls.  My HiRes 
experience was that I had to wait until the next day to understand anything on  the
phone.  All in all, it took me about a month to get things with  speech back
up and beyond what I had with CIS.   With the 120 software  I was able to
understand on the phone within minutes.  Not sure if this can  be attributed to my
brain being more used to CI hearing or what.  I had  only been using a CI for
six months when I started with HiRes. 

  
I have had my CI for over three years now.  I have been told that the  longer
you use a particular speech strategy the harder it will be to  switch.  But
that doesn't seem to be the case with the 120 channel  software...at least for
me.  So far for me it has been an  easy adjustment.   I am sure there will be
a lot of different  experiences once the software is released...as with
anything else!  

As Michael noted...MUSIC is better!  Yep....it is better for me  too!!  
HiRes gave me better music than I was hearing with the  standard CIS
strategy....but the song lyrics still gave me trouble.  Just  like with most people with a
CI...the instruments are easier to hear than the  lyrics.   With the 120
channel software, the lyrics have  improved!  

I got out my old music...the stuff I was listening to when I was first 
activated (and knew from when I had normal hearing) and listening to Elvis  ( The
Very Best of Love) was quite interesting!   The music  changed...his voice was
better and closer than I had yet heard, to being the way  it is supposed to
be.  Music is just more beautiful...that is the only way  I can put it.  It
sounds richer and has more vibrancy.  

I got a new CD by James Taylor I had not heard yet and popped that into the 
CD player.  Most of the songs were new for me.  I was pleasantly  surprised
that I got, I would say, about 25-30% more of the lyrics on the first  try than
I would usually get.  I have not printed out the lyrics yet to  double check
this...but the lyrics/words sounded clear and came through much  easier.  It
was very noticeable!   My friend Judy is  also in the trials and she has had a
similar experience....good  stuff! 

  
Fleetwood Mac has changed...vocals much more evident and clear. Stevie 
Nick's voice is clearer and not as "husky" sounding.   I can't compare  them to
when I had normal hearing...I lost my hearing before they got big...but  can
compare it to CIS and HiRes....sounding pretty yummy right  now!    ABBA is also a
new adventure!   I grew up  listening to Patsy Cline and Elvis.  My mom was a
big Patsy fan and I was  spoon fed in a highchair listening to her fantastic
voice.  Her voice  sounds great...little things in her voice that were not as
apparent with HiRes  are there now.  I didn't miss them until I heard them and
realized they  were "new".  There is more power in her voice. 

Hearing in noise is better...no way to say it is better by any certain 
percentage, but I have noticed on several occasions that I had not wanted to 
switch over to my noise program as I usually do.  One experience at the 
mall...kind of funny.   I went to the mall and saw a fellow I know  that is an
acupuncturist, we started talking.   He has a  very heavy Chinese accent and the mall
was screaming with noise, and kids  crying, music, and water fountains.  We all
know what I mean.  It has  to be the worse place to have a conversation other
than a rock concert, but I  was able to filter out most of the background
sounds and hear his voice  fine.  I showed him my CI and he thought it was to
help me  SEE!!   He thought I had an "ocular implant"!!   LOL  I  was saying "C"
and "I"..and he got "see" "eye" !

I asked Judy if she had any comments about the new trial software she is 
using and she says:
>>I am hearing more words in songs, I did good with HiRes, but this  is
better and seems to be balanced... and its an awesome experience once again.. 
smile..  its just getting better and better..  amazing me all the  time.. found
out my doorbell is broken and I actually heard a car in my  driveway!!! from the
bathroom!   I decided to check out the  noise sure enough..  (that's when I
found out my doorbell was broken)  but it was a lady at the wrong house. lol..
We are still very much in the middle of these trials...don't know when they 
will be over.  I have three different types of 120 channel programs that I 
can try, and as with HiRes, I am settling down on one I seem to prefer.  So  far
so good!!  : )