The mapping itself went very well. With the help of my wonderfully talented audiologist, we were able to pinpoint some of the electrodes on my Left side causing slight facial muscle reflexes (which is bad, and annoying, and sometimes a little painful), and decrease the levels of those particular electrodes which completely eliminated the problem while giving me more volume in the process. Having been four months since my last mapping on the Right side, we were able to add a little volume over there as well.
Both CIs now have a program for "Everyday" listening, which I use in most situations. Another one for "Focus", which I like to call "search & destroy". Basically it finds the loudest sounds around you and decreases them (i.e. loud conversations in a restaurant, trucks on the highway, screaming children anywhere), while amplifying the softer sounds nearest you, which in most cases is the people's voices I want to hear. The final program was available for a while, but I just now got to the point where I could use it beneficially. It's called "Music", and is intended for use while listening or playing music, obviously.
I noticed a difference with the Music setting right away while listening to mp3s. The sound is fuller and slightly more defined. Not a huge difference, but it's there none the less. As soon as I got home I sat down on a keyboard, and for the first time since I got CIs, I could actually hear the differences in the keys well enough to play stuff by ear. It was honestly an incredible moment for me. I used to do a bunch of stuff with piano back in college, and I've lost the ability to play due to my hearing. The slightest glimpse of getting that back is simply amazing.
But...the best thing that happened yesterday was finally acing a hearing test for the first time in 16 years. They normally only test your hearing with CIs after 6 months, but since she knew I was doing well, she tested both ears. This picture shows yesterday's test (Right graphic) in comparison with my last test with a hearing aid last year in September (Left graphic).
So in last year's test, you can see that with the Left hearing aid in, I was hearing with about a 50dB loss and nothing above 2000kHz. With hearing aid out I dropped to around 100dB down, and was basically unresponsive on the Right side altogether.
As you can see in yesterday's test, I'm hearing in both ears with about 15-20dB loss, and hearing that well up to 4000kHz. Anywhere from 0 to -20dB is considered normal hearing range.
This. Is. A. Miracle.
The other test she did involved speech perception in silence and in noise. I think the one with noise is what NFL linebackers practice with before they come to Lucas Oil Stadium. With both my CIs together I got 99% of the words right in noise. Based on these results, I have decided to take my talents to south beach.
Life will always have its struggles, I'm just glad hearing doesn't have to be one of them for me anymore. Thanks to every one of you following me on this journey. It's getting pretty exciting.
