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Cochlear Implants, hearing loss and more! I carry an interesting perspective: someone who had normal hearing growing up, lost it all slowly as an adult, then regained it with cochlear implants. So I'm deaf, but I can hear - a true miracle. If you'd like to know more about me and my bilateral cochlear implant experiences right away, my two books have a wealth of information - see the links below. Check out the list of upcoming events too - perhaps one day we'll get to meet!



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Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Cochlear Implant WOW moments

I had a WOW moment yesterday - and one would think these don't happen after 14 years with a cochlear implant (CI) - and three years of bilateral CI use.  A WOW moment is the realization that you could do something or hear something you never would have been able to do without the miracle of your cochlear implants.  Here's the story:

My husband bid on and won tickets (at a charity silent auction) to a dinner/magic show held at a posh location in Manhattan. It was the kind where they do magic tricks at your dinner table, and then a magic show with a lot of interaction with the audience. I was a little leery - I never like to put myself in a position of potentially not hearing - and this had no assistive listening devices or captioning - so I knew I'd be flying without a net.

When the magician did his magic at our table, I interacted with no repeats - did all the "pick this" "tell me that" instructions and answers instantly.  WOW!  And then the magic show itself - in this small room environment, everyone was in the hot seat - I got called on to "knock on the wall" and "do this, do that" - from 20 feet out.  I got it all - and even the jokes, and laughed along!  They never suspected I was deaf.  WOW!

There was one coin trick the magician did at our table, where I held two coins in my closed fist - and he magically "dropped" a third one into my closed hand - and I HEARD the "clink," and when I opened my hand, I had three coins!

I told my husband immediately (and excitedly) that I heard the "clink."  Turns out that he wasn't going to mention it to me because if I hadn't heard it, he didn't want me to be upset (I think that's why we're married 41 years).  But nope - I heard it - and you better believe that I wasn't expecting to!  So add another WOW there.

This was bilateral WOW - and it's "advanced WOW" - because I put myself in this position - it didn't just happen to me. The confidence to try to do something I never would have done before. That's the WOW part - and my husband, who often knows better how I'm hearing than I do, thought I could. And he was right.

1 comment:

  1. Totally awesome! Isn't that great when you realize you are effortlessly doing something that you thought you wouldn't be able to do? Doesn't that just give you the boost of confidence to do more things like that??? To hear a clink of a coin...that's truly amazing!

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