I've just celebrated my 20th anniversary of my cochlear implant! Back when it was all new, fellow CI users would talk about our "CI moments" - events that were notable because we could now hear, but would have been impossible before getting our CIs.
Well, wouldn't you know - yesterday, I had a "CI moment" - an experience that surprised me because I was hearing something that was totally unexpected. This event would have been totally impossible without my CI, but I suspect wouldn't even have been possible without many years of CI practice.
I was in a large drug store, getting a prescription refilled. I had told them that I would shop in the store while waiting for it to be ready. I was engrossed in checking out all the various make-up and Halloween displays, when I thought I heard "Arlene to the pharmacy please" over a loudspeaker. It wasn't very loud, and I had never been aware that they would make that kind of announcement, but I went back to the pharmacy and asked if they had paged me. Yes - indeed they had! Definitely a CI moment, for sure!
There's more to the story, though. Recently, I have been listening to recorded books while driving in my car - something I hadn't done in many, many years. I used to listen to "books on tape" as audiotherapy practice, but had given that up long ago. Just recently, though, I had gotten very tired of listening to the radio - the news reports were so depressing - so I figured getting some books on CDs would be a good alternative.
I had just finished the 29-CD recording of the biography Alexander Hamilton, by Ron Chernow, that had inspired the Broadway show. I found it fascinating, and looked forward to driving so I could listen to more. What I discovered, interestingly, was that I seemed to be hearing "better" in general situations. It was just an impression, and certainly still not "totally normal" hearing, but definitely relatively "better." I seemed to be able to get words at greater distances with improved clarity. And this practice was also forcing my brain to rely only on sound - no captioning or other cues.
Fast forward to the "Arlene to the pharmacy" announcement, and it fits right in with my recent experience. Getting better speech discrimination, and awareness. Just what I had been practicing in my car - and plan to continue doing!
Progress - with practice - after 20 years!
