Journal - Day 4

DAY FOUR -- June 16
I was able to make an emergency visit to the audiologist in order to fix my problems and to revise my MAPs. Lo and behold, all we had to do was take the 4 MAPs (on the "loud" processor) and tweak them down by 10 units (taking the Max Line down from 190 to 180 units). Subsequently, the problems of the tinnitus and buzzing went away after the adjustments were made. Remember, this particular processor has MAPs that have a rate of 1200 pulses per second as opposed to my other processor that was comfortable to wear (and it was set to 900 pps). Both of these processors have a Maxima of 9, which means that 9 out of the 22 electrodes are firing simultaneously at either 900 times per second or 1200 times per second! (talk about electro-shock therapy!). Conversely, just to give you a technological perspective, the processor in my right ear is only capable of a rate of 250 pps with a Maxima of 6!!!! Holy crapola, thank God I waited this long to get an implant in my left ear! (all things considered, everything happens for a reason and I waited for the FREEDOM!)

The FREEDOM device, by the way, has only been on the market for the last 6 months or so. By the grace of God, or rather by the insistence of my loving parents (who graciously provided much needed financial assistance), I finally succumbed to the idea of having a CI in my left ear. All of you know my history and the story of my deteriorating hearing, which suffered a major relapse in the fall of 1995. As a result of that tragic event, I received my first implant in the right ear in April 1996 and subsequently got "hooked up" the following month. Here we are, exactly 10 years and one month later, and I received my new FREEDOM implant in my left ear.