Journal - Day 8

June 20 -- One Week After "Hook-up" Day
I'm finally settling into the world of 'artificial' hearing' and getting used to my new FREEDOM MAPs. It really is amazing how many sounds I can 'hear' now.....sounds that my old hearing aid was never capable of picking up. Just yesterday, as Kevin Womac and I were walking out to our cars in the parking garage, I asked him, "Can you hear all those dadgum sparrows twittering away?" And Kevin said, "What are you talking about man, I can't hear them. All I can hear is the hum of the HVAC system" .........to which I replied, "Well, I can hear that too but can't you hear those birds?" And he replied, "You can 'hear' better than me now if you're hearing bird noises!" Imagine that, here I am listening to bird sounds (I swear it!) that he can't even hear! Whoa Nellie!!.......this is sweet!

Another example of my capability to hear environmental sounds (which I couldn't really hear before) is the high pitched "squeaking" my wet shoes make as I walk down the hallway inside the office building (its been raining cats and dogs here for the last coupla days). The floor is made of those hard marble slabs typical of office buildings and when walking on them with wet sneakers, you can really hear those "squeaking" noises.......amazing!

The problems I mentioned earlier regarding head noises (tinnitus) and those annoying "buzzing sounds" are diminishing daily as my brain becomes accustomed to my new-found hearing. Human voices are becoming more 'normal' and easier to distinguish. As I sit here in my office, I can hear the sounds of people in other rooms of the office and their footsteps as they meander throughout. There is a secretary who is wearing flip-flops, and can hear her 'flip-flopping' down the hallway. I can even distinguish between male and female voices. So far so good.
Love and Cheers -- Jeff