New web site about hearing loss

A friend of mine who went to my old school, Sunshine Cottage School for Deaf, made a great informative web site about hearing loss. It is intended as an informative source on hearing loss and is for everybody. It is at http://www.nolimitstexas.org/ Please check it out and get well-informed on hearing loss!

Rude Telemarketer to a deaf person

This was found at digg.com:

"I recently received a “cold” call from a web marketing firm that suddenly took a turn for the worse.

Also, a little background: I have what is medically described as “profound” hearing loss in one ear, and “severe” hearing loss in the other. For the most part I can do OK with telephone conversations, but occasionally need to ask a person to repeat something. This is especially true when the caller has an accent (relative to mine), or the call is coming from an IP phone.

http://www.automateyourworkflow.com/telemarketer_insult.html

(transcription of the call is found here)

Thanksgiving for hearing new sounds...

It is thanksgiving time, and there are many that we are thankful - and for the sounds of life around us.

We are thankful for the engineers and their leadership to invent and improve the cochlear implants we wear today.

We are thankful for the amazing doctors who put the implants in our heads and become a part of hearing world.

We are thankful that we have friends and family that supports us during our cochlear implant journey. 

 

AMEN!

Laser Cochlear Implant???

Very interesting and daring research using lasers instead of electrcity for cochlear implants....


http://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/19206/

Latest Studies about bilateral hearing

More new studies that confirm "Why we hear with two ears...."
http://www.physorg.com/news103857821.html

How to get 8 "394" batteries from a 12V battery

http://www.flixxy.com/replacement-batteries.htm

For those we use 394 batteries in many electronic items... and save $40!!!

Dan

Two Heads are Better than one...

From AT&T Corporate Archives:


For Bell Labs, two heads are better than one when it comes to researching the ways people locate the direction of sound. Practical results of the "double dome" research — the improvement of stereophonic radio and TV programs — are transmitted nationwide over telephone facilities. In the experiments, two microphones in the ears of the dummy, "Oscar II," were substituted for human ears. Oscar's head reproduced the "shadowing" of sound by a human head. Persons participating in the tests — such as Mary Lou Hartig, shown — wore the extra head so that motions of their heads would be reproduced, for even very small movements influencing hearing. The natural sounds received in each microphone were altered electronically by acoustics scientist R.L. Hanson, and were delivered to the earphones. Listeners were asked to point to the apparent direction of the altered sound. Normally, the ear that is closer to a sound hears it earlier and louder than the other ear. Murray Hill, N.J., 1961.

Sophia's Cousins at my home & Hearing

This is one experience that I would never forget - and I hope all deaf parents read this:

One day, Sophia invited her 3 cousins into my house. Then my wife had go to store, an now I am in charge of the kids.

Sophia is 2 1/2 years old, LJ is 5 years old, Lindsey is 8 years old, and Larry is 13 years old. I let them go have fun around the house - and then I took off my implants when my wife left. I did that on purpose to prove that I can locate all 4 kids without my hearing. 8 minutes into the test, I gave up ! I was wrong!!!! I can't keep track of all four kids who all are in the different rooms and are either downstairs or upstairs. I had to walk around to look for them and check if they are fine.

I was so stressed out so I gave up. So I put implants back on and the whole sounds came alive in my mind. Now I can hear where they are, what they are doing, and how they are. I did not need to see them visually, since they are talking and making noises so I can tell what is going on. so I just sat down and watched TV without being stressed at all.

I am a true believer in total parental responsibility and that hearing is the most important part of the parenthood.

Blind Man sees world with hearing (Video)

So cool and incredible!!! This is about a young man, who is blind, uses echolocation to see:

http://www.flixxy.com/extraordinary-people-seeing-without-eyes.htm

To tell you truth, I do use echolocation to 'see' the world around me, and getting better over the time.

Dan

So many medical researchs being done on bilateral cochlear implants!!!!!

Go to google and use phrases for search:

abstract bilateral cochlear

and I found so many medical researches being done on bilateral cochlear implants. I can't even find one research that does not support the bilateral advantages.... YEA!!!!!

I have never seen so many medical research being done on the bilateral cochlear implants today than in the last few years.

I also added more links to the "LINKS" section at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bilateralCI/links

for us to use with insurance appeals and filings. The insurance agents can then use these winning medical research abstracts to convince their bosses for the approval of the funding towards the second cochlear implants for their clients!!!!

Thanks!!!
Dan

Bilateral Implants to be "Gold Standard"....

This is an interesting and "turn of time" article about the difficulties in acquiring second cochlear implants for bilateral hearing....

Click this to read the article

I am hoping someday soon that two cochlear implant will be mandatory instead of single implants. The best way to make that happen will take an act of Congress to change the Medicare guidelines. Most insurances go by Medicare guideline as health care standard.

Comparing the bitrates in iPods

Found an interesting article on comparing the amount of bitrates used in mp3's (128 vs. 256, etc...) and how we can tell the difference, especially as we hear through our cochlear implants.... check here

Amen to Harmony!!!

I have Harmony for two weeks and I love it!!!
Big discoveries:

1) 2 Year Old's: I can understand much better of what my 2 years old said. 2 years old's voices are pretty much in high range so discerning these pitches apart are extremely difficult for me to understand using hearing aids or other processors. With Harmony, I can finally understand what she said!


2) Nature sounds - Heard so many new sounds such as bird songs, crickets, leaves falling, winds blowing, and more. Harmony has widen these sounds even greater and it is amazing to hear more!


3) Conversations: I am very comfortable to make the conversations in very loud places and never a loss for the words.


4) Noises: All the noises (background, white, etc...) is no longer a bottleneck in listening. These goes away when I can focus on listening the conversations or radio.


5) Myself: I am no longer an tired person after 10 hours of listening through the old processors. Harmony helped me greatly to understand the sounds easily!!! I think Harmony helped my brain to process the simulations faster and with less energy, therefore no more being a tired person!!

Happy Listening!!!

Harmony Harmonics, Part II: Inside Concrete Building

BEFORE HARMONY: Being inside the concrete building, is the harshest place for listening. I am in a corner cafe - and I do not like this place, because the walls, floor, ceiling are concrete, which is it is very harsh on my ears. All the echos, talking (actualy they talk loud to get message across) the noises from counter, and more so I do not like being inside of it.

NOW WITH HARMONY: No more unpleasant hearing. It is very bearable to be in the concrete building. I have been inside for almost two hours, working on my laptop without any discomfort and distraction. I am very pleased and and really enjoying being a part of the "cafe" scene.

Harmony Harmonics, Part I: Going Down the Freeway

This is my summary of Harmony experences, which I will be creating over the time:

BEFORE: As I was driving my SUV, I can't even hear the radio or conversation because of all the noise such as road, turbulence, and more.

NOW WITH HARMONY: I can hear the music from the radio very clearly as I drive down the freeway at 70 mph - no more turbulence or road noises at all.

DOUBLE DARE HARMONY: To up the ante on the Harmony's prowess, I rolled down all four windows and I still can hear the music very clearly, and not hearing the sounds of roaring 70 mph winds at all. Is that amazing?!?!?!?! Now I can hear better than anybody!!! Yippee!!!!

Day Three on Harmony Processors

Hi,

This is Day 3 with Harmony Processor. Here are my observations:

1. Very pleasant to hear
2. Very wide spectrum of sounds
3. No backgrounds noise
4. Can hear people taking very clearly
5. Very light and easy on my pinna (ear lobe)
6. Not tired at all during evening after hearing all day

My summary of experiences follows this.....

Thanks for reading this!!!

I got the HARMONY Processors!!!

To all,

I just got 2 Harmony processors, which can be programmed to use HiRes120, a program to use 120 virtual channels on my 16 channels. That's about hundred times more powerful and also can hear thousand more new things everyday!!!!

Yes, I will start making posts to this blog about my Harmony hearing experiences, techinical details, and more.

I am waiting for an appointment with my audiogists - hopefully on Monday morning.

I will be posting images of Harmony processors in a few hours....

Thanks!!!

Dan