Encouragement from an Auditory-Verbal Therapist

Note: I just found this as only a *draft* in my list of posts. Oops. It's dated 4/7/07. Kind of old but still interesting.
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I talked to an Auditory-Verbal Therapist this past week, to get some suggestions on how to improve my hearing skills with music with my implant. She said that I'm at a place she hopes to get to with her clients after 2-3 years...and it has been ONE YEAR past my activation date! I was SO encouraged! It totally lifted my sense of impatience with myself over not hearing pitch very well yet.

She said what I'm talking about is really fine tuning compared to most of the work she does. And it just takes the brain TIME to learn all this stuff. So, keep listening, and be patient with my brain--just like I am with my preschoolers. They work with the materials many many times before they internalize the concept it teaches. The same must be allowed for my brain as it is learning this whole new skill of hearing with an electronic signal rather than an auditory one. Yes, my life experiences as a hearing person greatly enhance my progress, making it astounding and rapid--which is blessing to celebrate.

She suggested listening to tapes of a single speaker doing multiple voices, to learn to discriminate better, and to listen to more female speakers on tapes/CDs. She also said to get a really good set of speakers for my computer, like Bose or something that quality, so I get the best chance to hear.

I still have to play with it more; I've ordering a new neckloop. It is so amazing to realize that my hearing will only continue to get BETTER with the CI. I am in awe of how God allows scientists to grow in their understanding of nature and especially the human body and how it works. Even this amazing piece of technology in my ear is only a mere shadow of the wonder of the original creation. But it WORKS! That is just so cool.