off the grid
I took a week's vacation this week and we took our popup camper up to my brother's cabin. He is surrounded by thirty acres of unoccupied forest, so it's quiet and the only people we saw all week were ourselves, my brother on the weekend, and on Wednesday we drove into town for lunch and to replenish some critical items (ice and water, the basics.)
So I wasn't talking to as many people, just my husband and brother, but we have a portable solar panel that kept me able to do my rehab. I listened to an audiobook. I enjoyed it, but was a bit put off by the reader. He had some pronunciation quirks, and got the cadence of the author's writing wrong. When I read, it's like hearing the author speak. The rhythm and pacing is there, in my head. This guy just got it wrong, and it pulled me out of the narrative on a fairly regular basis.
On the other hand, I could hear well and by the end of the book could hear without following along in the print book. The only words I was missing were fairly uncommon ones, technical terms and that sort of thing.
I also brought some music and listened to that for a while. This I was really happy with, it was much clearer than I've been accustomed to in the car, but I don't know if it's that I'm hearing more clearly or if it's just because I was using a neckloop, which pretty much pipes the music (or the audiobook) right into my head. I suspect that some of the difficulty that I have in the car is external noise. Traffic, the tires on the road. I could pair the neckloop to my car's Bluetooth; it would actually not even be unsafe since there's a setting on my CI's remote called MT which lets me hear sounds from both the telecoil and the microphone. I could hear the music better without blocking out other sounds like sirens that I might want to hear.
I did have an issue with my processor not working yesterday. We were in the car driving home and it gave me the dead battery beep and turned off. OK, I thought, and put in new batteries (I used disposable batteries this week so as to avoid having yet another device - the battery charger - to recharge). Five minutes later, same again. OK, I thought, maybe the batteries are duds. Five minutes later, same again. Took out my backup processor, put the same batteries, battery holder and battery cover on that, and it worked fine. So it's possible that the extreme humidity - there was a damn monsoon up there on Thursday night - may have done something to the processor. I've run it through two cycles in the dry box and will test it later today. Worst case, I take it with me to the audiologist appointment that I already have in a week and a half.
Overall, though, I'm feeling pretty good about the state of my rehab given that we were hermits all week long. It's discernible progress.
So I wasn't talking to as many people, just my husband and brother, but we have a portable solar panel that kept me able to do my rehab. I listened to an audiobook. I enjoyed it, but was a bit put off by the reader. He had some pronunciation quirks, and got the cadence of the author's writing wrong. When I read, it's like hearing the author speak. The rhythm and pacing is there, in my head. This guy just got it wrong, and it pulled me out of the narrative on a fairly regular basis.
On the other hand, I could hear well and by the end of the book could hear without following along in the print book. The only words I was missing were fairly uncommon ones, technical terms and that sort of thing.
I also brought some music and listened to that for a while. This I was really happy with, it was much clearer than I've been accustomed to in the car, but I don't know if it's that I'm hearing more clearly or if it's just because I was using a neckloop, which pretty much pipes the music (or the audiobook) right into my head. I suspect that some of the difficulty that I have in the car is external noise. Traffic, the tires on the road. I could pair the neckloop to my car's Bluetooth; it would actually not even be unsafe since there's a setting on my CI's remote called MT which lets me hear sounds from both the telecoil and the microphone. I could hear the music better without blocking out other sounds like sirens that I might want to hear.
I did have an issue with my processor not working yesterday. We were in the car driving home and it gave me the dead battery beep and turned off. OK, I thought, and put in new batteries (I used disposable batteries this week so as to avoid having yet another device - the battery charger - to recharge). Five minutes later, same again. OK, I thought, maybe the batteries are duds. Five minutes later, same again. Took out my backup processor, put the same batteries, battery holder and battery cover on that, and it worked fine. So it's possible that the extreme humidity - there was a damn monsoon up there on Thursday night - may have done something to the processor. I've run it through two cycles in the dry box and will test it later today. Worst case, I take it with me to the audiologist appointment that I already have in a week and a half.
Overall, though, I'm feeling pretty good about the state of my rehab given that we were hermits all week long. It's discernible progress.
You have a portable solar panel?!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds as though you are still progressing. I almost hesitate to ask, but does the music sound like music? Does it sound anything like you remember from before you started losing your hearing?
I agree with sometimes not liking the way someone reads an audiobook. One guy in particular, who reads one of my favorite mystery series puts pauses in weird places. Pauses might even be too strong; maybe slight hesitations is more accurate. It’s like he is not familiar with the material and doesn’t quite pace his breathing to coincide with the natural breaks of periods and commas.