This will be my last post, sans an epiphany, until next Wednesday.
This morning my battery was at 34% and rather than risk having to charge it in the middle of the day I opted to charge it first thing. While the charging is painless, the harness used to keep the coil in place over the batter makes no sense to me. I did manage to make it work, but I think it needs some work.
More interestingly, I had a long conversation with Kelly, a guitarist musician, who has both ears implanted. He provided some really great insights and some links for additional information so I have provided them here:
- CI Advocacy Association: https://www.acialliance.org
- Perfect Ear Trainer For Apple: https://apps.apple.com/app/perfect-ear-ear-trainer/id1440768353
- USC Bio Lab – Kelly Flodin: https://sites.usc.edu/bionicearlab/kelly-flodins-story-of-finding-music-again-with-cochlear-implants/
- USC Bionic Ear Lab: https://sites.usc.edu/bionicearlab/the-ci-music-hour
I also communicated with Michael from https://www.echoesofamiracle.com/ about his experience.
Both of these fellow are really nice guys willing to share their knowledge so if you have a little time it is well worth following up those links.
I switched to profile 4 in my implant around noon yesterday. Nothing exceptional. I do notice that my comprehension is improving almost daily, just little things seem clearer and I have to concentrate a little less.
Late yesterday, I practiced the guitar for about an hour as I have a gig coming up. I cannot tell you how happy I was at the sound. Yes, the implant is still distorting but the overall tone was so great it way more than made up for the distortion. It was so much easier to determine pitch with the additional higher frequencies. If this keeps up I won’t need to use a tuner before long and I’ll be able to go back to tuning by ear.
The other thing I’ve noticed, and I was told this would not happen, is that my tinnitus seems to be much reduced, or way less intrusive, than it was before the implant was turned on.
This morning I practiced the piano for an hour. I meant to only be 30 minutes but I have a hard time practicing anything for 30 minutes because I’m just getting warmed up at that point. Before my hand / arm surgery I was practicing the piano 3 to 4 hours a day. My plan now is to be a little more moderate and stick to 30 minutes to an hour and the same for the guitar.
That’s essentially it for now.
If I don’t have a sudden breakthrough, I’ll see you next Wednesday with an update.
God is good. God bless.