Writer and Director
A week after my operation I went back to the hospital. They took the dressings off, did an X-ray and told me I was allowed to wash all the matted blood and dried gunk out of my hair at last. They’ve given me a list of dates from now until March when I’ll have to go into hospital for various switch ons, tune ups and therapy sessions.
Now I’m sitting here looking at an X-ray of my cochlear implant inside my head.
So, I’ve had the operation, and I feel pretty good, considering.
I’m trying to stick to my policy of full disclosure as much as possible without dissembling or rationalising. Especially important in this post, as I’ll be talking about the operation I’ve just been through, and the side effects I’m now living with for the rest of my life.
Continue reading “Billy 2.0 – Failing Ugly”
It’s time we talked about the elephant in the room. I believe there are people out there who don’t agree with my decision to have a cochlear implant.
It’s been interesting to see people’s reactions when I tell them I’m having a bionic ear put in. The looks of mild disappointment, the tacit silences, noncommital shrugs, mutterings of ‘It’s your decision’.
That reaction is mostly from my Deaf friends.
Watch the video above. Its an old film reel from 1928 of the premiere of Charlie Chaplin’s film The Circus. When an eagle eyed historian watched the film’s DVD extras, he spotted a woman walking along, talking into a handheld object near her mouth. There was only one possible explanation – she was a time traveller from the future, talking to someone on her mobile phone.
I don’t know what mobile phone coverage was like in 1928 – I suspect it might have been somewhat patchy – but in the end, it was revealed to be a woman in her 50s, using a handheld hearing aid manufactured in 1925.
Continue reading “Billy 2.0 – If Apple made cochlear implants…”
I’d like to ask you a favour, if you’re reading this. Can you watch the video below, and tell me what speech and music sounds like to you in the comments section below?
There are several clips of speech and music – I’m assuming that the implant I am getting will be closest to the 20 channel samples you hear on the video.
This is an approximation of the sound of a cochlear implant using sound editing software.
Read the comments on the video here. A couple of CI users there who have said that they can hear a marked difference between ‘normal speech’ and that video!
What you may find is that if you listen to the video more than once, the speech and music becomes clearer each time. This is the brain ‘learning’ the sounds for you. This article explains how that works in more detail.
This link may also be interesting. PBS Video
I look forward to your thoughts.