Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007

How am I doing, 8 days after bi-lateral surgery
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 A lot of people asks me how I am doing, so I better post an update If you want to know more about Cochlear-implants, click linked image below to read more… Compared to the first surgery I underwent in 2009, this operation was a walk in the park. My surgeon specializes in gentle surgery, and [...]
Thu, Jan 26 2012

Second implant in place
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 The second implant is now in place, and all went well. Today is 2 days after operation and I’m a little dizzy and not feeling great. Almost like a little hangover. I didn’t sleep much the first night, and avoided sleeping during the first day. I slept through last night, 9 hours. Priority now is [...]
Fri, Jan 20 2012

New insights, new perspectives.
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 In terms of becoming deaf, I have now been working for some time on becoming a hearing person again. Mostly it has been about taking my life back, but at the same time, my auditory senses are getting better and more used to the new situation. As becoming deaf was a traumatic, frustrating, depressing [...]
Tue, Jan 17 2012

A new chapter, at last…
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 Been a very long pause in my blogging. Has been a very eventful year (actually it’s more like 6 months ) since my last blog-entry was posted. I write this on my mobile phone, hence the shortness of text and expressions. Here are the highlights: Unilateral hearing is pretty good. Downside is tinnitus and problem [...]
Sat, Jan 14 2012

Your head hurts, but you don’t bleed part II
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 The tinnitus continues to be a real challenge. It is not freaking me out, I refuse to freak out because of it. That would mean to give in to the dark side. But it is a genuine stone in my mental shoe, as well as an extra hurdle in my efforts to be a social [...]
Thu, Jul 28 2011

Your head hurts, but you don’t bleed. Status medio 2011.
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 Many things to write now. First of all, I kept my promise to myself to let go a little of this whole hearing/CI thing in my thoughts. That is reflected in the lack of postings herein lately. It has been successful, I spend less time and effort fighting the “inevitable”. My energy has been aimed [...]
Thu, Jul 28 2011

Michael Chorost explains the concept of Cochlear Implants.
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 The Author of “Rebuilt”, Michael Chorost was recently captured in a video interview published on YouTube. I found his explanations so elegantly put, that they should be viewed by everyone interested. A lot of information, but at the same time, very elegantly put and easily understandable. Hope you enjoy these: it’s divided into four videos, [...]
Thu, Apr 28 2011

Something wonderful happened today
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 I am having Easter with my parents, and have my son with me too. The weather is just incredible, with temperatures over 20°C and sunshine. It’s almost like summertime! Since my first CI surgery, I have had a steady progress with both learning what sounds means, and understanding speech. Of course, my tinnitus makes it [...]
Thu, Apr 21 2011

Useful comparison chart
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 The brand-independent and informational website, Cochlear Implant Online recently posted a comparison chart of the three CI-manufacturers products. I haven’t studied it, but at first glance it seems appropriate to anybody trying to get an overview of the CI-market. Kudos to the girls running Cochlear Implant Online ! Here is the link to the actual [...]
Wed, Jan 19 2011

Tired of being tired
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 Hello world I know it has been a while since I posted, and it has been intentionally. I need to focus on other things than my problems, including my hearing difficulties. I need to just live my life I think that is the best medicine right now. I have therefore decided to take a long [...]
Wed, Nov 10 2010

Shy? Investigating social phobia…
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 Social phobia, also know as social anxiety, is the third largest psychological problem in the world today... This diagnosis has a higher representation among people with hearing difficulties (and other populations segments), than in the average population. This site offers more information: [link] Background: Katharine Cecilia Peterson (Kate for short, brief pre...
Sun, Aug 29 2010

Summa summarum
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 I will in near future speak to a group of people with special interest in CI. This group will consist of both professionals and other fellow cyborgs. In regards to this speech, I was approached by a fellow speaker at the same conference, and she asked about what I would talk about. As I wrote [...]
Wed, Aug 18 2010

Two announcements in Norwegian (to my Norwegian readers)
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 Til mine norske lesere: Jeg skal på to konferanser i den nærmeste fremtid og håper å se dere der også! Vi må snakke sammen! Konferanse 1: “Å leve med Cochlea Implantat (CI) - kurs for voksne pasienter og deres pårørende” v. Lærings- og mestringssenteret Rikshospitalet Tid: 1. og 2. september 2010 Sted: Nasjonalt senter [...]
Sat, Aug 07 2010

Clear Voice™ – and more thorough thoughts
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 Shortly after my last blog post I adjusted the Clear Voice™ from a medium setting, to low, following the first two weeks of trying it in the medium setting. I absolutely found the medium setting useful in noisy environments, but could not use it while in a non-polluted environment. It simply takes away too much [...]
Thu, Jul 15 2010

A critical review of Clear Voice™ – and other things
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 First of all, let me introduce Advanced Bionics Clear Voice™. Then I want you all to know that I have tried and used this software product less than a week. And I absolutely love it But; it is not perfect. It is designed to do it’s job in noisy surroundings, to help bringing out human [...]
Tue, Jun 29 2010

More brainwork – 3 important personal discoveries
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 I’m progressing well with my hearing capability, and 4 weeks after my 6 month tune-up, we’ve seen and detected some real progress in my capability to distinguish some really similar sounds. Similarly sounding vowels can be hard to distinguish when accompanied by certain consonants either before or after that vowel. She has many lists of [...]
Mon, May 03 2010

Insight through peers
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 A little while ago I received a comment on this blog. Richard Rutherford had something very important to share. I feel compelled to provide his thoughts to you all, in it’s own post. The initial reason for that is because of what he put his finger on: the issue of audism related to self destruction-mechanisms. [...]
Sat, Apr 24 2010

Life is getting easier
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 I feel less commitment to this blog now, and for that I’m sorry. But as things develop in regards to the CI, so does my life. The hearing falls slowly into place, and I can start to concentrate on other more “mundane” (but still very important!) things This is a good thing for [...]
Wed, Apr 07 2010

The difference between “recruitment” and tinnitus
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 I just want to be very clear on the difference between these two phenomena. They’re both auditory sensory related, but have some significant differences. Tinnitus is best described as phantom sounds. The sounds are audible to the one affected individual only, and there is no way to measure tinnitus scientifically. Only thing I can think of, [...]
Mon, Mar 22 2010

What happened with the “recruitment”?
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 I got this question from a reader (Candy): Kim's post send me here, and I really like your post. What gets me amazed is that I do have that problem some of the time and I never knew there was a word for it! Do you have implants now? [...]
Fri, Mar 12 2010

Tinnitus stress management and other things CI
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 Spring is right around the corner and the sun is shining upon us again This winter has been put to very good use by yours truly. I’ve learned to hear again! I consolidated with my fabulous girlfriend, and we have purchased an apartment together I got a better [...]
Tue, Mar 09 2010

Unrealistic Expectations from the World? Audism?
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 What do people expect from me? They expect me to participate in social activities and to be part of the “common consciousness”. That is a fair expectation in my opinion. In this blog post I want to take a look at some circumstances and obstacles concerning these expectations. I think it will be wise [...]
Wed, Feb 24 2010

Tinnitus management course step 1
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 As promised, I will write about the tinnitus management course I’m following. First of all, this is not a miracle cure. The tinnitus will not go away. It is a way to provide me with the mental skill to control the tinnitus through relaxation and focusing on mental images in order to suppress the tinnitus [...]
Mon, Feb 08 2010

Stress, stress management, tinnitus and the road ahead
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 Dedicated to funnyoldlife, who is having her first CI on february 25th! Good luck to you! In the last few months I have been increasingly aware of the impact stress has and HAS HAD on me. In this post I will get into the subject of stress related to my hearing history and to sound-triggered stress [...]
Fri, Feb 05 2010

Skratch – no quantum leap
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 Yeay! I have been impatient and dismayed the last few weeks due to little or no felt progress with the sound, or rather, speech perception capability with my CI. But here’s the thing: It IS improving! Only now the improvement is unnoticeable on a day to day or week to week basis. But I could track [...]
Sat, Jan 30 2010

Sound 5 month post-activation + testing binaurality
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 I know I aired some frustration in my last post two days ago about not being able to track any progress (sound wise). This lack of detecting progress is partly my own fault, I haven’t been up to speed about my listening-training. To my defense I have to say I’ve been swamped in everyday life [...]
Sun, Jan 10 2010

Bad “hear” days and other things
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 Happy New year everyone! I am a bit frustrated these days, and that frustration has several sources. I feel a bit stagnated and stuck, I can’t track any sound improvement. On the contrary I feel like sliding backwards every time I’m a bit tired. It is like this: when I’m tired, my brain has less [...]
Fri, Jan 08 2010

My first bionic Christmas, anno 2009
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 Christmas is creeping up on us again This year it will bring a whole new dimension for me. I can engage in social activities with my family without “burning out” before the presents are handed out by Santa Claus. I look forward to this years Christmas, as opposed to the last few years [...]
Wed, Dec 23 2009

Rewiring my brain – altering the language system?
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 How a person understand and interpret speech is an extremely complex process involving the synaptic responses to the physics of sound, neural activity in the nervous system and brain, and ultimately the processing of those neural impulses in various regions of our brain. Scientists have started mapping those regions of our brains by watching what [...]
Thu, Dec 03 2009

(This was supposed to be) Log no. 11 – day 61 (or so) – 3...
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 Whew! I was right in the middle of the process of writing a new post when it hit me: I woke up Sunday morning, and had severe vertigo and nausea. I had trouble getting to the bathroom, and when I got there I was so sick I had to puke. It took a few [...]
Fri, Nov 27 2009

Sound, sound, sound
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 Sorry for not updating so often anymore, but life is happening, and I have other very life-normal important things to focus on, too Sound is getting better and better in my CI. I need a new mapping, and ordered a session for it and got it fairly quickly. Unfortunately I didn’t receive word about [...]
Fri, Nov 06 2009

Log no 10 – day 41 – Different kind of tired, stress, and...
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 Last 2 weeks I had a throat infection, giving me sleeping trouble at night, due to irritation in the airways causing a lot of coughing. But two interesting discoveries emerged from this condition. The first thing was that since I got my CI, I am, of course, still tired from the strain of learning to [...]
Tue, Oct 20 2009

Log no. 9 – day 37 – Progress, progress and future...
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 When going uphill you eventually get to the top! Recent CI-moments: * Had a family dinner with only the CI the whole time for the first time ever. First time I didn’t feel totally wiped out after a family congress I could follow the conversation somewhat by also utilizing lip-reading (which I’m very used [...]
Fri, Oct 16 2009

CI-activation log no. 8 – day 25 – Unbalance
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 The ever constant dueling between my two brain halves… See the summary at the very end of this post too Hearing aid hearing CI-hearing The sound waves produced by my hearing aid triggers the few remaining hair-cells in my left cochlea, forming sound sensations in my right brain half I got CI-electronic impulses entering my right cochlea, [...]
Mon, Oct 05 2009

Hearing Loss Demonstrator
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 I wish I came across this many years ago… HearLoss is an interactive Windows PC program for demonstrating to normally hearing people the effects of hearing loss. With HearLoss you can replay speech, music and noise under a variety of loudness, filtering and masking conditions typical of hearing impairments. Best of all you can interactively change [...]
Sat, Oct 03 2009

CI-activation log no. 7 – day 12 – first re-mapping and...
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 Wow, has it really only been 12 days since I walked out from the hospital fitted with a new bionic ear? It feels like a much longer time ago, and so much has happened! Both in my inner self and with the CI-hearing! I hear trickling and splashing water from fountains very good, and I [...]
Tue, Sep 22 2009

Video that says a lot about my situation too
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 This video says a lot! I find my own situation identical to these guy’s. Everything they say, even at the activation is something I certainly can identify with! The shhh sound is amazing Amazing video! Made by Rebecca Haimowitz. Enjoy!
Fri, Sep 18 2009

CI-activation log no. 6 – day 8 – new test and weird...
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 Time for my first self-assessment test one week after the initial activation and only 5 days after completing the primary adjustments. The change is remarkable when I think about it… No sounds made sense that first day, and they made just as little sense on day 4, but then the brain kicked into [...]
Wed, Sep 16 2009

CI-activation log no. 5 – first week – Impressions and...
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 I should be resting, but have so much to share, I need to unload a little First of all, thanks to everyone who leaves comments and messages! The comments are all read and appreciated! It’s just that it takes a little effort to answer then, and right now I’m in survival mode… Nothing but [...]
Tue, Sep 15 2009

CI-activation log no. 4 – day 5 – Initial shakedown
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 Wow, what a week! I’m very tired now, but need to put some impressions onto writing… Have already had many CI-moments, here are the ones I remember now: the dogs at my mom; when they walk on the hardwood floor they give off a ticking sound for every step. I can detect them moving with sound [...]
Sun, Sep 13 2009

CI-activation log no. 3 – day 3 – 2nd auditory self...
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 Date of test: 09.09.2009 (1,5 and 6 kHz is the frequencies of my tinnitus, hard to hear the test-tone) I’m only using wire connection now, in order to get the exact same test environments every time. Since yesterday I have discovered new sounds: the wall clock (electronic with analog display), the phone ringing, keys jingling and the [...]
Fri, Sep 11 2009

CI-activation log no. 2 – day 1 and 2 – 1st auditory self...
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 These values that I test on myself are values based on this resource: [link] The scores are from the chart on that page. The sound-level on my laptop HP HDX18 will be set to the value of 74 every time I do this test. My CI’s volume wheel is set to exact the middle position (turning all [...]
Wed, Sep 09 2009

CI-activation log no. 2 – day 1 – 2nd tuning session and...
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 While waiting for the audio physicist, we sat face to face with a girl whom we also had seen the day after my surgery. She was due for surgery that day, and anyway, we started talking, and turns out she was activated today too. We had a good laugh about the Morse-code beeps and bips. [...]
Tue, Sep 08 2009

CI-activation log no. 1 – day1 1st impressions
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 OK, finally activated!I'm only one hour into my CI-era, and I sit at a hospital canteen-table next to my good girl, Mette. Her hand is lying warm on my thigh, relaxing me. I start off very easy, all my sound settings on the Advanced Boinics computer programme “Soundwave” are set at the bottom. It seems I'm [...]
Mon, Sep 07 2009

Goodbye old life – Hello new life! (?)
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 Wow… I’m still here! More than 4 long years after the neurons (picture on the left) in my brain formed the thought of getting a Cochlear Implant for the first time, I’m finally here. At the doorstep of a new reality. A new perception of the world of sounds promising improved social interaction and perhaps even [...]
Sat, Sep 05 2009

Diving with HIRes90K?
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 Have had a long wait for answer about my question about diving with the HIRes90K implant. Both sources have given me the same answer, Advanced Bionics has tested the implant to only 2 ATM, equivalent to 10 m below surface (33ft). With “no plans to change the recommendations”. I find this very dissappointing, since I’m [...]
Mon, Aug 31 2009

Tinnitus maximus terrorismus
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 Have to adress this issue of tinnitus again. Hope you don’t get bored of it… (I am bored of it myself… sigh…) I’ve had my share of tinnitus before the operation, to the extent of it becoming a psychological burden and problem. Sleep deprivation, energy-draining, thought- and concentration-disturbing etc. etc. Post-surgery I’ve had attacks of tinnitus [...]
Fri, Aug 28 2009

Attitude, prejudice and ignorance
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 I have an assertion: I believe that most people with hearing disabilities are better LISTENERS than many normal hearing individuals! Our (hearing disabled) minds twists and works the different possible meanings much more than they would in a normal individual’s brain, because we have to constantly question and confirm what we think we apprehended. Thus [...]
Tue, Aug 18 2009
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Post-Surgery and The Day after
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 Last thing I did before getting out of the hospital bed was to eat two slices of bread, they observed that I could hold it, and was then released. But they insisted I stay in the hospital hotel, also because Prof. laurent wanted to check my wound early next morning. Food at the hotel was the [...]
Thu, Aug 06 2009

On the operating-table
Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 First of all: I had the fortune of being accompanied by my girlfriend throughout the ordeal. Thank you for being with me; Mette! Love you hon! We got up at 0530 in order to be present at the hospital no matter what at 0700. This was the day I had been waiting for for 4 [...]
Sat, Aug 01 2009