Life Before Cancer, Part 6

Before I get into speech therapy, Al raised a great point. A point about sounds startling me or scaring me. Thats a good point and I am going to explore it, thanks for bringing that up Al 8)

What you are referring to is Aural Habilitation. This is the process of being taught how to understand sounds. When you are able to hear for the first time a lot of sounds not only startle you, but placing where they came from is also a challenge. When I say placing, I dont mean what created the sound, but what I am talking about is what location it came from. Sounds coming from behind me can be difficult as well as sounds coming from the left or right. Its a lot easier when you know its right in front of you but when something makes a noise and you cant see where it came from, it can be tough to comprehend.

Also, keep in mind that things like sarcasm, anger, sadness and other emotions are very difficult to figure out. I find sarcasm the hardest of all because it involves not only understanding the tone of the voice, but also the words. For that reason, I often do not click in when someone is being sarcastic with me. I can figure it out when they use ASL but not when they actually speak.

Other things that can be hard to deal with are telephones. I find that unless the line is very clear, I can sometimes find myself not completely sure of what is being said to me and so I have to listen closer. I also find CD's are a little tough too sometimes when music and words are combined. Sometimes the music is clear but if the voice of the singer is not terribly clear, I can struggle with it.

Aural habilitation is done with a specialist and it involves things like using the phone, listening to CD's and books on tape, reading out loud or listening to someone read short things and then repeating it back. The goal is to get you to the point where you can train your hearing to be able to make out words and sounds and not only determine what they are, but also where they are coming from.

One thing Al said is very true. All the little sounds that you take for granted or maybe have just trained yourself not to listen to (Like your spouse's voice LOL) for me are much more distracting and startling. You may not find a dripping tap to be a big deal but to me it is a major nuissance. Rustling trees, pants rubbing together, people chewing loud crunchy food, debris blowing down a street, anything like that. I guess you would call them environmental sounds, and you probably tune them out but I dont. I hear them, and I dont take them for granted.

LiveSTRONG!