Lipreading Practice

Pride goes before a fall

07 December 2017

Having done so well Tuesday, I was hoping it would be the same at last night’s big event.  Unfortunately, although I coped very well in the reception area when we went into dinner I really struggled. I think the difference was that there was no carpet to deaden some of the background noise.  Also, everybody that I needed to speak to was either in front of me or on my left. My cochlear implant is on the right!  However, it was an interesting evening and I was with my husband who was able to keep me up to date. I wish that I could have heard better though.  We very privileged to be sitting with a father and his daughter who were survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire! He had knocked on all the doors of his floor and everyone was able to get out because of his action. His young daughter was equally inspirational, taking her exams the day after the fire and getting amazingly high marks.  It was an honour to meet them and they received a standing ovation.  I do hope life is good to them in the future, they both deserve it!! 

Well for me it is back to the drawing board.   I have my last retune this Saturday and must use all my experiences to ensure that I ask for the right tuning.   I feel that I need more base frequency to give me a more balanced overall sound. I must also make time to practice listening against a very noisy background.   I have a few more sessions with my tutor and then unless I ask for some more practice I will be “signed off”.  

I cannot tell you what an amazing difference it has made to my life even though I had a bit of setback last night (It was difficult for everyone).  I feel that I smile a lot more. I feel that I can initiate a conversation and that with my improved hearing and my lipreading skills I will be able to take an active part. We are out again tonight – only to a local pub/restaurant.  There will seven of us, which is for a large group for me AND there will be background noise.   Wait and see. 

You may be interested to know that recently the MP’s debated hearing loss issues. It is great to see deaf issues being discussed in Parliament, where MPs were debating Access to Work, legal recognition of BSL as a language and the implementation of a national plan on hearing loss. I wrote to my MP about this today and hope that at last hearing loss will receive some positive attention.  Will keep you posted about these events in a new blog if there is anything to report. 

Let’s see what today brings.