"What do you mean you cannot hear anything?" The audiologist asked in surprise when I reported there has been no process. I made the mistake of relying on the forum and was resigned to the fact that I will have to wait for the three months mark before I could see any progress.
The four weeks did allow me time to think about how my brain was feeling the sounds. I went from "sounds rent the atmosphere" "I hear wrinkles" "silvery stars spike my brain" "I have a mental vu meter" to "my brain is in a chemical bath". I shared the latest description with the audie. The audie understood this better than the "silvery stars" description I used at the activation appointment. She turned off four electrodes and the chemical bath sensation disappeared. The results were immediate. I could actually hear something rather than mere disruptions in silence. My brain no longer quivered. The sound stimuli now goes to the remaining 12 electrodes in the array and there is no loss of sound.
The appointment was a full two hours devoted to tinkering with volume (which was brought way down from the initial mapping) and boosting some sounds. At times the audie would hold up a black covered embroidery hoop to cover her mouth and I would indicate whether I could hear her making sounds. I could not hear the soft ssssss but b's and p's I could. At the end of the appointment she told me what sounds she was making. She also said that while I did not hear all of what she said, I consistently responded to my name, which she threw out a few times. I was relieved when she said that because several times I would look somewhat sharply at her and it unsettled me that I would react that way to what I thought was a non-sound.
