Have ya heard about the new Harmony?????

My boys don't have the new Advanced Bionics Harmony BTE processors yet, but I've been keeping my eyes open, looking for experiences others have to share w/the new technology. Here's some of what I've found:

Michael Royer's video on YouTube (video is a little shaky): "A brief look into my hearing loss and using the Harmony processor."

Michael Royer's Blog: Where he shares more of his experiences.

The Bionic Sound Project: "Twenty-something female from the united states. lives and breathes for music and sound. profoundly deaf since birth. unknown cause of deafness. bilateral hearing loss between 95-110 dB. type of hearing loss is sensorineural. loss identified at 2 months old, fitted with hearing aids at 4 months old. mainstreamed entire life. learned sign at age 17. tried for FDA trial in 1997, missed cutoff by 1% due to doing too well. has gone through the evaluation process at least 4 times, and got scared. finally took the plunge and implanted july 2006." Blog.

A Music Lover's CI Journey Very neat reading.

Other CI stuff:

What a CI Is, How it Works: Great little video, great info.

Tehya's Activation: "The day that we had been waiting for - FINALLY! We were all very excited during the session and were thrilled that Tehya had the reaction she did." Video.

Jodi Speaks Her Mind: A blog that includes info on how her implanted daughter is doing. I love my boys, but this little girl is so cute!

Cochlear Animation: VERY neat video clip.

Bionic Ear Buddy with CI Equipment

Yes! You, too, can be the proud owner of an implanted little monkey! Click here for more info...

We received one of these when Little Guy was implanted, but I'm thinking about getting another. Believe it or not, in my very chaotic home, we have yet to loose Bionic Buddy's processors. Not yet, anyway. ;)

Devon on Young and Restless gets his Cochlear Implant Activated!

Oh, my gosh. I was going to wait and post later, but I'm watching the CI activation on The Young and Restless right now, and I'm in tears. Goosebumps. Totally.

I'm taping the show on my computer right now (Yeah for TV tuner Bday present!). I don't know how to post what I tape, but I can figure it out and I will post the activation scenes later. Wow. How VERY COOL!

Yeah! Here they are! Hey, sorry for the poor video quality, best this tired mom could do. AND if the closed captioning bothers you, just think about how frustrating it would be if you RELIED on the captioning. I included the captioning for a reason. ;)

Online Sign Language Lessons

I've had some friends say they want to learn sign language. That's COOL! Here are some online sites that will help them, and you if you're interested, too.

Handspeak: "Handspeak™ is a subscription-based website, consisting of American Sign Language (ASL) online dictionary, lessons and resources, including Baby Sign, International Sign Language, Emoticon + Bodicon (facial expression + body language), gestures, manual alphabet (fingerspelling) and numeral, Sign stories and arts."

American Sign Language Browser: video clips of signs

ASL Pro

Lesson Tutor: pictures of signs, words and more

Signing Online: "We offer web-based courses, designed to effectively teach you American Sign Language (ASL) at your own pace from anywhere in the world. The courses focus on conversational ASL and make extensive use of digital video to demonstrate the visual nature of signing. The courses are perfect for anyone wanting to learning ASL. State Board Approved Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are available to educators and Continuing Education (CEs) contact hours are available for nurses."

If you are learning sign for your job, or taking a course at school, I would HIGHLY recommend checking out the fee-based sites. They may be a great way to supplement what you are already learning.

While we DO sign in our house, we are also very consistent with helping our children increase their auditory and oral skills, too. I will try to post some sites and programs I've found helpful in that area, as well. ;)

My "Head Shot"

This is just an example of what I do when bored, putzing around with my Photoshop CS2. ;)

I got the idea from the book cover in the previous post. My oldest son has the CII internal part, but my youngest son has the 90K. The 90K lays much flatter in his head. The surgery for this one took less time, only had a tiny bit of his hair removed, and left a much less visible scar than the procedure with the CII. Both boys are using Hi-Res programming with their processors.

This pic only took a few minutes, really. I haven't had much time to mess around on the computer lately, but wanted to get my idea down. I have a few more ideas, should probably sketch them out before I forget them.

Four Minute Video About Cochlear Implants

HOW COOL IS THIS?????

Michael Chorost wrote the book Rebuilt: How Becoming Part Computer Made Me More Human. BTW, VERY interesting book.

But NOW on his website, he has recently blogged about a video he's in:

Anyway, here’s a cool video the Exploratorium, a science museum in San Francisco, made about cochlear implants, starring yours truly. It went up a few weeks ago and I only had a chance to watch it just now.

Before you click "play" to watch the video, to the right you'll find links to other great videos and information. Once you DO choose to watch the video, there will be links on the right to watch it with subtitles, or to download the video and transcript.

Enjoy! ;)

Using the FM and Closed Captioning for Movies

This is the FM transmitter set up next to the TV's speakers.
Normally the teacher wears this part at school.

This is the tiny, wireless FM receiver hooked up to Matt's CI.
Very small and convenient.

We have two Phonak Microlink FM sets for the boys to use in conjunction with their cochlear implants. I'm a firm believer that this is one of the most significant reasons Matt is doing so well in mainstreamed education right now.

Right now Matt and Chris are watching X-Men 3: The Last Stand, and his FM is helping him with that, too. He's told me that he understands what is being said on TV, but when there is background noise (thanks to his wonderful brothers), I know he has more difficulties with hearing what is actually said. So tonight I've put the FM transmitter microphone next to the TV speakers AND set up subtitles for the movie as well. He LOVES this now and wants it for ALL movies! He's had his CI for over five years and his FM system for two years now. Why haven't I done this in the past?

FYI, the subtitles in this movie are more accurate than the closed captioning type. Don't ask me why, I don't understand. I played both at the same time and found out that the closed captioning type seemed to lag behind the subtitle print, leaving a gap between hearing the words and reading them. Matt didn't like this, he found it confusing to hear and read the text at different times (no duh, eh?).

I am love, love, LOVING the CI/FM combo. Now if only the good doc had implanted a LISTENING CHIP in to my son's head, then we'd truly be in bliss. Matt can hear well, but as most normal boys, he still doesn't "listen" to me. Especially when I ask him to walk the dog.

HA! I just had a sarcastically funny MOM thought. Maybe some nice engineer could program the processor to send a signal when I'm speaking to Matt and he's not responding, "Matt, your mother is talking to you. We KNOW you can hear her now. Please pay attention." ;)