Smart Sounds 2 Upgrade

[thorendor]

On Monday, June 3, I went in for the Smart Sounds 2 upgrade for my cochlear implants. The new programs:
P1: Everyday - ADRO
P2: Noise -  ADRO + ASC
P3: Music -  ADRO + Whisper  (10 Maxima)
P4: Phone and iPod Radio: Same as P1 but sensitivity = 0, and T-Coil on

Some things I noticed over the last week:

1. Office conversations sound crisper and louder, but not too loud. I find myself catching more of the words spoken around me.
   
2. Noise program (P2) was even better suited for listening to car radio talk shows than the previous ASC alone. I did need to raise the Radio volume slightly higher though in order to drown out the car noise. When the road noise is not too high I find I can now use P1 (Everyday) for listening to the radio, whereas before the upgrade I could only use ASC.
3. Locating sound direction seems to have been lost: at work, waiting for the elevators, I can't tell which of the 6 elevators' bell dinged indicating that the doors for a particular elevator would open. I'm still practicing to get this skill back.
4. Comprehension on the phone is improved to the point where my confidence making phone calls is up. I use both P1 and P4 depending on whether I want to be aware of background noise or not.
   
5. For conversations in noisy restaurants, I go back and forth between P1 and P2. I find P2 does a great job reducing background noise, but cuts out voices too much. P1 takes in a lot of the hubbub but allows me to make out voices better.
6. For listening to music on my iPod I'm still trying to decide whether I like P2 with sensitivity at 12 or P3 better. As I'm currently listening to an audiobook (the Life of Pi), I'm using direct audio input with P4 (which automatically goes into the correct mode).
7. Later this month I'll be going dancing and will try out P2 (with sensitivity at 12) and P3 more to see which I like better for live music.

An Aha moment: on Friday I went to see Sex and the City, used assistive listening headset in P4. and I understood more than 85% of the dialog! I was easily able to infer the rest, and amazed myself by could following along with some lyrics during the songs!  This experience reminded me of the  Dame Edna at the Curran theater, but that time had been a live show. This is the first time I've gone to the movies without captions and come away feeling so satisfied.