Music updates … and other activities

Can you believe it’s October already? My cochlear implants have been activated for six months now, and life is so amazing. Better than it was before because I’ve had the chance to meet so many wonderful people, and explore things I’d never be able to otherwise.

You may not know that I’ve changed career paths … have left behind a career in editing to develop a career in writing instead. It is, after all, what I actually studied and what has been in my heart to do since the age of four. I just never had the courage to follow my dream. And I have to say a big thank you to all my buddies on the Cochlear Community (http://www.cochlearcommunity.com/Daniela) who continually over-inflate my ego by praising my writing – you helped give me the confidence I needed! Thank you! Even if nothing comes of it, I’ll know that I gave it a shot. Funny how your perspective on life changes after cochlear implants, isn’t it? Suddenly, you take nothing for granted. Every day must be cherished.

So I’ve been busy putting the final touches on my first manuscript, but looking forward to writing for children thereafter. Much more fun and creative. I’m also writing and researching a couple of articles for an Australian magazine for cochlear implant recipients and hearing aid users, CICADA, and, as their ‘Melbourne correspondent’, I’ll continue to stay regularly involved with the magazine. 

The Cochlear Ltd research has been on hold for a while, but we are ready to start up again, so looking forward to lots more visits to East Melbourne in the coming weeks. (One thing about working from home these days – I really miss being in the city!)

Have been taking part in some photo shoots for both The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital and The Bionic Ear Institute. I am not the world’s most photogenic person, so no idea how they’ll turn out! Happy to help though, even though posing for pictures can be so awkward.

All is OK on the sound front.  I seem to have been mailing a lot of letters lately, and, I must say, I love hearing the sound of the envelope hitting the others inside. I used to obsessively open the larger parcel slot to make sure my letter had gone all the way in. But now I can hear the envelopes landing! Very cool. I’ve also been indulging in a little breakfast cereal we call ‘Rice Bubbles’, here in Australia. (I believe they are ‘Rice Krispies’ in the US.) And yes … you guessed it. Pretty much so I can hear the ‘snap, crackle, pop’! I am such a kid. :-)

Was due for a six-month mapping later in October, but had to bring it forward to early last week. The MAP on the left side was completely out. It took me a while to realise it, because the MAP on the right side was as good as ever. But Jase pointed out he was having to repeat a lot of things. One night, I took the right processor off so I could rest the side of my head on the arm of the couch while watching TV. And I could not understand TV at all – all the voices sounded muffled, as if they were underwater. Music sounded appalling – steady static running through my favourite songs. But putting the right processor back on seemed to mask a lot of this. I guess that’s one of the perks of being bilateral – you can compare one side to the other, and make judgement calls. Very happy to say that, thanks to my audiologist squeezing me in for an appointment last week, the left MAP is great again!

I’m already a media ambassador for the Bionic Ear Institute, but I recently offered to be a speaker for them as well. I’m pretty excited about the opportunities that might come about from this – I’d really love to help more people by spreading the word about this amazing technology.

The Bionic Ear Institute’s ‘concert project’ that I’ve blogged about before is also well underway now. We had our first meeting on Friday night, and there will be a series of these meetings taking place over the coming months. It gives the composers a chance to meet with cochlear implant recipients, discuss their perceptions of music and play them some sample sounds to find out what works. There were four cochlear implant recipients present, and we all had vastly different opinions on what types of music sound good. But when Eugene, one of the composers, played some percussion instruments for us, we all reached mutual agreement – the Japanese tam-tam sounded great. Hamish, from the Bionic Ear Institute, has written about this in more detail on their ‘Music and Pitch’ blog: http://musicalbionics.wordpress.com/. You can even see a photo of the instrument I’m talking about. (Thanks Hamish!)

From my perspective, I was deeply fascinated to learn of the different musical perceptions from the other cochlear implant recipients. I guess you could say we are at different ends of the musical appreciation scale, and that makes for some interesting discussion. Hopefully we are a good representation of the majority of CI recipients out there.

I’m also really excited to say that you’ll be able to hear some of what was being discussed, and get a feel for the project. We were filmed by the ABC network for a program called ‘Art Nation’. I believe it will air in Australia this Sunday night, but will keep you posted. The television interview will also be globally available online and should feature closed captioning. I will post the link when it becomes available. A few of us were interviewed by the presenter, Fenella Kernebone, so you might finally be able to put some faces to the voices you’ve been hearing on the radio interviews!

Apologies for the lack of blog updates lately … I am pretty confident I’ll be blogging more often once the novel is in better shape! Rest assured that I haven’t disappeared … and am as busy as ever!