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Auditory Training for Long-Term Deafness?
AnDarkon asks: "I've recieved a cochlear implant about a year ago and I'm looking for material with which to train my hearing after 33 years of deafness. The material I'm interested in would help develop my speech recognition abilities. My hearing is already 100% at 30 decibels. It's the understanding speech part that is taking more time. I've looked high and low online and offline for literature that would provide information where I could train myself, on my own or with a hearing partner, to recognize general speech.
There are some adult literature, but they're generally directed towards adults who have hearing experience and only recently lost their hearing. After 33 years, I'm pretty much starting from scratch, very new to hearing, more than a newborn baby (the baby starts hearing while in the womb.) I've found some aids such as text-to-speech readers and Microsoft Agents very helpful. Any advice my way would greatly benefit and, hopefully, for other cochlear implant users with similar experiences like me."
The first idea that popped to my mind which seems relatively easy is to watch dvds with the subtitling on.
RA
I sometimes think that God, in creating man, somewhat overestimated his ability. -- Oscar Wilde
Don't you think it would be better to ask a doctor or other medical professional than a bunch of computer nerds?
rooooar
I'm really not qualified to answer that since I've really no idea what it must be like. But since this is slashdot...
- language lessons: the tapes or CDs that come with language lessons start slowly and then gradually increase speed. And you'll get something that is well pronounced and free from noise.
- Audio books: Buy some audio books and buy the printed books too. Then read along while listening to the tape. Be careful some audio books don't include the full text, so be sure to choose an unabridged version or it will be useless for reading along.
Audio books are going to be harder to follow than language lessons, but I have no idea of what you can currently do.
True warriors use the Klingon Google
It's great that you're able to hear, it must be wonderful to finally hear all these things which previously were silent (were you completely deaf?).
:)
As the other guy said you really should be asking a professional rather than a bunch of nerds. Go do some research and find out where the specialists are, in hospitals or universities. If you make a good case they might use you for a study, it certainly seems interesting enough.
As for slashdot advice, buy some dvds and watch them with the subtitles on. Watch the same movie over and over again so you can get used to it, then try a few scenes and try to read the subtitles with the actors on the screen. You also need someone to help you and give you feedback. Most likely you aren't speaking properly so you should work on that as much as you work on understanding. Watch DVD's is great slashdot advice
Learning with speach text recognition software is probably not a good idea because they don't speak naturally.
If you're trying to retrain, my first advice is to unlearn some of what you've learned in your 33 years of silence. Don't try to rely too much on the Internet for speech and listening training. The online world is a great place for a deaf person (since so little of it lives on the audio channel) but for learning to hear, there's no place like the Real World.
I'd recommend venturing out into places where speech is the local currency. Find someplace where the people are not busy and obligated to be there and talk to them. For example, head into the local WalMart. Say hello to the greeter and ask where the shoes or restrooms are. (I'm sure you already know, but you'll have the spoken answer to compare.)
Flea Markets are another good resource for this; you'll not only learn to understand the variety of speech, but to recognise words among the noises of a crowd.
Another example; phone the friendly people who answer a phone for a living; pizza order takers, airline reservation clerks and (I'm gonna get modded down for this) tech support bobs. These are people who make a living by understanding others and communicating clearly.
Above all, don't worry that other people may have problems understanding you; anyone who's lived for a day in this world has encountered people who have trouble making themselves understood. I get callers all the time who can't speak clearly or can't understand what I say no matter how clearly (or how loudly, or how many times) I say it. Sometimes the problem is language or accent, sometines it's a physical problem, sometings it's just bad phone lines, or the effects of one party or the other being drunk. (Um, that didn't come out right.)
Also, understand that the skills you've learned to communicate when you could not hear means that you can now out-communicate most of the people in the world, even if verbal communication is not your strong suit. Be gracious; don't put the rest of us to shame.
The thing about things we don't know is we often don't know we don't know them.
Hearing and listening are skills which take many years to master. Since you are making a conscience effort at it, You'll probably be better tham most in a few years.
Take time to get used to hearing all sounds, not just speech. Music uses rhythm, articulation, pitch and tempo just as speech does. This should also break up the more tedious aspects of learning this new skill.
Work at it daily. Don't try too much and then get burned out. Pace yourself.
The best way to learn an idiom is to participate in it. It sounds like you're doing that already. Be patient and enjoy sounds. Maybe take a break from them every now and then (since you can). I know the omnipresence of sound can be burdonesome at first.
It would seem to me that the best thing to do is to do nothing at all, or rather, just what feels natural.
Or maybe just do what a baby does, watch lips and babble. It might not be the most manly thing in the world to do, but it seems to work.
No doubt the hordes of neurons responsible for your audio processing are going to have a field day with all this new input, and I imagine it will take them some time to figure it all out.
Relax, take it slow, and don't force it would be my humble opinion.
Have you been signing exclusively? If you haven't been talking in a while, you might experience something interesting. Since talking and thinking share the same "memory address" in your brain (gross simplification), you might find your ability to concentrate dwindle.
By the way, do you keep a journel? I'd love to read about your experience.
I hope everything works out for you!