New hearing aid

The new hearing aid fitting was last Wednesday. The hearing test for this hearing aid showed the worsening that prompted the CI research and candidacy screening. I will continue to wear this aid in my right ear after the CI is implanted in the left ear.

So the new hearing aid was a Phonak Naida, which went into the better ear, the right ear. It's yet another sound processing algorithm to get used to. Seems to be a mixed bag. I was able to make out someone in a meeting at work that I never could make out before (with lip-reading). But I'm still struggling and getting poor results overall, and can make out very little without visual cues. It has some kind of sound processing enhancement which seems to make speech more clear, especially when I have visual cues. Music sounds very quiet and unsatisfying. Things are less distinct in music with this aid than with the Sumo DM. It seems to have very aggressive compression, meaning I am hearing most sounds in a very limited volume range that is soft-comfortable.

On the CI front, I received the AB information packet I requested just last week. It came by Fed Ex! It has a couple of videos in it which I enjoyed watching. I feel more certain about my choice of device now. Also, I have been reaching out to the CI-borg online community. How great that there will be new friends from this journey, too! One by one, the days count down to the candidacy screening.

I've been practicing listening with my left ear, trying to train it to listen. I put on a song I know in the car, and listen with my left ear only, with the right aid on mute. It is very muffled and indistinct, but I can make out where it is in the song. I can hear the lyrics because I know them already. I really tried to focus on nuances of the music and hear detail. It was pretty muddy and muffled, but I was able to get something out of it. I know the CI will sound nothing like this, but the neural synapses need the exercise anyways. :)

6 days to the screening.

UPDATE:
Took the Adaptive Pitch Test with the new hearing aid. To compare, previously I got 7.2 Hz with the Sumo DM.
First time, 21.6 Hz, Pitch Perception Problem. But the dogs were barking, and I got all messed up. So I took it again.
8.7 Hz.. It starts to supports my perception that everything sounds a little flatter with this aid. Thinking I could do better, I try yet again. This time, I really focus, and replay it as much as I can to decide if the 2nd note is higher or lower. This time I got 2.7 Hz! Normal is 1.5 Hz to 6 Hz. So the hearing aid works, but I need to listen carefully.