Hi Koray,
Your explanation is very concise. Thanks.
According to your comments, you have a very good hearing in your good side, as I do. Thanks God!. The first time I went to Sonitus for the trial, in the questionnaire they requested me to fill it out, they asked about the needs in quiet situations, my responses where that I practically didn’t need any aid in those situations because my hearing was pretty good. I am SSD three years now and I thought I needed the aid only in noisy environments, because in that kind of situations I feel completely deaf since I can't hear anything clear, all that I hear is a huge confusion of words and noises, making my tinnitus even worse. When I tried SoundBite, I realized that my hearing was not as good as I thought. As soon as I put the device, the amplification was “WOWâ€, everything was so CLEAR. I agree with you Koray, that our hearing it is not a big deal in a very quiet environment, but hearing clearer, trust me, you feel a lot better. Add to this the ability to localize the cell phone that keeps ringing and you can’t remember where did you leave it.
When I am watching TV and suddenly someone begins to speak, I can not understand anything, not the Tv, nor what someone said, so, when I am watching Tv as a family, I have to beseech them to try to be quiet. With the SoundBite, this was not a problem anymore. I posted before that I could even chew something extra crunchy and still could hear the TV, because the sound of my chewing did not interfere with my hearing.
I will try to answer your questions in a very explicit manner:
LUNCH TIME
I was able to hold a conversation while I was eating in a restaurant (with people around talking, laughing, the Tv on, or background music, I could hear what my peers were saying at both sides. If I have to talk in terms of percent, I would say that I was able to improve 50% my hearing on my deaf side, which is much less compared with the utility in quiet conditions, in which I could say my hearing improved about 80%.
WHILE DRIVING
My husband likes to drive with the radio on (am radio KGO
), While wearing the SoundBite I could hear him (I am left side deaf), and because this station is all news and comments, my husband likes to talk to me while he is listening; sometimes when he turned the radio very loud (I guess because the sound of “am†is not very clear) I had difficulty in understanding him, but in general I could hold a reasonable conversation. I was also able to hear when my son in the back seat was talking. When I drove, of course I could hear better to the person on my right side, and also helped me to be aware of the traffic on my left side.
WALKING ON THE STREET.
When I had the SoundBite I wore it to run. It was a pleasant experience to be able to hold a conversation with my co-runner at my left side. Since I run two miles in the streets until I get to the trail, it helped me to be aware of the traffic as well. Without the device, I prefer to run alone. So my answer is YES, I could hear to the person talking at my deaf side while I was walking. Intentionally, I was trading places in order to test this issue.
I found out that SoundBite it is not very useful in crowded places like shopping centers or supermarkets (I still can hear but not as much I would have liked).
Have a good day and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone,
Gloria
