Different concert experiences

After my recent concert experience, I wanted to reflect on previous concert experiences and my hearing.

The very first concert, I was still in high school (it was summer time, when I was about to be a senior in school), and it was in Denver. Of course, it was a Hanson concert. They were doing their Underneath Acoustic tour at the time, and I really wanted to attend a show. This was my first concert experience, and I remember being in complete awe to even be in the same venue as the band. At this concert, I was able to get close enough to front row, so I was able to see the guys and I had decent enough hearing, even though I only had just one lone hearing aid at the time. I did have to fiddle with hearing aid at times, but it wasn't bad.

The second concert experience was another Hanson concert the following year for their Underneath tour. My mom and stepdad took me to Kansas City, Missouri for this concert (we made a trip of it, stopping in Omaha for a bit and whatnot). I even had won a meet & greet pass for this particular concert, but because I didn't always have constant internet connection (I would quickly check my emails in the hotel's "business center"), I had no idea the time for the meet and greet had been moved up so I actually missed it. But the guy who worked for Hanson and handled the meet and greets was able to make up for my missing it by getting me back stage right after the concert so I could get their autographs, which was really nice of him to do.  Anyway, during the concert, I had front row but had a heck of a time trying to hear at first. The guys came on stage and started playing, and all I heard was the audience echoing in the venue. Ugh! It was miserable. I fiddled with my hearing aid, trying to find the right setting... I ended up taking the hearing aid off, and whoa... I could hear the music. Wow. It was loud enough over the speakers that I didn't even need my hearing aid in! I was then a happy camper once I discovered this. As I said earlier, I was taken back stage so I could meet the guys and get their autographs.. well, of course, because I was amazed that I could hear the music with no hearing aid, I had to share this fact with the guys. Taylor thought it was great!

I've gone to three more Hanson concerts since this tour, once in Charlotte, N.C. in Oct. 2007 (I flew out to S.C. to stay with an online Hanson fan friend and we went to this concert together), once in Minneapolis in Set. 2008 (I stayed with my uncle who lived in Minneapolis at this time and I met up with some Hanson.net members at the venue), and another one in Denver in Nov. 2008 (in which I went to this concert with my stepdad's niece as I had a spare ticket). In Charlotte and Minneapolis, I was up in the balconies, and there was more fiddling with the hearing aid, taking it off, and trying to find the best way to listen to the music. The second Denver concert, I was on the floor close to front. Don't think I did too much fiddling with the hearing aid then.

in Charlotte, NC (Oct. 11, 2007)

Minneapolis, MN (Sept. 28, 2008)

Denver, CO (Nov. 8, 2008) 

I did attend a local concert once... if I remember right, it was a Skillet concert, but Hawk Nelson was opening, and that was who I wanted to see. I liked some of their music, even if I wasn't completely familiar with their stuff as I am with Hanson, but it was a different concert experience. I remember trying an assistive listening device that the venue had available for deaf/hoh people, and that just plain did not work out. I gave up on the device, and just relied on my hearing aid. I left shortly after Skillet hit the stage and headed home.

After I had gotten my left cochlear implant, I bought a ticket to a Michael Jackson tribute show that was taking place locally. Kenny Wizz was the performer, and he was doing his HIStory Tour. Since I am never going to have the chance of seeing an actual Michael Jackson concert, I thought this would be the closest I would get, since I grew up on Michael Jackson's music (as a child, I was absolutely fascinated with his music videos, appreciating all the visual aspects and creativity he included). Anyway, I really enjoyed this show. I was able to follow along with the music, though it sounded different because it was a different person singing the songs. It would take me a while to figure out/recognize the song Kenny was doing, but I would always figure it out.  It was a different experience, but very enjoyable. There were visuals and dancers while Kenny put on a great Michael Jackson tribute show.

It would be three years after going bilateral before I would finally make it to another concert. Hanson, again! This year marks their 25th anniversary as a band (they were 6, 8/9, and 11 when they started), and 20 years since "Middle of Nowhere" was released. Because of these anniversaries, the brothers wanted to do a world tour, playing their greatest hits at the concerts. I figured, this would be a great "first" concert with bilateral implants, and it was! Not once did I have to mess with my implant processors; they automatically took care of everything. Volume was not too loud, but just perfect. When the audience screamed, that did not hurt in the slightest bit as my processors automatically controlled it.  It was a fantastic show and I absolutely loved it! I loved being able to hear with both ears, and to hear clearly too! I also was really aware of the vibrations from the music. I really enjoyed myself at this concert, hearing the music in stereo, and also feeling the vibrations of the music through the floor of the balcony. I would have to say, this concert was the best concert, sound-wise, for me.

Denver, CO ( Oct. 14, 2017)

Having bilateral cochlear implants has truly made a world of difference for me, and I could not be more pleased. I can only imagine I'd be enjoying even more concerts with bilateral hearing in the future, whenever that may be.

Concert weekend!

Finally the time had come, it was inching closer and closer to the day I would travel down to Denver for a concert! This would be my first concert with bilateral cochlear implants, and while I was extremely excited about the concert, I wasn't sure of how things would sound. I recalled issues I experienced at past concerts with a single hearing aid, and hoped I wouldn't have to worry this time.

First things first... on Friday the 13th, I had an appointment with the CI audiologist who made her trip here to meet with clients. We weren't doing any actual adjustments, as I don't have any insurance coverage at this point and didn't quite have the finances to pay for a mapping session. She did update the software on my Naidas though, and we switched out the T-mic filters. I swear things were louder after the switch! I was then on my way. I greeted my dog Bryan as I got back into my car (I had my car all packed up and ready to go, and brought the dog along so I could take him straight to the vet for boarding after my appointment, which was quick).

I dropped Bryan off, and was on my way! I hit the interstate heading south, and jammed out to Hanson the entire way down. I mean, I'm going to a Hanson concert, so why not! I was going to enjoy myself and have a fun Hanson-y weekend.  I made it to Denver and checked into my hotel close to the downtown area, and just hung out in my room for the rest of the evening. I was tired after a long drive, and just hitting the Denver traffic was enough to stress me out.

I tried to watch some TV in my room while I was relaxing, but I could not figure out how to turn on the captions. The remote didn't work properly and I couldn't navigate the menu options (the arrow buttons only changed the channel/volume, rather than go through selections like they should have). So I gave up and focused on my iPad, wishing I had brought my laptop along too. Ah well. I made the best of it.

The next day, I got up and got dressed. I texted with a friend of mine, who made the trip to Denver from Omaha for the concert, and we made plans to meet up and hang out, something we both were very much looking forward to doing! We have been internet friends for 20 years, meeting through a Hanson e-pals list online (like pencils, but via emails instead). Over the years, we would not only continue with emails, but chat on AIM/MSN/whatever messenger was popular at the time, become MySpace friends, Facebook friends, Twitter, etc. We tried to meet up once a few years ago during a trip to Omaha (my mom and I like to make occasional trips to Omaha), but it never happened. She ended up picking me up from the hotel and we made our way downtown, hunting for a parking spot so we could have lunch. We lunched at the Cheesecake Factory, and then drove around, trying to find something to do. We ended up at Hammond's Candies and checked out their shop (we were too late for a tour, which would have been cool to do but perhaps another time).

Eventually we made our way back to my hotel room and hung out for a bit, charging up our phones and getting ready for the concert. Uber was called and we got a ride to the venue, and waited in line until the doors open. We did lose track of one another after I went to check out the merchandise that was being sold, so I made my way up the stairs and ended up with a pretty decent view. I did find my friend in the crowd and we texted back and forth throughout the night.

Lights dimmed, and the brothers Hanson came on stage to start the concert. I was stoked! My first concert with bilateral cochlear implants, hearing with BOTH ears (for once I am at a concert, hearing in stereo!). I was thrilled that I was able to hear the music well, not hearing too much from the audience. At one point, Taylor was encouraging the audience to scream, as he always does, and boy did they ever scream. But, it did not bother me or hurt my ears in the slightest bit. I was real pleased with my implants and how they handled high volumes. The concert was at a perfect volume for me without being too loud. It was great! And of course, being the camera geek I am, I took tons of photos and recorded several videos. I absolutely enjoyed myself at this concert. The concert ended, and I found my friend outside by the tour bus and we hung out some more while I waited in line for the after party.

Taylor Hanson has been doing after parties in some cities after the concerts, acting as the DJ. I had read from others online who said the afterparties could get awkward, with fans just standing there staring at this musician playing songs off his MacBook, but I figured it could be fun to at least experience it anyway. Back into the venue I went, with a brand new wrist band (we had to get wrist bands for the concert too), and was right up front off to the side.  I watched Taylor do his thing as DJ, but didn't stay for the whole thing as it was getting cold out and my friend was still out there waiting. Didn't want her to freeze to death. I found her, she called for another Uber, and back to my hotel we went. She got her stuff out of my room and headed back to her hotel.

Sunday, I slowly got up and going. Checked out of the hotel, and made my way to a Krispy Kreme to buy a dozen pack of donuts, eat some lunch at another location, and then finally hitting the road. I swear, the drive home seemed to take much longer! Sure was real glad when I made it back home and back into my own place. My dog would have to wait until the next day to be picked up as I didn't arrive back into town until about 5ish (the vet is only open from 4-4:30 on weekends for pick ups and drop offs so I missed the pick up time). First thing I did the following day was get Bryan picked up and taken home, and he sure was happy to get back home too!

Interesting....

I was almost at work.... I had just turned onto the street in front of the newspaper when I saw an ambulance in the distance.  I pulled over to the curb (I was already out of the ambulance's way), and waited until the ambulance went by.  I wanted to see if I could hear the sirens with my implant.  Nope, not really.  When it was right behind me, I heard the sirens, but it was really quiet and low pitched.  Interesting!  Anything that has a high pitched sound (like female voices and such), they just sound low to me.  Perhaps my audiologist can try to fix that when I see her again in April.  Even listening to certain music, music that was made when the artists were kids, they sound like they have low voices even though they actually had high voices at the time.  I get amused listening to such music, knowing the voices were originally high but they sound low with the implant on.


As for the FM use with my Neptune processor... Well, I have discovered that the set up doesn't always work.  If the Neptune doesn't recognize the MLx receiver, I have to fiddle with it, taking the Neptune apart and everything.  Sometimes it takes a few rounds of disassembling, then reassembling, the Neptune and FM receiver before it finally works.  Not something I want to do during English class, I have no time to be messing around!  I haven't used the Neptune with the FM the last couple of weeks or so.  I use the FM with my hearing aid, then the implant is just the implant with no FM input, and it works out I think.  The set up just has been finicky.  Don't know if it's the Neptune processor, or if it's the FM receiver, but it gets kind of annoying when it doesn't work when I want it to.

Sounds everywhere!

This world sure is full of sounds!

One evening, I took my dog out, and there was a bird in a tree. I was watching the bird, and listening to it chirp. Kind of neat.

We had a thunder storm one night, and I heard thunder a couple of different times with just the implant alone. Whoooaaa! 

On Saturday, after I drove a friend home and was ready to return to drive to a grocery store, I realize the rain drops I was hearing on my car was pretty loud (I still had my hearing aid on at this point). So I turned off my hearing aid, and I could still hear the rain drops with the implant. That was pretty exciting.

Today, while I was on my way to work, I saw a fire truck pull out of the station with its lights flashing. I stopped as it got onto the street and heard the sirens going, with just the implant alone. It wasn't very loud, but I was able to hear it. Cool!

One night, I decided to try out the Neptune in the shower. As soon as I got under the shower water, the water was hitting the Aquamic and it was loud. But it was fun! And another day, I took a bath with the Neptune. Submerged my head under the water, that was interesting.  Hey, had to try out the Neptune in wet settings, I mean why not!

Also, today, I decided to take my ipod to work with me. So I swapped out the ear hooks on the Harmony so I could use the direct connect.  Ended up snaking the direct connect cable under my shirt just so it wouldn't randomly get caught on something. I started off listening to Hanson's "Middle of Nowhere" album, as I am most familiar with that album. Music sounds extremely different, very odd and electronic, but for the most part I was able to make out the lyrics to most of the songs. There was one song, which happens to be one of my favorites, and it sounded terrible and I couldn't make sense of the lyrics. Wow. But it was still fun, listening and figuring out what song was playing and trying to catch the lyrics. Had more trouble listening to Hanson's "This Time Around" album, I only recognized maybe half of the album, the other sounded too different. Even listened to a little bit of Michael Jackson, which was fun.

There is this one sound that happens at work. I've been hearing it for weeks now, but I cannot figure out what it is! It sounds like the gate on my dog's kennel flopping back and forth, hitting the kennel if it's not latched in the car... Sounds exactly like that. But, there's no dog kennels at the newspaper so it's definitely not a loose gate. So what the heck is it?! I'm going to have to ask around and find out, otherwise it's going to drive me crazy.

I can hear the phone ringing. The sounds the pre-press machine makes when it's spitting out pages, ugh it's annoying. Definitely can hear the wind very easily, as it blows right into the mic on the processor.  I've just been hearing this and that, some sounds I can figure out, others have me stumped until I investigate.

This certainly is a very interesting journey with the implant so far. And I'm eager to keep on going!

iCom and telecoil

Got to play with telecoil over the weekend. Works great! And there is far less buzzing/electrical interference with telecoil on while I'm near a computer. I pretty much have to put my ear right next to the computer to even hear the buzzing, so that's a big improvement from the Supero.

Tried out the iCom tonight for the first time. It works well for listening to music on the ipod or computer. But will I actually get one for myself? I have no idea. It's an accessory, Medicaid wouldn't cover it, so I'd have to come up with about $300 for the iCom. I'll keep trying it out, but so far I'm thinking I'll just stick with Telecoil, since I already have the MusicLink, and I also still have my neckloop for backup (for use on the computer, the plug-in jack is different on the neckloop so it won't plug into my ipod).

I have noticed that I do have to turn up the volume on the computer or ipod more with the icom. With tcoil, the volume setting is pretty low and I can hear the music just fine, lower than with the Supero.

MusicLink issues

And already I've got issues with the TecEar NoizFree music link. Great. I think the wiring connection has gotten a bit loose. I have to play with the cord a bit to get the best results for listening to music, but I move in the slightest bit, the connection disappears. Definitely not too happy with this right now. I'll have to speak with my audie on Tuesday and see if there's something else I could use to listen to music on my ipod. I don't want to have to keep buying the Hatis Epic or the TecEar NoizFree every time the old one breaks. Seems like no matter what I do, I'm somehow rough with both device (although the Hatis Epic will last me about a year so I get a longer use out of it).

I have used Phonak's FM unit in the past for listening to music, but I quit using it when the FM transmitter kept breaking so often (I got this transmitter back in Jan. 2001 when I got the Claro hearing aid). It's an older transmitter, one which Phonak doesn't make/sell anymore. And buying a whole new unit would just cost more money that I don't have. Maybe I could try using DAI or something. I don't know, but I'll have to discuss this with the audie and see if we can figure something out. Or maybe the icom? I don't even know.

Me and my ideas

Oh wow. Almost the entire summer has gone by, and not a single post from me. Whoops! Have been keeping myself busy, working, traveling, volunteering at the Humane Society a few Sundays, and even adopting a dog!

Anyway, about this idea of mine. I don't know, maybe I'm just crazy or something. I'm sitting here at work, IMing with a friend of mine on MSN messenger on my Sidekick3, and I just came up with this idea. I am going to two concerts this fall, one next month in Minneapolis and another in Denver in November. Both will be Hanson concerts (yes, I'm a Hanson fan and I'm not ashamed to admit it!). Wouldn't it be funny and fun if a group of deaf people showed up at the concert, communicating in ASL and just making the hearing people curious and whatnot?

There are still plenty of people who are clueless as to how deaf people enjoy music (or even get by in life with their hearing loss). Still, from time to time, I'll be asked "how can you like Hanson if you can't hear the music? Do you just like them for their looks?" "You're deaf and you love music? How can that be?!" I have to explain that it is very well possible for deaf people to enjoy music just like everyone else. Some may not actually HEAR the music, but they can feel the beats and vibrations and enjoy it. And some do hear and enjoy the music and the lyrics. And some may just prefer listening to all instrumental music, having difficulty hearing words in songs. Just because someone is deaf doesn't mean they can't enjoy music, right? Right!

I just got to thinking, it'd be fun if I could get a group of deaf people to attend the Denver concert (I could try it for Minneapolis too, but that's coming up pretty fast and I doubt there'd be enough time for everyone to book flights or plan roadtrips, while Denver's concert is still some time away). Hanson will be doing their one-mile walks a few hours before their concerts (something they've started doing last year, they do these walks to raise awareness of AIDS and poverty in Africa and to encourage people to take action and support any causes), and I'm sitting here imaging a group of deaf people walking with other Hanson fans, but communicating in full out ASL (or just sign language, some of us Wyomingites are PSE users), and just getting people curious and wondering what's going on. It could be a way to show hearing people that deaf people can and do enjoy music, and they can support different causes and that sort of thing. I don't know if this will actually work out, if it'll actually happen. But it's still fun to imagine and think about it, wonder what the outcome would have been like.

If this is possible, getting a group to go to the concert, I wonder if Hanson or the club where the concert is at would be able to do something special for the deaf concertgoers? I remember a few years ago when a band, I believe it was Simple Plan, who set up a loop system or something like that for a concert they did in Canada (article), so that the deaf concertgoers could hear the music and enjoy the show and have a great time. Too bad this doesn't happen for more concerts. For myself, if I can just get close enough to a speaker, I can take off my hearing aid and hear the concert music just perfectly (as I have discovered in August 2004 at a Hanson concert in Kansas City, MO.), and not have to listen to the audience as much (with the hearing aid on, it's just all 100% noise and echos and just chaos, ew). But that isn't going to work for every concertgoer, depending on their level of hearing losses and such. Hm. If there was a loop system in place for more concerts, or a device of some sort to allow the deaf concertgoers to hear the music the band/musician is playing, I'd surely take advantage of it!

Oh it's horrible!

The music, it sounds so horrible with the Naida hearing aid at this time. I had the iPod playing, and good grief. Everything sounds so different, ick. Makes me wonder if there's too much bass on the hearing aid. I have never liked bass when listening to music, and I don't like it when there's too much bass on the hearing aid. I have been taking notes, keeping track of what it is I want changed.

I emailed Phonak last night about the HandyMic transmitter working with the Naida FM receiver. Got a response today, and they said it is compatible. Good! Will let the audie know on Monday, and he could call Phonak so that we can make sure the transmitter is working with the Naida.

And I am still not used to having to open the battery door to turn the hearing aid off. All of my previous hearing aids have had on/off switches. The Naida, you turn it on by closing the battery door (with a battery in it of course!), and turn it off by opening it. I keep feeling for a switch to turn it off, then remember I need to open the battery door. Very different.


I see the captionings are working on the CW channel once again. Hm.