Genius Hour 4-Elevator Pitch

June 24th, 2019


PART 1: MY ELEVATOR PITCH!

PART 2: This week I am exploring Tunity app on my Iphone. I cannot remember where I heard about it. I believe I heard about it from someone on Twitter. I never got around to it. I kept thinking maybe the app will not help. However, my genius hour and my hearing was important to me so I tried it and man I was like this WORKS! Since I am now off, I can watch my court shows during the day like Judge Marilyn, Hot Bench and Judge Judy! I tried the app while watching Judge Judy and my mind was blown. The sound from the TV came directly to my cochlear implant. I took the other one off. It was an eye opening experience. I found the captions were way behind. I can hear what Judge Judy was saying on time! It was SOOOO CLEAR! There were even commercials that had no captioning but I can hear it when sometimes I have a hard time hearing what is being said. I can fine tune the sounds via the app as well. I just turn on the tunity app and allow it camera access. You point the app toward the TV and it detects the channel you are on. It is a FREE app that lets you hear any live muted TV. It says I can save the channels without the need to rescan so I have to check that out! I will definitely be adding this to my routine. Why? This will help train my brain to hear !!

Genius Hour 3

Monday, June 17th, 2019

You might be wondering why I am naming my posts so suddenly as Genius Hour but I am taking a technology class via the University of St. Francis at Joliet. As part of this class, we are creating and focusing on a passion of ours that we would like to develop more. Since I was already blogging about my cochlear implant journey and it was a passion of mine ; I thought it would be a perfect genius hour topic!

As part of my genius hour project, we needed to think how can we make this a part of my routine? This took some thought because the only way to hear better and get the brain used to sounds is to consistently make the brain hear. I have been told that even 15-20 minutes practicing a day getting my new cochlear implant  is good practice! SO THIS IS WHAT MY ROUTINE IS! Every morning and every evening, my commute is an hour ride to school and home. So I turn on the radio to a channel I know will be easy to hear and have clear slow speakers like NPR. I can hear well with both cochlear implants when it is clear slow speakers but I must use only the cochlear implant on the left ear to train it to hear. I used to do this but now am back at it again.  I heard quite a bit and am shocked to know I heard somethings.I am so excited that I can hear the words.  I did not hear all the words but can get the basic drift. I was sooooooo tempted to put my other cochlear implant on but didn't. The radio was talking about how Texas is now one of the states to require insurance companies to go to arbitration when it cannot decide a price on payment of services. Many people were complaining how insurance companies would exploit patients by charging ridiculously high prices. Texas has now passed a law that shields patients from surprise medical bills. When I got home, I researched this topic to see if I heard right and I did!! Some parts I did not hear and then when I read about surprise medical bills, then I understood! I feel like I am not so afraid to try this exercise and will endeavor to stick to these routines!

Genius Hour 2

June 10th, 2019



What can I do that I couldn't do last week? This is a tricky question for me because you have to pay attention to your hearing. I was coming down the stairs last Friday from the library on my way to pick up my fifth grade class to bring them to computers. However, as I was on the stairs I heard a teacher saying to her class to be quiet in line. For someone who relies on reading lips, this was GREAT!!! I told the teacher I could hear you all the way from the second floor(where the library was located) and she understood why because she knew about my cochlear implant! 

I am going to try and be more reflective here. I have noticed in terms of my hearing journey that after dinner during the weekdays , I tend to take my cochlear implants off. I think it is because I am so bombarded with noises that my brain (the one with the  new cochlear implant) is overwhelmed. However, I feel like I should try to diminish the length of how long I keep them off. How? I am going to do what I have always loved to do even when I was a kid. READ!! I am going to continue reading my books on kindle online with just my left cochlear implant. I need to recognize that I have superpowers. Two of them! Two cochlear implants and realize that they both need practice hearing and to be patient. In addition, my superpowers allow me to talk with others about my experiences and to encourage them to explore their options. I just met with a friend of mine at a hearing loss conference who told me that she was considering getting a 2nd cochlear implant and she told me she was so happy to talk to me because she felt better knowing what the surgical process entailed. 


I didn't realize I haven't posted in a while! I have been so busy !!! What have I been busy doing? I am a teacher so I have ten more days left of school and it has been hectic trying to wrap up fourth quarter.

I have been busy trying to fundraise for our annual Chicago Walk4Hearing this coming September. If you have not attended, please do. I highly recommend it. It is so great to see so many wearing hearing aids and cochlear implants. It reminds me that I am not alone in my journey.

I also was invited to a meeting to meet those work for the Illinois Deaf and Hard of Hearing Commission based in Springfield. It was great to hear about them and what they do. It was also nice to meet new people of other organizations.

I went to Aldi the other day. I love ALDI! This guy came up to me and asked me about my cochlear implants! He introduced me to his wife. It was so funny having complete strangers talk to me about my cochlear implants but I would rather have people ask me questions about them than stare at me. It turned out he had a granddaughter who was 7 and had cochlear implants. We were talking about sign, lipreading, speech therapy and it was so great to be able to talk about my experience with them.

My kindergartners have been asking what are those things on my ears so I am going to bring in my children's book I made in college that talks about my cochlear implants. I will keep you posted.

'Til next time,
Deirdre                               Me at top of stairs near library hearing a P.E teacher

P.E. teacher was behind those doors talking to her students