Okaaaay, so I'm excited, so what..... !!!

I'm off to see Skunk Anansie again at the Brixton Academy on Thursday night, and I really can't wait. Saw them last just the other month at the Camden Electric Ballroom....











My claim to fame that night was when they performed their hit 'Weak', Skin jumped down from the stage, up onto the audience barricade and then stood up onto my shoulders whilst singing away to the audience behind (I was stood dead centre at the very front).... *GRINS* (...and it's on YouTube btw )

After 19 years of silence it was my desire to hear Skin's vocals that lead to my artificial cochlear implant in 2004.

I can't fooking wait!!! ....and yes I'm hoping to be back dead centre right at the front again!!

wow, thats a great tale to tell, nice one.

she has a cracking voice and has never changed

did the cochlear implant do the trick?

orange71":1tmizwhy said:

did the cochlear implant do the trick?

Click to expand...

Yup, to the point where I am now trying my damnedest to get a job in the broadcast music industry

did you have hearing before you went deaf or were you deaf as long as you remember? In other words could you remember sounds (you had meningitis didn't you?) before you had the implant - and were the sounds comparable after the implant?

I had an attack of Meningococcal Meningitis when I was 10 in 1985 which rendered me with a total hearing loss, a second attack of Meningococcal Meningitis in 1987 nearly sodded up my eyesight (I wear glasses these days). Turned out I had hairline fractures in my skull from an accident I had when I was a nipper in Australia which is what kicked it all off. Had an operation to fill in the fractures when I was 13. Got used to being deaf, learned to lip read, got back into mainstream education (which I'm eternally thankful for) and got on with life.

Went for tests in year 2000 for the artificial cochlear op but chickened out, I didn't have enough education about the operation and the outcome and was, rather arrogantly, saying i didn't want any hearing unless it was 100% like it was pre-1985.

I have loved music all my life and never gave up on it, merely adapting to appreciate it in different ways. I adore Skunk Anansie, Skin's voice is amazing. I went to see Marilyn Manson for a second time in Manchester, think it was early 2004....on train back I just thought "f*ck it ... any hearing is better than no hearing at all"... so got the implant done in 2004 and haven't looked back since. It's an absolutely HUGE confidence boost, I've auditioned for various TV shows, something I would never have considered beforehand and am in talks with some production companies about getting my music show up and running.

whats percentage hearing do you have now? yes skunk anansie are great!

orange71":3krc8v3m said:

In other words could you remember sounds (you had meningitis didn't you?) before you had the implant - and were the sounds comparable after the implant?

Click to expand...

Yes but it takes time..... it's a new way of 'hearing', able-hearing people have millions of tiny nerve endings whereas I have only 16 artificial ones. It's a big difference. However with continuous tuning the deaf person with an implant develops what they can hear.

A lot of newbies with implants don't like it at first as it's continuous 'noise', they haven't dfone their research properly and then they stop wearing the external parts without going back for retuning, it's such a waste. It's all part of the 'I want it NOW' generation, which is wrong.

It took me a while to hear music again, I remember it like it was yesterday. Had my back to the TV and my external implant parts on, was on the computer and I heard my first set of beats. Thought I was imagining it at first but turned around and it was (rather aptly I admit) the Foo Fighter's with 'All My Life'. I broke down into a blubbering mess, kept my sister awake all night emailing and texting with all these different songs I could hear from MTV and the music channels!

So next couple of weeks was a huge back and forth trip to and from the hospital for electrode re-tuning sessions.

These days I have my iPod with me at all times and my own 'travelling tunes' playlist, the music I know and can follow without having to look at the screen. Invested in some DJ headphones that pushes the bass and the clarity even further..... and I'm away.

I record all the music from the TV with subtitles, where the subtitles are not available then my other half will subtitle the tracks/videos for me. I convert everything so it's accessible via the iPod and computer. Hard work but very much worth it.

cyfa2809":204me92u said:

whats percentage hearing do you have now? yes skunk anansie are great!

Click to expand...

Very difficult to say as I don't hear the same way you do and it's very hard to compare.

Just ignore...

Sorry