At the...

...cochlear implant meeting/coffee morning.

More than usual turned up today, making it harder to follow conversations. Audiologist from the hospital turned up with this which is supposed to be a portable loop system for hearing aid users and cochlear implantees.

The acoustics in the place where we meet were very distorted today, and the music was on, which made it worse.

Initially when I turned over to the loop system it appeared to have some improvement, in that the music was muted, but then so were people's voices. I can't hear full words anyway. After a few minutes listening through this device, the distortions got worse and magnified. And so I turned my processor back to it's normal setting. But then I couldn't make out as much as I could before. Back and forth with this a few times. And then I was wishing she hadn't brought it this morning. My tinnitus started having a field day.

A couple of people said it was fine. Others said they didn't like it. And one person said to me she couldn't stand this loop system because it had made everything into distortion and when she switched back then what she was initially listening to now had distortions, and was messing with her tinnitus.

So it wasn't just me that has this reaction to it. It was a long drive getting there and back, and when I got home I was too tired to do anything. And my tinnitus now was roaring and screaming, with all its accompanying noises. It was a beautiful sunny blue-skied day and I couldn't make the most of it, so that was frustrating. Finally I have just climbed into bed. I am just useless now. It was only 6pm and I am going to meditate and try for sleep.

So it might be this loop system that triggered this off in me. L had said she was the same after listening with this loop system.

You are trying to work out the words people are saying with the info the processor gives you. Different environments and situations all sound different. So your brain has to adjust. So adding this loop system in the mix for me, meant it had to adjust to the incoming sound again and it wasn't making as much sense of the sounds through the loop system even though they were in a sense sharper. I don't know how to explain this to myself, so I don't think I am getting very far explaining this to you. All I know is I have a thunderhead of tinnitus in my head at the moment rushing through a 6 lane highway at full speed....