[QUOTE=kladner;444802]That is exactly analogous.[/QUOTE]

I know. That's why I said it.

[QUOTE=kladner;444802]I remember when I first got progressive multi-focal lenses. My eyes had to retrain for the correct directions to look for correct focus.[/QUOTE]

I also remember when I first got my progressive multi-focal lenses.

Four days later I fired my optometrist, told him I wasn't an owl, and insisted that he refund me the ~$1,000 for the glasses.

He did.

[QUOTE=kladner;444802]At even less than 24 hours, things are pretty good. The next test will be when I go to work this afternoon, and try to comprehend speech in variously noisy environments.[/QUOTE]

Test things carefully. You're walking with programmable kit.

It will be very interesting at work. It is a challenging audio environment.

When I was working up to getting them, a friend, who thought I might be holding back because of the aging implications, said, "Just think of it as glasses for your ears."
Any hesitation was really related to the scary cost.

[QUOTE=kladner;444806]It will be very interesting at work. It is a challenging audio environment.[/QUOTE]

In some ways, I can't hear. Both my eardrums were blown out during a stupid student experiment 40 years ago.

I would argue that those willing to work with each other will find a way to work with each other, if the will is there.

[QUOTE=kladner;444806]It will be very interesting at work. It is a challenging audio environment.[/QUOTE]

If I may please give you some advise...

Downgrade the audio. Pay a lot of attention to the physical.

You exist in 4D.

Work that.

[QUOTE=chalsall;444808]If I may please give you some advise...

Downgrade the audio. Pay a lot of attention to the physical.

You exist in 4D.

Work that.[/QUOTE]
I'll give it my best shot! Thanks!

[QUOTE=kladner;444810]I'll give it my best shot! Thanks![/QUOTE]

That was not meant to be flippant.

You have purchased kit which it supposed to help you.

Did it?

Could it have worked better?

[QUOTE=chalsall;444811]That was not meant to be flippant.

You have purchased kit which it supposed to help you.

Did it?

Could it have worked better?[/QUOTE]
There are still some comfort issues, though normal ones. Mostly, the inserts make the ear canal itch from time to time. I went for most of the day without being bothered, but at the end of my work shift the itching kicked in on one ear. It has come and gone since they were first fitted. I am assured that this will probably diminish. I have had them for about 30 hours, and slept for some of those.

I think they are working pretty well. I don't think I asked for as many repeats from people today as I previously had.

Did you have your eardrums reconstructed? Was it possible to do so? If that route is not workable, they also make bone conduction models. At least some of those require an implanted receiver, but I'm not sure if it is the only way. One hearing test that was run on me had something clamped to my skull.

What sort of explosion were you exposed to, to rupture your eardrums? If that was the extent, in some ways you were fortunate.

My English History teacher in high school was considerably more battered, by some experimental rocket fuel I think, when he was in high school. He lost a hand and an eye. Probably had his eardrums ruptured, too. He was the lucky one of three. The other two died. He had such an aversion to chem labs that he would not even go on the floor where those were located.

EDIT: There is still some tweaking to be done on the "hearing instruments" as the manual calls them. However, making my computer quieter is at least as important. They are very good at amplifying that noise. I will be seeing the audiologist again in any case to replace the "receiver tubes" with longer ones. After a few more days I will have a better idea of how they are working.

Feeling happy because as a compulsive reader I find amazing buying books at the charity shops for 3 for £1 or discarded books from local library for 6 for £1. Where I come from books are very expensive, cheapest ones are the pocket books costing around £6 each.

[QUOTE=kladner;444832]I think they are working pretty well. I don't think I asked for as many repeats from people today as I previously had.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for your observations. Sincerely.

[QUOTE=kladner;444832]Did you have your eardrums reconstructed?[/QUOTE]

No. I wasn't even offered that as an option. My ear drums somehow grew back by themselves (I've been told; I don't have that many mirrors.)

At the time, they were mostly worried about my eyes. There was shapenal (small metal fragments) having been blown into my eyes at high speed. I'm not proud, nor joking.

I was transported to Kamloops where a specialising eye doctor saw me, and pulled the biggest pieces of metal out. Some where left in because it was dangerious to "dig that deep". I can't be given an MRI because of this.

[QUOTE=kladner;444832]What sort of explosion were you exposed to, to rupture your eardrums? If that was the extent, in some ways you were fortunate[/QUOTE]

One plastic garbage bag filled with the exactly correct ratio of Oxyacetylene.

It went off 30 cm away from me after I had placed it inside a 55 gallon steal drum.

Yes, I am lucky to be alive; my neighbour drove me to the hospital. And she and her family had moved into town shortly after. That is also not a joke.

One of my childhood friends pierced his ear drums in a similar way.

[QUOTE=Mark Rose;444882]One of my childhood friends pierced his ear drums in a similar way.[/QUOTE]

If I may please laugh with you on this... I was once asked by the high school graduation committee for a proposal for a fireworks display.

After my failed attempt to impress them, the chemistry teacher came out to bid me goodbye and noted that the C2H2 molecule is rather thin.

I think I learned more that second than I had learned over many years.