a view through my own eyes

Sorry did I say arse? Must be your hearing.

Well have had three’ish days with the Prisma 2 Pros and the open fit ear pieces.

To be honest I have given up for the moment, the problem that I have is that although they have a feedback cancelling circuit, because they are “open fit” – no ear piece as such – just a tube that sits in your ear, some of the sound escapes and gets picked up by the microphones hence the feedback. Now the feedback cancellation stuff works – BUT it isn’t instant and takes a fraction of a second to kick in. The other problem is that because I wear a wide brimmed hat when I am out (and its sunny) is that the sound seems to get reflected back into the microphones even more and things get worse. Also because the high end has been turned down a tad – high notes now get confused by the antifeedback stuff and they get really confused.

Now the highend stuff I will take responsibility for, and will ask to be turned back up and I will live with the sibilance crackling up a bit.

But I cannot deal with the continual feedback that fades in and out all the time, its driving me nuts. Its sods law that it started up around an hour after I left audiology as when I left I was quite happy. But then tuning the aids in artificialy quiet confiditions means that although they are set clinically correctly, they don’t necessarily reflect normal life.

Also don’t forget I was advised that I was borderline on my right ear as to whether the open fit stuff would actually be effective and that it was my choice to try them. At the end of the day for mild loss I expect that the open fit ear pieces would be fine, but my right ear is I can see the wrong side of the line, I have tried it and well its not working for me.

So out of desperation I phoned audiology this morning and explained that I was last weeks guinea pig and have some issues. They have managed to bring the appointment forward two and a half weeks for me, which is not bad – I can live with that.

So whats will happen in two weeks time? I don’t know. I guess that the options are:
1. stick with the 2Ms and have them retuned for the updated audiogram
2. stick with the 2Pros and have them retuned and calibrated for use with full ear pieces

Hopefully because of the occulsion affect that I am suffering from then we will have another go with new ear pieces maybe made of a slightly softer material – the current ones fit a treat but are not at all flexible, but then I didn’t get on too well with the softer material pieces last time as they were uncomfortable but at least didn’t lead to occlusion.

At the moment I pleased that I had prescence of mind last week (and a slightly niggly feeling) to hang on to the 2Ms – otherwise I would be absolutely stuffed at the moment and really hacked off.

At least if I do stay with the 2Ms then I know that they have the direct audio input stuff in stock – oh I do wish that they had told me about that stuff before I asked I really do.

I phoned the local library a short while ago as I have an audio book out on loan that needs renewing.

me – Hello I would like to renew a library book please
them – Certainly can I have your borrower number please?
me – xyz123
them – hmmm you don’t appear to have any books on loan
me – thats curious, its on my lap at the moment
them – can I have the book number please?
me – abc456
them – nope its definately in the library at Canterbury, I don’t understand this can you confirm the number again please?
me – abc456
them – well its not issued and should be on the shelf, think I will pass you through to Canterbury
them2 – Hello Mr Osborne, you have an issue with a book I gather
me – yes, I would like to renew a book please
them2 – can I have the book number please?
me – abc456
them2 – thats interesting it looks like its not been issued to you, I will do that now. I am certain things were better before we had computer systems in libraries.

PS: I have a dold id der dose, it bloody hurts when I sneeze or blow my nose, George* is not impressed

SWMBO calls the eye George

Well things aurally are not as great as the initial thoughts made out.

With both aids, getting the top end turned down a tad due to the annoying sibilance effect has fixed the sibilance affect but does mean that I don’t get the noise at all. So some stuff is missing like the parking sensor on the car (good job there is a little flashing LED as well) and so sounds a little flat. That however can be fixed – the programme can be adjusted and so will be fine.

On the right ear though, due to it being my weakest ear, the aid is having to do more work, unfortunately I am suffering from excessive feedback as sound escapes though the open fit ear piece. So for the moment I have given up on it.

At the moment then I have the left ear on the new aid sounding slightly flat BUT no occulusion which is really quite nice. On the right ear I have the old aid back in, considerably less feed back but do have occlusion again due to being a moulded ear piece.

So when I go back in a few weeks I will see what they say, I have a feeling that they will take a new mould of my right ear to see if we can get a fit with less occlusion and just fit that ear piece to the new aid and recalibrate it as appropriate.

Came home from work yesterday and to be honest Lucy just was not well, to be honest she has not been at all well for quite a while. A combination of diabetes, bowel and kidney issues has taken its toll.

So this morning we went to the vets knowing that it was likely that Lucy would not be coming home. We agreed that unless the vet could honestly say that Lucy will have a few more years and not be continually ill and have difficulties that it was best for her and us, to have her put to sleep. Today was the first time that Lucy had ever struggled and objected to being put into a carry cage and go to the vet.

The vet took a good look over her and said that there was possible renal failure, bowel blockage and pancreasitus. He could do blood tests, urine tests and operate but could not be certain that she would survive the operation. He didn’t say “I can sort her out” or “I think you should bear with it”, instead he said “Its your choice”, at that point we both knew what the right choice was. So having signed the euthanasia form, we had the choice to stay or go. The vet explained that he would shave a bit of her leg, and then inject a large quantity of anaesthetic, that would then send her to sleep and the larger than normal dosage would stop her heart. We decided to stay. She looked very peacefull.

We took her in just over three years ago and over time she has been transformed from a cat that was scared of stairs (we think she may have lived in a bungalow previously) to the most friendly, vociferous, sociable cat you could have.

Lucy used to run to greet you and then miaow at you very loudly, you could have a discussion with her, Hello Lucy had a good day? Miaow. What have you done today then Lucy? Miaow. etc etc This could go on for a good half hour or so.

Lucy was friendly, very strokable and always seemed to know when you were in a shite mood and would happily sit on you or next to you and just purr away.

Lucy spent most of her time on the laundry hamper in the kitchen, so in the end we put her food bowl on top. Whenever you were cooking she would commentate and demand affection and food. She loved chips and would go mad for them, we couldn’t give her any though because of her diabetes. Earlier this week though it was obvious that she was not well and we commented that she probably didn’t have too long left, so SWMBO gave her one of my home made oven chips – Lucy was happy.

She was the most awkward cat to take photographs of as she would never sit or lie still and stayed that way right until the very end.

Good night, Lucy.

It occurred to me yesterday that since our local water company can now if need be enforce drought orders, AND that if it carries on raining the way it has been for the last week then the following could arise:

That in certain areas if a river bursts its banks then owners of certain properties could conceivably be ankle deep in water and yet have none coming through their taps.

Thats the noise that SWMBO tell me a guinea pig makes. A quick internet search reveals recordings of guinea pigs, you can enjoy the linguistics over at Treen’s Pigs. Enjoy!

Well today was the trip up to audiology (again).

The trainer from Siemens was there as were five audiologists and their manager. Usually the appointment is one on one – this time there was an audience. It was most odd and somewhat daunting, I figured that the best option was to sit down, keep my mouth shut and let them get on with it in the main. I should add that the trainer looked like the guy Mathew Kelly played in the BBCs recent adaptation of Bleak House, take a look here. I have to admit that I did struggle to contain myself. Thankfully he wasn’t as camp as a field full of boy scouts.

Firstly they calibrated the equipment, by playing various tones and getting it to measure them. Then a fine tube was placed in the ear canal, connected to a microphone and the fixed tones were calibrated again as to what I was receiving down at the ear drum end – or thereabouts.

Eventually the new aids (Siemens Prisma 2 Pro) came out and were fitted and calibrated as usual, apparently they have some new features over my previous model (Siemens Prisma 2M):

Feedback cancellation
Available as an open fit
Improved noise reduction
Multi channel directional microphone
A new ergonomically improved housing

That lot is from the letter thats on the Dept of Health website informing hospitals round the country of the differences between the two models as part of the update of the National Contract.

Anyway lots of questions were asked and there was much talk between the staff and the trainer whilst the calibration and fitting went on, some went over my head, most I didn’t hear.

One thing I did ask them to tweak was the high end as I suffer a bit when there is a sssss noise, it kind of grates and annoys me like mad. So the high end was reduced.

The big things of these new aids as far as I am concerned are:
1. no ear mould needed as these are “open fit” where just a little tube goes into my ear, consequently the occlusion affect is non existant and I can finally use a telephone without having to fumble around removing the hearing aid (which is a right pain in the middle of town when my mobile phone rings). Also they are a lot more comfortable. I will put a picture up of them at some point.
2. Feedback cancellation actually works – ok it takes about half a second to kick in, but thats quicker than me sorting it out before. Its not perfect but its pretty good than I had before with the 2Ms that seemed to generate feedback at random.

The only thing that is a slight concern is that my right ear is borderline on whether this new aid will work properly with it as the hearing loss is worse than the other ear, so its a suck it and see job.

I did remember this time to ask about direct audio input (DAI) shoes and cable, so I can connect the aids direct to my iPod. Apparently the shoes will be in in a couple of weeks and they will sort some out for me along with the cable – so thats a bonus. They have a drawer full of shoes for the old aids that I had – wish they had told me that before and I hadn’t needed to ask.

So first impressions, fairly impressed.

I did manage to convince them to let me hang on to the old 2Ms just in case I have trouble and they happily agreed to let me do that. I was going to keep the ear pieces anyway – so should I need them then I have some that fit and are comfortable.

Have to return in four weeks for a followup appointment which for a novelty was made whilst I was there – so should get the DAI kit then, which saves me having to buy it myself.

According to various news reports today, “A district nurse has been cleared by a court of indecent exposure after sunbathing naked in her garden.”

Apparently her next door neighbour was so upset by his neighbour getting an all over tan he then went back inside his house to get a video camera and then recorded his neighbour for a while. At which point he then went to the police to complain.

Why did the police not charge him for being a voyeur?

Instead they charged the nude neighbour and it went to court.

What an utter waste of public money.

Ireland has a carrier bag tax, 9p a bag – carrier bag sales at supermarkets have dropped by 90% within three months allegedly.

In German supermarkets its easier to get a cloth reusable bag than a plastic bag. Actually cloth bags are big in Germany – mrspao always buys some when we are there, they are usually in use in this household. Actually we try and use the carrier bags that we accumulate as much as we can, we could probably do more.

Tesco claim that all of their bags will be biodegradable by september 2006, however there is now timescale on how long it takes for the bags to degrade – could be three years up to one thousand years – it hasn’t been long enough to find out yet.

However its noted that the biodegrading process of most carrier bags produces lots of carbon emmisions so whilst they degrade they may well be doing more harm to the environment that just have the non degradable bags which just fill the environment.

So what should we be doing?

Ideally I think that we should be reusing bags that don’t degrade, I can’t say that I do all of the time and am at least honest enough to admit it. Yes I do feel guilty whilst I think about it at the moment. Will it occur to me next time I am at the supermarket and have no bags with me? Probably not. Would I think about it if I was charged for the bags? Probably.

Does that make me a hypocrite?

Before I had my op, I did some nosing round and came to the conclusion that it may well help to ensure that I get all of the vitamins and other goodness that I really should get through my “well balanced diet” and probably don’t. So in the next trip to the supermarket I stocked up.

The vitamin C tablets came in a tub a couple of inches high and about an inch in diameter – one a day thirty days worth. The tablets were around the size of a thumbnail and a couple of mm thick.

I ran out a few weeks back so went and bought some more. Bigger tub this time twice the height of the last and the same diameter. Yet it contains three times the amount of tablets, each tablet is around half the size of the previous batch.

This leave me wondering several things:
1. why make the tablets different sizes?
2. Am I being conned, less tablet am I getting less of something that is not Vitamin C?
3. since the smaller quantity tub could clearly be smaller by using smaller tablets – how much is wasted by using larger tubs than need be?

I have no answers to the above, but they do make me wonder.

I loved going to the cinema, as a child it used to be an afternoon out with my mum, dad and little brother. We used to inevitable queue in the rain, get the pink paper stub tickets that appeared like magic from the metal plate. Then be served at the next counter with our eyes hungry and try and stock up on toffee popcorn, coke, lemon sherberts and chocolate eclairs. Then wander into the auditorium where an usher would try and flog us icecream and show us to some good seats (if we were early enough) with a dodgy torch that used to flicker more than a Dickensian candle.

The place used to fill up with people eager to see the film, there used to be banter and chit chat and that was fine. After a while the lights would go down and hush descended, the Pearl and Dean advert music would start up, adverts a couple of trailers, a short film occasionally and then the main picture.

I would be taken elsewhere into a fantasy land, be it James Bond, the Pink Panther or Star Wars, it didn’t matter I was somewhere else.

Later on the being somewhere else for a couple of hours became more important, things to put it blunt where not good at home and the cinema provided an escape from the reality.

I loved the cinema.

Later on in the late eighties I used to go twice a week – more often than not on my own – because I loved films, I enjoyed the escapism (that word again), I thrilled at the entertainment and being transported to other places, strange worlds and different times past and present. I think that for around six years I saw every mainstream film that came out at the cinema that was shown in the area that I lived.

I think back then I paid around two quid to see a film, you couldn’t buy them easily on video as there was a thriving rental market and it took a couple of years for films to get there. If you waited for TV it could be five years or more.

I loved the cinema.

Back to the present.

In Canterbury we have a main cinema – its crap to put it bluntly. The sound system is terrible (even I being a bit deaf and needing hearing aids can tell that its terrible), the seats are small and close together, there is next to no leg room its all about bums on seats you see. The picture is variable in quality (as in can the projectionist tell that its out of focus) and it smells. The place does have good points though, its a fifteen minute walk from home, its an old building and looks like a real cinema, with mouldings on the wall, real drape curtains. The place has plenty of potential and could be fantastic. It also costs £6.80 for a standard adult ticket.

Mrspao and I used to go to Ashford to the multiplex. The seats are larger and comfortable, there is loads of legroom, it doesn’t smell, its air conditioned, there is plenty of choice of films and the sound is pretty good on the whole. Tickets cost £6.70.

However.

When you do the sums, Ashford costs quite a lot more. How so?

Well it can be a twenty minute drive each way assuming that there is no traffic, more often there is so its around thirty minutes, even though its only fifteen miles away. So thats an hours drive all in there and back and a petrol cost of roughly £3. Consequently due to time we would often eat on site – there are the usual candidates: Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut, Frankie and Bennys (or whatever its called), so a cheap option would cost £10 and the expensive often around £30.

So cheapest case for Ashford if we eat there is: £26 ish, it could easily be nearer £50.

Even just going there just to see the film costs around £16.

The above cinemas are owned by Odeon and Cineworld respectively – two of the largest cinema companies in the UK.

Mrspao and I have not been to the cinema for a while. There are several reasons:
1. Its cheaper to buy the film on DVD than going to the cinema – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire from www.play.com is £14.99 – we bought it for £12.99 from the supermarket.
2. Films are released on DVD generally within six months of being at the cinema.
3. You don’t get surrounded by sad prats who continually talk/txt/eat throughout the film by other people who have no consideration.
4. Home cinemas systems and larger screens can almost (but not quite) provide the cinema experience in your own home.

I could go on with the list – but I can’t it will make me sound even more like a grumpy old man and thats not the point.

I don’t now really see the point of going to the cinema, which makes me feel sad, I love the cinema and yet at the same time through excessive ticket pricing, extortionally priced consumables at the cinema and other costs and environment conditions listed above, I am starting to loathe the cinema. In many ways it breaks my heart.

However all is not lost.

If I really do want to go and see a film at the cinema these days I will tend to go to Cinema 3 at the University, its more of an art house place, but does show mainstream films, usually well after they have been to the main cinemas in the area. Tickets cost a more reasonable £5.50 – the seats are actually pretty comfortable considering its a uni lecture theatre most of the time, the sound system is pretty good and they have real projectionists who do care about the film being in focus and do change a reel every twenty minutes rather than using pre spliced uber reels that the multiplexes use.

Cinema3 is an independant cinema run by people who care about films. Looking at the cinema programme guide I notice that next tuesday they are showing The Ipcress file – fantastic.

I love the cinema.

Some links:
Cineworld
Odeon
Cinema 3
The Ipcress File