Telephone?

While I wait for my surgery date, I thought I would touch on different subjects and how they have effected my life since losing my hearing. The first is the telephone. I'm a phone person, always have been and always will be, I just use them differently now. Before I lost my hearing I relied on the telephone for everyday life and business. In my chosen profession as a sales rep you are always on the phone closing deals and keeping people happy. Of course when I lost my hearing that all changed. I could no longer hear voices on the other end of the telephone. The phone rings now in our house or business and all I can do is stare at it and hope that someone else gets it. Because I have always relied on the phone I have tried countless gadgets to get it back with not much success. With my hearing aid and some other assistive listening devices (ALDs) I have been able to pick up some voice. To give you an idea of how it sounds, you can't tell if you are talking to a man, women or child. Emotion is left out so if someone is sad, happy or frustrated, you can't pick this up. Those are the good days. Since I am a gadget guy I wrapped myself in technology that would help me to communicate and keep me in the loop. I love my Blackberry's! I can stay in contact with my family with text messages and also stay in the business loop with instant emails. I miss the phone and the ability to talk to my parents who live in a different city. There are different success stories from people that have received the CI and the ability to use the phone again. I hope I am one of the CI telephone success stories.