After 4 weeks I returned to the hospital to collect the cochlear implant and to be programmed. The audiologist handed me a strange looking box device and taught me how to put it on my ear.He then plugged in a wire into the cochlear implant and went back onto the computer and did a series of "beep" tests to determine the pitch and so on.... i remember being very surprised when they switched me on! I wasn't expecting it and i was playing with my toys at the time so the first thing i heard was a clunking sound and then the audiologist said "Laura can you hear me?" and turned my head after I heard it because I didnt know where it was coming from! The audiologist used toys like a macarena shaking to see whether I heard it. I remember hearing my mum talk again for the first time, it wasn't perfect sound but it meant a lot to me and it was very exciting! I wanted to hear more. After months of several programming sessions, when it was first switched on, it was very echoey and funny sounding! My brain was getting round to hearing sounds again. The hearing started to become clearer as time went on. My listening skills got better as the years went on and I was happy to hear my family and friends voices again and my speech got better too after lots of sessions of speech therapy at the Cochlear implant centre and at my junior school.
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