Well it has been a while since I've written anything for this blog and to be honest I've considered giving it up. That said in the past few weeks I've actually had a genuine reason not to be writing since I've actually got a job! The thing is that it is actually through a recruitment agency and it is only for 3 months at the moment however there is potential for it to be extended and I also have an interview with the same organisation for a permanent position next month. It's great to have finally gotten something and even if it does turn out to be temporary I am earning money and getting great experience to put on my CV and help with future interviews as well.
It has been adjustment going from getting up at after 9am and spending some time in the morning looking at jobs etc. (unless I had an interview coming up and was preparing for that) to getting up early, driving to work and working all day. That said I think I've done rather well so far. I've managed to get up at 7am without too much trouble though I am now using both the alarm on my phone and a Sonic Boom all in one vibrating pad that goes under my pillow and clips onto it to keep it in place. I'm not going to go into any detail about what I'm doing but it feels great to be back in a lab again doing productive and important work. It does get quite physical at times though in terms of having to lift heavy crates with bottles in them so hopefully will build up some muscles!
It all happened very fast and it was a bit of a shock to apply for the job, get a phone call a couple of days later asking some basic questions and then getting told a couple of days later that I basically had got the job and I didn't have to interview or anything for it. After all the effort that I've put into applying for jobs and going for interviews it was hard not to be a bit skeptical! There wasn't a great deal of info provided about the lab I would actually be working in. Me and my employment advisor sent some emails back and forth to them but there was a bit too much focus on noise levels (we wanted to make sure it wasn't a super noisy lab since that wouldn't be suitable for me with my hearing). In the end we organised to go up and have a meeting with the people I would actually be working for and see the lab. That went well and I ended up accepting the job.
In terms of other news there isn't really any. My bilateral BAHAs are working well, I'm sure there are probably some tweaks that could be made to improve the settings slightly but I'm happy with them. I do find the issue with feedback whenever I wear a hood extremely irritating though. I'll either have to suck it up or make sure I have an umbrella with me if it is raining or likely to rain.
Thanks for reading!
James
Sunday 27 October 2019
Wednesday 28 August 2019
Cyprus 2019
It's hard to believe that I've been home several weeks now since being away on holiday with my parents to Cyprus. We had left it quite late as usual to book anything and decided to return to Cyprus many years after our last visit mainly due to availability and the fact it was cheaper than a lot of the Spanish countries (Majorca etc.) We ended up staying in a small town called Polis which we hadn't stayed in before. We stayed in a hotel in quite a large apartment. My parents got the bedroom and I got the sofa bed in the main living area. The apartment was basic but nice, the only thing was that there was no air conditioning in the living area so we had to rent a fan from the hotel. It did help at night when trying to sleep though I woke up most nights with a very dry mouth (advantage of taking my hearing aid off at night is that I couldn't hear it!). The sofa bed was comfy enough but unfortunately it had angled metal legs that stuck out, I managed to bang a toe one night and then a couple of nights later I managed to do it again but ended up getting a cut on the top of a toe which bled quite a bit. I ended up having to put a plaster (band-aid to my American readers) on it for a couple of days. We got breakfast at the hotel as part of our deal which again was basic but nice, I ended up having fried eggs and toast every day! It was a fairly small hotel but it had a good sized pool area with the pool split across two levels, the higher part had a shallow pool and then the lower part had a much larger pool with a proper deep end. There were a good number of sun loungers and parasols but unfortunately after the second day my dad had to resort to getting up early and leaving our towels down to reserve sun loungers after we struggled to get any that day due to other people doing the same.
Due to the heat it ended up being a very lazy holiday, we spent most days at the hotel at the pool. If it got too hot you could just go in the pool (though I can't just jump in as I have to take my remove my hearing aids first). There was a beach nearby and we had actually bought swim shoes as we had read online that it was a rocky beach but unfortunately it was 20 minutes walk away. After walking there one night before dinner to check it out we realised that it wasn't really worth trekking all the way there in the heat. We did go into the nearby village of Latsi one night for dinner, we went by bus, had a walk around, had dinner and then walked back to Polis along the boardwalk which took about an hour but it was dark by then and not as warm. We also went into the capital Paphos one day which required a journey by one bus and then another shorter journey down to the harbour. Unfortunately despite being beside the sea there was no sea breeze so it was extremely hot. We had a walk along the seafront and we came across a woman selling tickets for a boat tour where you are guaranteed to see turtles which I would have loved to have gone on but unfortunately they didn't have any spaces left for that day. We decided to get some lunch but were put off by the over eager staff members trying to encourage us to come into their individual restaurants and we ended up going to a place where we thought we had eaten the last time we had been in Paphos but unfortunately both the food and the service was poor. Given the heat we decided to walk to a shopping centre (mall to my American readers) that we had seen on the way to the harbour. It was a good decision as it was air conditioned! It was lovely and modern and I even spent some money buying two t-shirts for a good price. That was about the sum of the excitement for the holiday but I didn't mind as it was meant to be a relaxing holiday. It hasn't been the best of summers in Northern Ireland so it was great to get a week away in the sun. It was around this time last year we were up the north coast including seeing the air show at Portrush but we already had a few days up there earlier in the summer so that is us for holidays for a while.
Thanks for reading,
James
Due to the heat it ended up being a very lazy holiday, we spent most days at the hotel at the pool. If it got too hot you could just go in the pool (though I can't just jump in as I have to take my remove my hearing aids first). There was a beach nearby and we had actually bought swim shoes as we had read online that it was a rocky beach but unfortunately it was 20 minutes walk away. After walking there one night before dinner to check it out we realised that it wasn't really worth trekking all the way there in the heat. We did go into the nearby village of Latsi one night for dinner, we went by bus, had a walk around, had dinner and then walked back to Polis along the boardwalk which took about an hour but it was dark by then and not as warm. We also went into the capital Paphos one day which required a journey by one bus and then another shorter journey down to the harbour. Unfortunately despite being beside the sea there was no sea breeze so it was extremely hot. We had a walk along the seafront and we came across a woman selling tickets for a boat tour where you are guaranteed to see turtles which I would have loved to have gone on but unfortunately they didn't have any spaces left for that day. We decided to get some lunch but were put off by the over eager staff members trying to encourage us to come into their individual restaurants and we ended up going to a place where we thought we had eaten the last time we had been in Paphos but unfortunately both the food and the service was poor. Given the heat we decided to walk to a shopping centre (mall to my American readers) that we had seen on the way to the harbour. It was a good decision as it was air conditioned! It was lovely and modern and I even spent some money buying two t-shirts for a good price. That was about the sum of the excitement for the holiday but I didn't mind as it was meant to be a relaxing holiday. It hasn't been the best of summers in Northern Ireland so it was great to get a week away in the sun. It was around this time last year we were up the north coast including seeing the air show at Portrush but we already had a few days up there earlier in the summer so that is us for holidays for a while.
 |
| Me just before lunch in Paphos, see if you can spot my injured toe! |
Thanks for reading,
James
Thursday 11 July 2019
Summer Time
So it is now over a year since I had my PhD graduation which seems pretty crazy. Unfortunately I still haven't managed to get a job yet and it is currently very quiet in terms of the jobs that are being advertised. Since my last post I've had one interview, I thought it went very well but unfortunately I didn't get it with the feedback implying that the person who did get it had more relevant experience. The employment adviser who I had been dealing with has left the organisation and so I decided to make a change and have switched to a new employment adviser at another organisation who I was very impressed with when we first met. As a result I have started using a new approach to interviews wherein I arrive and am able to type out my answers to the interview questions and then have a proper interview where the interviewers can refer to my answers in front of them. This is in the hope of reducing any issues of interviewers not understanding me or not getting everything that I say. It really has been a mixed bag in terms of interviews before with some interviewers having no problems whatsoever but others clearly struggling. There is the further issue of interviewers being afraid to admit that they don't understand me in case I'm offended. I'm currently waiting to hear back about a number of applications and I recently did another aptitude test which I'm waiting to hear how I've done on. I'm hoping that once the main holiday period is over in Northern Ireland that things will start to pick up again.
In other news I got my new BAHA and gave back the demo one unfortunately I had some issues with feedback but after going back to the hospital and getting the audiologist to have a look I think they have been fixed. There is a new update from Cochlear which means that my BAHAs are now in sync so if I change the program in one it automatically changes in the other and the same for muting them. I was able to get another accessory with the new BAHA so I decided to go with the phone clip and I'm very glad I did. The main point of it is that it connects to your phone using Bluetooth and sends any audio from your phone to your BAHA(s). You can clip it to your clothes and if you get a call you can answer it by pressing the button on the phone clip, it sends the call to your BAHA(s) and you speak into the microphone on the phone clip. Whilst I don't generally make or receive many phone calls this is great as normally I have to use speaker phone which doesn't offer any privacy and also because it is difficult holding a phone near your BAHA as it doesn't like things being close to it and gives off feedback. Since it sends any audio that is playing on the phone to your BAHA(s) you can use it to listen to music or watch videos etc. without disturbing anyone else and it means you don't have to have any wires. Whilst I did have to buy a memory card in order to put my music on my phone it has been great being able to listen to music when out and about and not have to carry my Ipod and the mini mic and an audio cable. The phone clip is also great as you can mute your BAHA(s) with the press of a button which is great because otherwise you have to either open the battery door(s) to turn them off which is risky in case something catches them or the battery falls out or load up the BAHA app, wait for it to connect to your BAHA(s) then tap the mute icon. You can also change the program by pressing the program change button on the phone clip which is more discreet and won't cause feedback like when you have to press the button on top of a BAHA. I won't be giving up the mini mic however since I still need it to connect to non-Bluetooth devices like my laptop and my electronic drum kit. I do understand the switch to Bluetooth away from FM systems that require specific receivers however I have noticed a bit of an issue with Bluetooth interfering with my WIFI connection. It seems when I try and use my mini mic with my electronic drum kit it interferes with my WIFI on my tablet making it very frustrating when I'm trying to play along to YouTube videos. I emailed Cochlear about it and they came back and said it was a known issue and suggested some ways to fix it but I may need to do some more experimenting. Maybe with the increased use of bluetooth devices in general companies will find a way to reduce the problem.
It's not all been job hunting and hearing aid stuff there have social activities as well! Last month I went down to Dublin with a friend to see Tame Impala live. They are a band that I really like with Currents being a fantastic album, the two new singles aren't bad either! I decided with some persuasion from my parents that it would be a lot of hassle driving down and back and also getting parked. We ended up booking a direct coach from a local company, got the bus at the pickup point in Belfast and it took us down to Dublin (with a few pickups along the way) and dropped us five minutes walk from the 3Arena. Unfortunately there was an issue on the way down to Dublin, the coach started to have problems and eventually the driver had to pull onto the hard shoulder and stop. Thankfully the company were able to send another coach but it was quite a long wait and it was a rather warm day! We got there a bit later than expected but we were able to get some food in Eddie Rockets just beside the 3Arena and we made it in to catch most of the support act. Tame Impala put on a spectacular show with the great music enhanced by the visuals, lights and lasers. My only criticism is that they could've played one or two more songs. I was disappointed they didn't play Reality in Motion. I was also glad of the ability to mute my hearing aids as it did seem rather loud, my friend was glad he had brought his ear plugs. After the show we went straight back to the bus which then took us back to Belfast. I then got an uber home (very handy being able to use an app rather than have to ring up a taxi). I also saw Slash live in Belfast and got in to the concert for free. The night before it emerged that they were giving tickets away for free presumably because they hadn't sold enough and didn't want to be embarrassed. It was a good night even though it rained heavily that said one of Slash's guitar solos went on way too long! As well as that I had a short break up the coast with my parents, it was only for a few days but it was nice to have a change of scene.
Thanks for reading, I will try and post more regularly!
James
In other news I got my new BAHA and gave back the demo one unfortunately I had some issues with feedback but after going back to the hospital and getting the audiologist to have a look I think they have been fixed. There is a new update from Cochlear which means that my BAHAs are now in sync so if I change the program in one it automatically changes in the other and the same for muting them. I was able to get another accessory with the new BAHA so I decided to go with the phone clip and I'm very glad I did. The main point of it is that it connects to your phone using Bluetooth and sends any audio from your phone to your BAHA(s). You can clip it to your clothes and if you get a call you can answer it by pressing the button on the phone clip, it sends the call to your BAHA(s) and you speak into the microphone on the phone clip. Whilst I don't generally make or receive many phone calls this is great as normally I have to use speaker phone which doesn't offer any privacy and also because it is difficult holding a phone near your BAHA as it doesn't like things being close to it and gives off feedback. Since it sends any audio that is playing on the phone to your BAHA(s) you can use it to listen to music or watch videos etc. without disturbing anyone else and it means you don't have to have any wires. Whilst I did have to buy a memory card in order to put my music on my phone it has been great being able to listen to music when out and about and not have to carry my Ipod and the mini mic and an audio cable. The phone clip is also great as you can mute your BAHA(s) with the press of a button which is great because otherwise you have to either open the battery door(s) to turn them off which is risky in case something catches them or the battery falls out or load up the BAHA app, wait for it to connect to your BAHA(s) then tap the mute icon. You can also change the program by pressing the program change button on the phone clip which is more discreet and won't cause feedback like when you have to press the button on top of a BAHA. I won't be giving up the mini mic however since I still need it to connect to non-Bluetooth devices like my laptop and my electronic drum kit. I do understand the switch to Bluetooth away from FM systems that require specific receivers however I have noticed a bit of an issue with Bluetooth interfering with my WIFI connection. It seems when I try and use my mini mic with my electronic drum kit it interferes with my WIFI on my tablet making it very frustrating when I'm trying to play along to YouTube videos. I emailed Cochlear about it and they came back and said it was a known issue and suggested some ways to fix it but I may need to do some more experimenting. Maybe with the increased use of bluetooth devices in general companies will find a way to reduce the problem.
It's not all been job hunting and hearing aid stuff there have social activities as well! Last month I went down to Dublin with a friend to see Tame Impala live. They are a band that I really like with Currents being a fantastic album, the two new singles aren't bad either! I decided with some persuasion from my parents that it would be a lot of hassle driving down and back and also getting parked. We ended up booking a direct coach from a local company, got the bus at the pickup point in Belfast and it took us down to Dublin (with a few pickups along the way) and dropped us five minutes walk from the 3Arena. Unfortunately there was an issue on the way down to Dublin, the coach started to have problems and eventually the driver had to pull onto the hard shoulder and stop. Thankfully the company were able to send another coach but it was quite a long wait and it was a rather warm day! We got there a bit later than expected but we were able to get some food in Eddie Rockets just beside the 3Arena and we made it in to catch most of the support act. Tame Impala put on a spectacular show with the great music enhanced by the visuals, lights and lasers. My only criticism is that they could've played one or two more songs. I was disappointed they didn't play Reality in Motion. I was also glad of the ability to mute my hearing aids as it did seem rather loud, my friend was glad he had brought his ear plugs. After the show we went straight back to the bus which then took us back to Belfast. I then got an uber home (very handy being able to use an app rather than have to ring up a taxi). I also saw Slash live in Belfast and got in to the concert for free. The night before it emerged that they were giving tickets away for free presumably because they hadn't sold enough and didn't want to be embarrassed. It was a good night even though it rained heavily that said one of Slash's guitar solos went on way too long! As well as that I had a short break up the coast with my parents, it was only for a few days but it was nice to have a change of scene.
Thanks for reading, I will try and post more regularly!
James
Friday 3 May 2019
Bilateral/Job Situation
Well I am now bilateral that is I now have a BAHA for each side of my head. I just have a demo unit for now but am hoping to get my own in the near future. I have definitely noticed an improvement in sound quality and I no longer have to worry about which side I have to sit or walk on in order to hear people. I have had a bit of issue with a metallic like feedback that just comes from the demo BAHA but I assume that the volume is just a bit too high on it.
In terms of other stuff it's been a bit up and down in terms of the job situation, there seem to be quiet periods were there are very few relevant jobs being advertised and other periods when I am spending lots of time preparing for interviews. Unfortunately I've still had no solid offers for jobs. It is very frustrating given that I am getting interviews, I feel the interviews go well (and I certainly have learnt a lot and am much more prepared than I was when I first started having interviews) and I am getting great feedback. Unfortunately in many cases the competition is so high and the feedback is that someone else had more direct experience.
I had applied for a job before Christmas and I was invited in for a chat about it, unfortunately I was later informed that I hadn't got it but that competition had been high with a total of 76 people applying for the single position, many of them with PhDs like me. During a quiet period when there were few jobs appearing and nothing much happening I decided to go back to the person and ask if there would be an opportunity to get some experience in the laboratory. The person very generously agreed and allowed me to come and spend two days in the lab. This was great as it allows me to show employers that I have been productive, it has given me recent lab experience and it has also given me experience of a commercial lab i.e. one outside of a university setting. The company are currently very busy but the person running it has generously offered for me to come in for a longer period at a later date and gain more experience. It shows that people are not all bad and it's certainly not a case of me working for free given that the person I was working with had to take time out of their own work schedule to show me how to carry out the complex process that they do on a daily basis.
I am currently waiting for feedback from two big interviews I did unfortunately it seems they are very quick to reject you but not so quick to provide feedback. It is very quiet in terms of jobs becoming available at the moment but I'm hoping that will change soon or I will hear back about some of the many jobs I've applied for in the past months (and am definitely qualified for!).
Thanks for reading,
James
In terms of other stuff it's been a bit up and down in terms of the job situation, there seem to be quiet periods were there are very few relevant jobs being advertised and other periods when I am spending lots of time preparing for interviews. Unfortunately I've still had no solid offers for jobs. It is very frustrating given that I am getting interviews, I feel the interviews go well (and I certainly have learnt a lot and am much more prepared than I was when I first started having interviews) and I am getting great feedback. Unfortunately in many cases the competition is so high and the feedback is that someone else had more direct experience.
I had applied for a job before Christmas and I was invited in for a chat about it, unfortunately I was later informed that I hadn't got it but that competition had been high with a total of 76 people applying for the single position, many of them with PhDs like me. During a quiet period when there were few jobs appearing and nothing much happening I decided to go back to the person and ask if there would be an opportunity to get some experience in the laboratory. The person very generously agreed and allowed me to come and spend two days in the lab. This was great as it allows me to show employers that I have been productive, it has given me recent lab experience and it has also given me experience of a commercial lab i.e. one outside of a university setting. The company are currently very busy but the person running it has generously offered for me to come in for a longer period at a later date and gain more experience. It shows that people are not all bad and it's certainly not a case of me working for free given that the person I was working with had to take time out of their own work schedule to show me how to carry out the complex process that they do on a daily basis.
I am currently waiting for feedback from two big interviews I did unfortunately it seems they are very quick to reject you but not so quick to provide feedback. It is very quiet in terms of jobs becoming available at the moment but I'm hoping that will change soon or I will hear back about some of the many jobs I've applied for in the past months (and am definitely qualified for!).
Thanks for reading,
James
Monday 25 March 2019
Tiring
This is a bit of a follow on to my last post and I'm going to talk about how tiring it can be sometimes when you have a medical condition with hospital appointments and other things to think about. I am wary of making this blog too self-pitying but at the same time I want to be honest and share the difficulties that I and others like me face.
It is fair to say that trialing the BAHA and then switching to it full time has been tiring. It is tiring to go to an audiology appointment and get your hearing tested. You sit there with this headset on your head and have to press a button that you hold if you hear a beep. The problem is that when you are in that situation it is difficult to figure out if you are actually hearing a quiet beep or imagining it. It is also difficult when you think that there is a pattern to it so you think oh there must be a beep but you aren't 100% sure. It is also tiring to get information basically thrown at you and be asked questions about how the hearing aid is when you haven't had time to actually test it in your normal routines. You have to be prepared and have questions ready to go for appointments and you also have to make decisions in a short amount of time. It can also be tiring when you are dealing with multiple people (say an audiologist and a representative of the hearing aid company) in the same appointment. Having people go on at you about getting a BAHA implant and about how much better it is than the softband is especially tiring especially when they don't have any personal experience and it's not them that will be going through it.
Following on from this it can be tiring thinking about surgeries in general. I always have thoughts at the back of my mind about the possibility of surgeries and whether or not I would want to undergo any procedures. In the past I have doctors basically give me lists of things I could get done:
It is fair to say that trialing the BAHA and then switching to it full time has been tiring. It is tiring to go to an audiology appointment and get your hearing tested. You sit there with this headset on your head and have to press a button that you hold if you hear a beep. The problem is that when you are in that situation it is difficult to figure out if you are actually hearing a quiet beep or imagining it. It is also difficult when you think that there is a pattern to it so you think oh there must be a beep but you aren't 100% sure. It is also tiring to get information basically thrown at you and be asked questions about how the hearing aid is when you haven't had time to actually test it in your normal routines. You have to be prepared and have questions ready to go for appointments and you also have to make decisions in a short amount of time. It can also be tiring when you are dealing with multiple people (say an audiologist and a representative of the hearing aid company) in the same appointment. Having people go on at you about getting a BAHA implant and about how much better it is than the softband is especially tiring especially when they don't have any personal experience and it's not them that will be going through it.
Following on from this it can be tiring thinking about surgeries in general. I always have thoughts at the back of my mind about the possibility of surgeries and whether or not I would want to undergo any procedures. In the past I have doctors basically give me lists of things I could get done:
- Jaw surgery to bring my lower jaw forward
- Chin implants
- Cheekbone implants
- Surgery to give me normal looking ears
- Surgery to improve my airway
- Surgery to straighten my nose
There are probably others that I have forgotten. As an adult any decision I make will be my own responsibility, I can get advice from doctors and other people but in the end it will be me who has to live with the aftermath and that includes if things don't work out or something happens like nerve damage or something worse. I might expand on this in future posts but at the moment I'll just say that I'm happy with how things are but it's something I will always have at the back of my mind.
There is also the issue of having to keep on top of things such as taking care of your hearing aid, making sure you have enough batteries and making sure you have a backup aid especially when you go away on holiday. When I needed the Fortisip it became a case of having to bring the bottles in a coolbag and having a letter from a doctor explaining to the airport staff why I needed to bring all this liquid with me. As I mentioned previously I also had to make the effort to get an In Case of Emergency card made up and laminated as well as sending messages to friends to let them know about it for any worst case scenario where it might be needed.
All in all having these things to remember or having to go through hospital appointments where lots of information thrown at you can be quite tiring. That said I'm aware that other people likely have it worse and it is fortunate that now I'm older I don't have as many hospital appointments.
Thanks for reading,
James.
There is also the issue of having to keep on top of things such as taking care of your hearing aid, making sure you have enough batteries and making sure you have a backup aid especially when you go away on holiday. When I needed the Fortisip it became a case of having to bring the bottles in a coolbag and having a letter from a doctor explaining to the airport staff why I needed to bring all this liquid with me. As I mentioned previously I also had to make the effort to get an In Case of Emergency card made up and laminated as well as sending messages to friends to let them know about it for any worst case scenario where it might be needed.
All in all having these things to remember or having to go through hospital appointments where lots of information thrown at you can be quite tiring. That said I'm aware that other people likely have it worse and it is fortunate that now I'm older I don't have as many hospital appointments.
Thanks for reading,
James.
Tuesday 26 February 2019
BAHA or nothing!
*I wrote this post before my audiology appointment but didn't publish it in time as such I've added comments in blue to show what I learnt from the appointment*
In a previous post I mentioned that I was trialing a Cochlear BAHA 5 after being told that Phonak would not be repairing the bone conductor hearing aid I had been wearing after 2020, unfortunately that wasn't the whole story. The whole story is that they would have only repaired it if they still had any of the required parts. I know this because my Phonak hearing aid broke and when the audiology department sent it away to be repaired Phonak just came back and said they weren't going to repair it as they didn't have the parts anymore. Fortunately I have adapted well to the BAHA on a soft band but I feel very sorry for people who are not able to this forced change especially older people who may struggle to adapt to an entirely new system with different controls and advanced functionality like only being able to change the volume on a phone app.
Thankfully it has become clear that I can definitely live with the BAHA 5 and it is not a downgrade in sound quality. That said there are some issues I'm still having though I may be able to tweak or fix some of these at my next appointment:
The BAHA 5 does have some definite plus points over my old hearing aid:
Plenty to think about!
In a previous post I mentioned that I was trialing a Cochlear BAHA 5 after being told that Phonak would not be repairing the bone conductor hearing aid I had been wearing after 2020, unfortunately that wasn't the whole story. The whole story is that they would have only repaired it if they still had any of the required parts. I know this because my Phonak hearing aid broke and when the audiology department sent it away to be repaired Phonak just came back and said they weren't going to repair it as they didn't have the parts anymore. Fortunately I have adapted well to the BAHA on a soft band but I feel very sorry for people who are not able to this forced change especially older people who may struggle to adapt to an entirely new system with different controls and advanced functionality like only being able to change the volume on a phone app.
Thankfully it has become clear that I can definitely live with the BAHA 5 and it is not a downgrade in sound quality. That said there are some issues I'm still having though I may be able to tweak or fix some of these at my next appointment:
- Feedback, for some reason the BAHA 5 can't handle certain noises or frequencies that my much older hearing aids had no issue with. It mainly seems to be high pitches and I get feedback during certain moments when watching TV shows or hearing background music. I also have to turn the BAHA down when playing guitar but that doesn't fix the problem completely which is very frustrating.
I brought this up in the appointment and the audiologist has added a music program onto the BAHA. It seems to take a few seconds to adjust but it seems to have fixed the issue in terms of playing guitar. I can now play both my acoustic and electric guitars without constant feedback or having to turn the BAHA itself way down. - Wind, the microphone on the BAHA seems either to be more exposed or much more sensitive to wind than my old hearing aids. I need to see about getting the "wind" program put on it again but it didn't seem to make a massive difference when I had my first trial.
The wind program has been added and seems to make a bit of a difference but I think it is unfortunately a downside that the BAHA is just going to be more sensitive to wind than my old aid. - Battery life, this isn't a major issue and nothing you can do about it but it's definitely nowhere near as good as my old hearing aids and hopefully something that can be improved in future models especially for people like me to listen to music a lot through the mini mic accessory.
- Poor sound quality on the other side. With my old hearing aid the microphone was on the left side so I normally tried to walk on the right of people or sit on the right at dinner with my family. That said it seems like it is even more of an issue with the BAHA. I really struggle to hear people on my left side especially in a noisier environment. Obviously I can try and stay on the left of people now (the BAHA is all one bit and it's on my right side of my head now). There is also the option of getting bilateral BAHAs (one for each side of my head).
After talking with the audiologist we are going to see about me getting a second BAHA so I can have one for either side of my head and also it would mean if one broke I wouldn't be without a backup. My audiologist did say that the BAHA is more directional than my old aid so it makes sense that there is more of a difference. Given that unlike many people who have BAHAs I'm don't just have Single Sided Deafness so it makes sense for me to have bilateral BAHAs.
The BAHA 5 does have some definite plus points over my old hearing aid:
- It is all contained in one unit, no longer have a unit either side of my head connected by a wire. So this means you can have bilateral BAHAs. The lack of a wire is also good because I always seemed to have an issue with either sweat or moisture (despite drying my hair very thoroughly) which resulted in the wire turning a lovely green colour due to a discharge from the hearing aid (presumably harmless, never had any issues and the audiologist and Phonak never made any comments about it when they looked at it).
- I got the Mini Mic 2+ accessory with it and it has the advantage of being a lot smaller than the FM system I used with my digital Phonak hearing aid. It connects to the BAHA via bluetooth and the sound quality seems very good, you can also change the volume on the mini mic itself. I don't need to use it as a microphone but I connect audio devices (Ipod, laptop etc.) to it using a standard audio cable and it works very well. My one criticism of it is that for whatever reason they designed it so that it has a flashing power light which is very irritating if it is in your eye line.
- If you have an IPhone you can stream audio directly to the BAHA without any accessories including phone calls. I really hope that we get this functionality with Android phones at some point. Obviously you can use speaker phone but the BAHA doesn't like things being held close to it and it results in feedback.
 |
| My BAHA, showing the underside and the part that attaches |
 |
| The elasticated headband, the round bit is where the BAHA attaches, the cream coloured clip comes apart to prevent it choking a child |
 |
| The BAHA attached to the headband |
 |
This shows my four programs in the phone app:
|
 |
| Here you can see the settings for the streaming program so I can mute the BAHA microphone and only have the audio from my Ipod etc. come through |
 |
| Another menu page in the app |
 |
| The mini mic with the standard audio cable I use with it |
Plenty to think about!
Monday 21 January 2019
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse review
I've realised that I haven't done a proper movie review in a while so I've decided to do a review of the recent Spider-Man animated movie.
It's fair to say that I was skeptical when this movie was announced, it was difficult not to feel that this was yet another poor decision by Sony motivated by greed and likely to take away from the live action Spider-Man movies. Despite Spider-Man: Homecoming setting up the potential appearance of Miles Morales this animated movie would now be the big screen debut of the Miles Morales Spider-Man. Whilst I do think Sony have a lot to answer for such as pushing forward with their Spider-Man spin-off universe (Venom being one) which although not connected to the MCU they keep teasing that it is and keep teasing the appearance of Spider-Man which very unlikely. There is also the problem of Spider-Man: Far From Home which releases in July, it's hard not to suspect that if were soley up to Marvel that it wouldn't be being released so soon after Avengers: Endgame, in fact it is already causing problems with the trailer having been released before Avengers: Endgame is actually out (it doesn't give away any major spoilers for that film but it is a problem).
Putting all of that aside I'm glad to say that I was wrong to be skeptical about this movie, it is both a very good movie and one of the best Spider-Man movies we have had. It is set in a world where Peter Parker's Spider-Man has been around for quite a while and is very well known. However the movie doesn't follow him, instead it follows a young Miles Morales, a teenager who is dealing with the challenge of moving to a new school and trying to fit in only to get bitten by a radioactive spider and gain powers of his own. He has to try and learn to use his abilities and become a hero whilst teaming up with other Spider heroes from across the multiverse to stop a major threat.
It's a great looking film and the fact that it is animated means they can do stuff that wouldn't work in live action. It is very comic booky (if that makes sense) at times and each of the Spider heroes has a unique style befitting their universe. Some of the characters look a bit over the top but it doesn't detract from them too much. The action looks great and there are some fantastic fight scenes as well as awesome little touches if you are paying attention. There is one weird thing in terms of the look of the movie with some of the background having the appearance of a 3D movie if you aren't wearing 3D glasses, I only really noticed it early on in movie though.
The voice acting is definitely well-done, Nicholas Cage somewhat steals the show as Spider-Man Noir, a vigilante Spider-Man who comes from an old fashioned black and white universe. I wasn't overly fussed on Spider-Ham when I saw the trailer but thankfully he isn't too irritating. Shameik Moore is great as Miles and has a lot of great back and forth with Jake Johnson's world weary Peter Parker. The sound is also well done and helps to make The Prowler a seriously intimidating villain.
It is a genuinely funny movie at times, there is plenty of slap-stick humour to keep the kids happy as well as lots of moments to entertain adults as well including one sequence which had two of my favourite comedy moments in the movie. The use of multiple Spider heroes provides a lot of potential for comedy and given the post-credits sequence there is potential for a lot more in any sequels.
Overall I'm very glad I decided to go and see this movie in the cinema, I ended up seeing it in early January in the early afternoon and it was only me and another man and his young son in the screen. It is a great looking, action-packed, funny and heart-felt movie. It's clear that a lot of effort and love went into this movie and I would definitely be interested in going and seeing a sequel.
Thanks for reading.
It's fair to say that I was skeptical when this movie was announced, it was difficult not to feel that this was yet another poor decision by Sony motivated by greed and likely to take away from the live action Spider-Man movies. Despite Spider-Man: Homecoming setting up the potential appearance of Miles Morales this animated movie would now be the big screen debut of the Miles Morales Spider-Man. Whilst I do think Sony have a lot to answer for such as pushing forward with their Spider-Man spin-off universe (Venom being one) which although not connected to the MCU they keep teasing that it is and keep teasing the appearance of Spider-Man which very unlikely. There is also the problem of Spider-Man: Far From Home which releases in July, it's hard not to suspect that if were soley up to Marvel that it wouldn't be being released so soon after Avengers: Endgame, in fact it is already causing problems with the trailer having been released before Avengers: Endgame is actually out (it doesn't give away any major spoilers for that film but it is a problem).
Putting all of that aside I'm glad to say that I was wrong to be skeptical about this movie, it is both a very good movie and one of the best Spider-Man movies we have had. It is set in a world where Peter Parker's Spider-Man has been around for quite a while and is very well known. However the movie doesn't follow him, instead it follows a young Miles Morales, a teenager who is dealing with the challenge of moving to a new school and trying to fit in only to get bitten by a radioactive spider and gain powers of his own. He has to try and learn to use his abilities and become a hero whilst teaming up with other Spider heroes from across the multiverse to stop a major threat.
 |
| Miles Morales |
It's a great looking film and the fact that it is animated means they can do stuff that wouldn't work in live action. It is very comic booky (if that makes sense) at times and each of the Spider heroes has a unique style befitting their universe. Some of the characters look a bit over the top but it doesn't detract from them too much. The action looks great and there are some fantastic fight scenes as well as awesome little touches if you are paying attention. There is one weird thing in terms of the look of the movie with some of the background having the appearance of a 3D movie if you aren't wearing 3D glasses, I only really noticed it early on in movie though.
The voice acting is definitely well-done, Nicholas Cage somewhat steals the show as Spider-Man Noir, a vigilante Spider-Man who comes from an old fashioned black and white universe. I wasn't overly fussed on Spider-Ham when I saw the trailer but thankfully he isn't too irritating. Shameik Moore is great as Miles and has a lot of great back and forth with Jake Johnson's world weary Peter Parker. The sound is also well done and helps to make The Prowler a seriously intimidating villain.
 |
| Spider-Man Noir |
It is a genuinely funny movie at times, there is plenty of slap-stick humour to keep the kids happy as well as lots of moments to entertain adults as well including one sequence which had two of my favourite comedy moments in the movie. The use of multiple Spider heroes provides a lot of potential for comedy and given the post-credits sequence there is potential for a lot more in any sequels.
Overall I'm very glad I decided to go and see this movie in the cinema, I ended up seeing it in early January in the early afternoon and it was only me and another man and his young son in the screen. It is a great looking, action-packed, funny and heart-felt movie. It's clear that a lot of effort and love went into this movie and I would definitely be interested in going and seeing a sequel.
Thanks for reading.
Wednesday 16 January 2019
A New Year
Well Christmas and the New Year celebrations are now over and we are back in normal routines. For me that means I'm back on the job hunt again though I had to keep on top of my automatic job alert emails during Christmas so they didn't pile up. It is a quiet period on the job front but that is expected after the holidays. It was nice to not have to think about jobs and other things over the holidays too much. We had a nice mixture of relaxation, spending time with family and various excursions including my first trip up Cave Hill which overlooks Belfast as well as the area around where I live despite me having lived fairly close to it all my life. Christmas Day was very nice, as always I was spoilt by my parents and my brother but I think everyone was happy with what they received. We visited family members on the day and were very entertained by my cousins very hyper puppy. We had a lovely Christmas dinner just the four of us before having a relaxing night to ourselves. For New Year we never really do anything exciting, my brother was away so I just had a quiet night in with my parents.
For Christmas I got various different presents including a nice leather guitar strap which has been great for me as it a bit more padded and more comfortable than the seat belt style strap that I had been using as well as a multiple photo frame for my bedroom wall. I had also treated myself to a Nintendo Switch having gotten a great deal on Black Friday. I had resisted opening it until Christmas helped by the fact I was playing through God of War on the PS4 (great game!). I had gotten Mario Kart with it and I also received Mario Odyssey for Christmas. I'm really enjoying it especially the hybrid nature of it being able to play it on the TV or take the console out and play it as a handheld.
With the beginning of a new year it's hard not to think that time is flying by but at the same time it seems like a long time since the major events. 2018 was a bit of a strange year for me, after spending most of December 2017 waiting for my suggested revisions for my PhD thesis to be sent to me I finally got them at the start of January. Having submitted the thesis the first time, then having to defend it, going back to make changes to it including changes to the appearance, reference list etc. is frustrating. I spent the period from January to the middle of March working on it and it was difficult due to the examiner asking for things that weren't necessary or in some cases weren't even possible and he was very poor at responding to emails. It was also very frustrating working on such a large document in Microsoft Word when formatting what should be simple things becomes very difficult like having two images of the same size with captions on a number of pages like I had. I was finally happy with it and I submitted to my examiner only to have to wait until the middle of April to get it signed off. By this time I had started properly applying for jobs and learnt some harsh lessons about not even being invited to interview despite being qualified for a job.
With my thesis finally signed off I made my final checks before getting it printed and hardbound and submitting it to the university as well as the organisation who funded my PhD. My job search became my main focus although I've tried to also enjoy my free time while I can. I started meeting up with an employment advisor from a hearing loss charity and ended up working to improve my interview technique. I ended up having quite a few interviews in some cases I had two interviews on the one day but unfortunately didn't receive any offers despite thinking that certain interviews had gone rather well.
It wasn't all about the job hunt though, we had the excitement of our trip to London, having our original flight cancelled, then having to fly to Southampton and get a taxi to London with the surreal experience of arriving in a snow covered London late at night. 2018 was the year of my first music festival which I really enjoyed. We also had our holiday to Majorca which was lovely and two trips to the north coast although as my last post mentioned it was a rather mixed trip due to the loss of our cat Milo. There was also the disappointment of Northern Ireland's Nations League campaign but at least they showed that they can play well they just need to put the ball in the net!
One minor achievement I had this year was finally switching to a solid breakfast, no longer relying on the Fortisip drink, in fact the last time I actually had a Fortisip was when I took one with me to the music festival in August. I no longer get Fortisip on prescription and hopefully I won't ever feel the need to get it again. I try to go out for a walk every day as well as playing five a side football once a week (if we can get the numbers) as well as being a volunteer dog walker for two hours a week all of which means I feel pretty good physically though things may slip once I'm in full time employment.
My main hope for 2019 is for me to get a good job, I think once I get a job then that will open up other opportunities but that is not always the case. I imagine I will continue to deal with the BAHA issue and explore my options in terms of model and whether or not I would consider the surgery. One of my closest friends is getting married this year so i am looking forward to that and of course I am looking forward to seeing Captain Marvel and Avengers Endgame which is meant to be the end of an era for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Thanks for reading!
Views from Cave Hill
For Christmas I got various different presents including a nice leather guitar strap which has been great for me as it a bit more padded and more comfortable than the seat belt style strap that I had been using as well as a multiple photo frame for my bedroom wall. I had also treated myself to a Nintendo Switch having gotten a great deal on Black Friday. I had resisted opening it until Christmas helped by the fact I was playing through God of War on the PS4 (great game!). I had gotten Mario Kart with it and I also received Mario Odyssey for Christmas. I'm really enjoying it especially the hybrid nature of it being able to play it on the TV or take the console out and play it as a handheld.
With the beginning of a new year it's hard not to think that time is flying by but at the same time it seems like a long time since the major events. 2018 was a bit of a strange year for me, after spending most of December 2017 waiting for my suggested revisions for my PhD thesis to be sent to me I finally got them at the start of January. Having submitted the thesis the first time, then having to defend it, going back to make changes to it including changes to the appearance, reference list etc. is frustrating. I spent the period from January to the middle of March working on it and it was difficult due to the examiner asking for things that weren't necessary or in some cases weren't even possible and he was very poor at responding to emails. It was also very frustrating working on such a large document in Microsoft Word when formatting what should be simple things becomes very difficult like having two images of the same size with captions on a number of pages like I had. I was finally happy with it and I submitted to my examiner only to have to wait until the middle of April to get it signed off. By this time I had started properly applying for jobs and learnt some harsh lessons about not even being invited to interview despite being qualified for a job.
With my thesis finally signed off I made my final checks before getting it printed and hardbound and submitting it to the university as well as the organisation who funded my PhD. My job search became my main focus although I've tried to also enjoy my free time while I can. I started meeting up with an employment advisor from a hearing loss charity and ended up working to improve my interview technique. I ended up having quite a few interviews in some cases I had two interviews on the one day but unfortunately didn't receive any offers despite thinking that certain interviews had gone rather well.
It wasn't all about the job hunt though, we had the excitement of our trip to London, having our original flight cancelled, then having to fly to Southampton and get a taxi to London with the surreal experience of arriving in a snow covered London late at night. 2018 was the year of my first music festival which I really enjoyed. We also had our holiday to Majorca which was lovely and two trips to the north coast although as my last post mentioned it was a rather mixed trip due to the loss of our cat Milo. There was also the disappointment of Northern Ireland's Nations League campaign but at least they showed that they can play well they just need to put the ball in the net!
One minor achievement I had this year was finally switching to a solid breakfast, no longer relying on the Fortisip drink, in fact the last time I actually had a Fortisip was when I took one with me to the music festival in August. I no longer get Fortisip on prescription and hopefully I won't ever feel the need to get it again. I try to go out for a walk every day as well as playing five a side football once a week (if we can get the numbers) as well as being a volunteer dog walker for two hours a week all of which means I feel pretty good physically though things may slip once I'm in full time employment.
My main hope for 2019 is for me to get a good job, I think once I get a job then that will open up other opportunities but that is not always the case. I imagine I will continue to deal with the BAHA issue and explore my options in terms of model and whether or not I would consider the surgery. One of my closest friends is getting married this year so i am looking forward to that and of course I am looking forward to seeing Captain Marvel and Avengers Endgame which is meant to be the end of an era for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Thanks for reading!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)