Ambulance Sirens

I would like to point out that even though I get excited when I hear something new it’s not because I want to become a hearing person.  It has more to do with the thrill I get out of experiencing the world in a different way.  It also has to do with getting a taste of what loved ones experience on a daily basis.  I also have a strong interest in psychology, education, science, and medicine.  Sometimes my CI experiences stir up those interests.

It does not change the fact that I’m deaf nor do I want it to.

Anyways, I enjoy exploring the world and it has been fun (and frustrating at times) exploring it in a new way.

I finally heard ambulance sirens with my CI!!

I was sitting in my car at a red light with the windows up and without music on.  It was kind of quiet in the car which helped limit the amount of different sounds but also made it more unlikely that I would hear outside sounds.

All of the sudden I heard what I identified to be sirens.  Then I thought to myself that there was no way they could be sirens because I haven’t heard them with my CI so I kind of ignored it.  A few seconds went by and I knew I was hearing sirens.  I couldn’t tell you what kind of sirens or what direction they were coming in.

I started turning around trying to find the source of what I was hearing.

I still didn’t see anything that suggested I was hearing a siren so I turned back around and continued to wait for the red light to turn green (it was a lonngggg red light).  I was starting to think it was just a  random unidentifiable sound when I saw an ambulance go right by me with their lights flashing!

It was kind of a mixed feeling.  I was excited that I finally heard something I had wanted to hear with the CI.  I was also a bit sad because whenever I see an ambulance I wonder what happened and hope everyone will be okay.

I was surprised I was able to identify it even though I hadn’t really heard ambulance sirens with my CI.  It’s also uncommon for me to be able to identify a sound before I see the source.  It really does go to show that even after 2 years I’m still learning new things.  My brain is still trying to figure out how to separate environment sounds so that I’m not hearing overlapping sounds that seem to form a single sound.