« They Gotta Come Out Somehow…
iTricks.com Magic Week In Review: 12.20.06 »

A Magic Journey To Hear Again

Ron Jaxon has been a friend to this site since the beginning and we are very proud to turn things over to him today so he can tell a remarkable story. Without further introduction… Ron Jaxon.

The Magic of Sound

As some of you may know. I’ve been deaf for about 20 years now. If you’ve ever seen me perform live you’ll know that my deafness plays a big part in my acts. Well, that’s about to change. A few weeks ago I had my Cochlear Implant surgery and in just a couple of days on December 22 my implant will be turned on and I’ll be able to hear again for the first time in almost 20 years.

I receive a lot of questions about my hearing so I’ll just answer some of the more common ones right now. I really don’t know if I was born deaf or if my hearing loss kicked in in my first few years. Back then they really didn’t have any way to check an infants hearing. So it wasn’t until about the time I would normally begin to speak that they suspected that I have hearing loss. After some tests they discovered that I had fluid build up in my ears and put “tubes” in my ear to correct this. I went the next few years of my life thinking I now had super hearing because I was experiencing a new world of sound. But in about the 4th grade it was discovered that I still had significant hearing loss. I soon got my first set of hearing aids. Over the years my hearing continued to decrease and I’d get a new upgraded hearing aid every few years. Eventually my hearing decreased to the point where even hearing aids where not strong enough for me to be able to hear. During my late teens and early twenties I was profoundly deaf. Today, I have absolutely no hearing (Well, if it’s super loud I might hear some sounds faintly like a drum or a loud motorcycle).

Well, that’s about to change and I’m very excited and anxious.

READ THE REST AFTER THE JUMP

I really don’t know how well I’ll be able to hear yet. I know I’ll be able to hear “Sounds” but things like speech and music are hard to predict with my level of hearing loss and the length of time I’ve gone without sound. My brain kind of has to learn how to hear again. Speech is the biggest challenge because although I’ll likely be able to hear voices. The ability to be able to distinguish what’s being said is a much more complicated process then just hearing sounds. I have to learn how to distinguish the sound of the letter B from the letter D and so forth. And music is made of any layers of sound. So I really don’t know how well I’ll be able to understand speech. Over time my ability to understand speech should improve. So if any of you see me soon I’ll still have to read your lips for some time. But who knows, maybe sometime next year I’ll even be able to make phone calls.

skitched-20091221-115217.jpg

Right now the hardest part is keeping my expectations realistic. So speech and music would be great if I can someday reach that level but until then I’m focusing on small everyday sounds that I’m sure I’ll likely be able to hear. I’ve been talking to other people who where deaf and then got the implant and they tell me sounds like the turning signals in the car, tapping of a key board on a computer and cracking of an ice tray fascinated them. I’m sure those are the kinds of sounds I’ll be discovering a lot in the next few weeks.

Some of my magician friends have expressed their concerns, well, maybe not concerns but they wonder what will happen to my acts when I’m no longer deaf? Well, first of all I’ll still be “Deaf”. If I take that device off I won’t be able to hear a thing. So I suppose the actual description would be “Deaf when unaided”. So when I use jokes like, “Don’t worry I didn’t see your card…. I’m deaf (Smirk)”. It will still fit me. On the other hand I also look at the fact that my deafness kind of evolved into my magic acts and now I’ll just have to evolve some more. I’m sure the fact that I can “Hear again after being deaf” will also give me more material. I’m already using the fact that I now have a magnet embedded in the side of my head (Do a search for Cochlear Implant and you’ll learn more about why I have a magnet embedded in the side of my skull). Some of my magician friends are already calling my a “PK Head”. I also want to find a girl that has this implant so I’ll have a chance at a girl being “Attracted” to me. :)

I’m sure it will have a profound effect on my life and my performances. I’ll be turned on just 3 days before Christmas and I plan to video me hearing for the first time when it’s turned on. Then I’ll look forward to (and have to suffer some from what I’ve been told) the sounds of Christmas.

I’ll come back and fill you all in on my magical journey back to the world of sound.

-Ron Jaxon

Posted by Editor on Monday, December 21st, 2009 at 12:30 pm.

  • CameronRamsay

    Congrats Ron, i hope you enjoy the sound of a zipo. I heard hats the first sound you want to hear.

    Cameron

  • Aslan

    Awesome news Ron! These types of stories always make me put my own life into perspective and realize how fortunate all of us really are! Thank you for sharing your story.

    Aslan

  • friendinflorida

    That's an amazing story. All my prayers and luck to you tomorrow Ron!

    I like this line: “Don’t worry I didn’t see your card…. I’m deaf (Smirk)”. :)

  • ryanJ78

    Good luck to you Ron! I'm looking forward to hearing about your first day(ish). See you around!

  • ryanJ78

    The title actually works both ways. The magic of sound will indeed let you experience the sound of magic!! Good luck to you on A-Day, I look forward to seeing the video!

    Take Care
    RJ (the one not from the west coast)

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Andrew-Martin/1225700705 Andrew Martin

    WOW !! Great news

  • ronjaxon

    What a day I've had!!

    I actually got my implant turned on yesterday. I thought it was going to be the 22 but it was the 21. So I've been “Bionic” for about 24 hours now.

    Nothing sounds right yet but I am hearing things. When I hear a voice it's like “Squawk squawk squawk” but I am hearing the voices. And here's the awesome things. I've actually been able to pick up a few words. It's kind of a guess to me but I've been right a few times. My Audiologist gave me some more tests today and I even surprised her. She said, “I'm going to cover my mouth and say words and I want you to tell my if the word has one or two syllables.” Out of about 10 words I got almost all of them right. Then I surprised her because she said a word and I go “2…..Did you just say airplane?” and she was amazed that I picked that up on my second day. She said she didn't think I'd reach that level for at least a month or two.

    So when that happened she said, “Fallow me” and took me into the sound proof room where more intense hearing tests are done. Then she showed me the results and compared them to my first hearing test a few months ago. Seeing that chart is an amazing difference. More then half of the marks where now in the range of speech in both volume and pitch. Before none of them where even close to that range and I had absolutely zero on my first speech test. So it's better then anyone could have predicted.

    Now it's a matter of practice and teaching my brain to be able to distinguish sounds. Right at this moment I'm typing this post I'm hearing sounds like the air coming from the heater vent, the tapping of my fingers on the keys, some sound coming from the other room that I think might be the TV. But they are all blended sounds. I'm hearing a “Hhhhhhh”. The only way I can describe it is like a sports stadium when you hear “A crowd” rather then individual voices and sounds. My brain has not yet learned to separate those sounds so they are coming to me at once. So I can't tell what I'm hearing. But I AM HEARING! smile.gif Most of you would just cancel these sounds out but I can't do that yet. Will take time and practice.

    Some sounds that have struck me most so far as the tapping of my own feet as I walk, peeing in the toilet p) , tapping things on a hard surface (Like the cup on the table. I heard that). I even hear when I unscrew the cap off a coke bottle.

    So, it's only been one day and I'm already picking things up I haven't heard in almost 20 years. They don't sound like what they are yet but it's so amazing.

    Thanks again for all the support. I'll let you know as it progresses. Right now I'm mainly in a self training phase where I keep turning the volume up to challenge myself but never to the point where it's uncomfortable. Even at max volume my implant is only set to go up to about 10% right now. That'll slowly be raised over the next 6 months or so. So when I think about what I'm already experiencing at less then 10% of “normal” hearing. I'm very excited about what's to come.

    Thank you for all the support. I'll keep you up to speed on what's to come.

    Ron Jaxon

  • friendinflorida

    Yay Ron!!!!!!!! You have a whole brand new world now that will just evolve better and better over time. Thanks for sharing your story. It is so nice to hear good stuff for a change :) (no pun intended) :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/ronjaxon Ron Jaxon

    Thanks everyone. Just thought I'd share how things are going. I'm experiencing new sounds every day. Today I heard a train and finger nail clippers for the first time. It's like there are small surprises all day long.

    I still can't really understand speech yet but it's getting a little clearer as I get use to it. If for example I'm watching TV or a movie with subtitles so I know what's being said. I try to “Hear” the words. I don't really pick up the individual letter sounds but it's starting to get clear enough that I can sort of recognize the structure of the words. It's kind of hard to explain but the important thing is it is getting a little clearer.

    Small sounds are much easier to identify. Like the sound of paper or hard objects tapping together. I can hear the difference between wood and metal objects tapping.

    There are only two things that I'm not that happy about. For one I'm experiencing a lot of Tinnitus (ear ringing). They say this is common and should go away in time but it can be very loud and distracting. The other downside is I found out my one handed top palm needs work. I can hear it “Click” when I do it. :)

    Thanks again for all the support.

    Ron Jaxon

  • http://www.myspace.com/bbamagic Crow Garrett

    Ron, after the words of the guy from the Verizon commercials… “can you hear me now?”

  • http://www.MJMMagic.com/ Jeff Mash

    This is truly an inspirational post, and I may have to share it over at the MJM Magic blog as well. Ron, I've known of you for a long time now, and you've always been a secret inspiration to me. My cousin is deaf so I have a special affinity for anyone who is hearing impaired.

    Reading your account is very similar to someone learning a foreign language (hearing sounds but not quite able to distinguish words). However, it sounds like you're making excellent progress and every day is a new adventure. Thank you for posting your progress!

    - Jeff Mash
    MJM Magic

  • http://www.facebook.com/ronjaxon Ron Jaxon

    Thanks guys.

    Well, I just got it adjusted some more today. The volume was turned up a little but it was also adjusted to make things sound a little better. So it's a little easier to identify sounds now. It doesn't really seem all that much louder to me. But just clearer and more crisp sounding.

    Just a few days ago water running from a faucet sounded more like static noise to me. But not it sounds more like water. I still can't really understand speech very well yet. I can't really distinguish vowels and consonants. So I wouldn't be able to tell if someone said moon and noon or Mike from bike. But I can kind of picks things up just by the rhythm or structure of a sentence. A cool thing happened today though. My audiologist covered her mouth so I couldn't read lips and said numbers from one to nine and I was to try to repeat them. I got them all right except one number. For some reason I'd get six and two mixed up. I think it's the harsh sound of the “T” and “S”. I kind of hear a “Ts” with both sounds. But I got all right but that one and that's a huge step. They didn't expect me to be able to do that for months and it's only been a few weeks. So I'm off to an amazing start that's beyond anyone's expectations.

    To try to get an idea what it's like. Listing to the room you're in right now. Even if it's a quiet room you're probably hearing sounds that you ignore. Like air coming in the room or the trees outside. Those are the kinds of things I'm discovering all day long. It's pretty amazing really. It's like the world around me has changed and I'm peaking into a new dimension of it.

    Now I'll make some comments about how it's effecting my magic. Well, I really haven't done any shows since I got it turned on. I want to give myself some time to adjust before getting in front of an audience. But I have gone out a couple of times and performed casually. Such as new years eve I performed a little at a party in a bar. It was very noisy and it took some effort to try and ignore all the sounds I was hearing. But it's wasn't to bad. And I did find that sharing some of the funny things I've experience since I started hearing again got a lot of laughs. Keep in mind this was in a bar and a casual atmosphere. So I talked about things like my now having an early warning device for when someone passes gas. Before I didn't know anyone did it until it was to late. And I was upset to find out that they don't sound like “LOOK OUT!”. :)

    So I feel that it will effect my performances. That much is for sure. But I'll till have a lot of humor to use. About being deaf (Which I still am) and being able to hear again with the implant. So basically I'll just evolve more with it like I did when I lost my hearing and it became a part of my acts.

    Thanks again for all the support and comments.

    Ron Jaxon

  • mhgl

    Ron, I've been a fan since outsmoking first came out. It's great to read about your success with the implant. Just a suggestion, do you think it would help if you read along with an audiobook?

  • http://www.facebook.com/ronjaxon Ron Jaxon

    I don't have audio books yet but I do plan to get them. It turns out that's one method a lot of people who get the implant use. Like you suggested they read as they listen and it helps to train your brain to recognize speech. I'm just now starting to be able to understand a little speech so I'm at the level where I can start doing that. So I think I'll pick some up in the next couple of days.

    Things are going great. I'm still in “Hearing training” but my audiologist said she didn't expect me to reach the level of progress I'm at now for another 5 or 6 months. She even asked if it was okay to give my email address to others like me so they can ask me for advice. I might even go in and talk to other audiologist about ways of improving hearing training methods. Will be great to be able to help others who are going through this.

    I still couldn't really have a conversation with anyone without reading their lips. I can pick up a word here and there but I've still got a ways to go before I could do things like use the phone. Basically if I listen to words that are multiple choice I can tell hear what's being said. In other words if I turn around so I can't see you and ask you to name a number or a color I can usually hear what you'd say because I know it'll be one of the choices.

    But it's getting better every day. Sounds are starting to sound more natural to me. It's very exciting to make all these new sound discoveries. One sound that makes me laugh when ever I hear it is the sound of my dogs drinking water. LOL

    In a few months when I can understand speech better I plan to put on a “Hear again” party. It would be great to gather people together that I've known for years and never heard their voices before. Maybe some of my magician friends could even on a little show at the party. I just think it would be a fun way to celebrate my return back to the world of sound.

    Ron Jaxon

  • mhgl

    Ron, I've been a fan since outsmoking first came out. It's great to read about your success with the implant. Just a suggestion, do you think it would help if you read along with an audiobook?

  • http://www.facebook.com/ronjaxon Ron Jaxon

    I don't have audio books yet but I do plan to get them. It turns out that's one method a lot of people who get the implant use. Like you suggested they read as they listen and it helps to train your brain to recognize speech. I'm just now starting to be able to understand a little speech so I'm at the level where I can start doing that. So I think I'll pick some up in the next couple of days.

    Things are going great. I'm still in “Hearing training” but my audiologist said she didn't expect me to reach the level of progress I'm at now for another 5 or 6 months. She even asked if it was okay to give my email address to others like me so they can ask me for advice. I might even go in and talk to other audiologist about ways of improving hearing training methods. Will be great to be able to help others who are going through this.

    I still couldn't really have a conversation with anyone without reading their lips. I can pick up a word here and there but I've still got a ways to go before I could do things like use the phone. Basically if I listen to words that are multiple choice I can tell hear what's being said. In other words if I turn around so I can't see you and ask you to name a number or a color I can usually hear what you'd say because I know it'll be one of the choices.

    But it's getting better every day. Sounds are starting to sound more natural to me. It's very exciting to make all these new sound discoveries. One sound that makes me laugh when ever I hear it is the sound of my dogs drinking water. LOL

    In a few months when I can understand speech better I plan to put on a “Hear again” party. It would be great to gather people together that I've known for years and never heard their voices before. Maybe some of my magician friends could even on a little show at the party. I just think it would be a fun way to celebrate my return back to the world of sound.

    Ron Jaxon