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Lori Riggs, MA, CCC/SLP

Lori Riggs, M.A., CCC/SLP
College Student - Age 21 - Diagnosis of Severe CAPD Secondary to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Functionally, she appeared to have a progressive loss of hearing over a period of two years, until eventually she functioned as a deaf person. She used lip reading to communicate; used closed captioning on her TV; and had note-takers for her classes. After one round of TLP, this was her report:

"I am home now, graduated from college. I was on the 7th CD and hearing more and more of it, when I started hearing other sounds that were not on the CD. At first it was maybe only one thing every couple of days (a horn beeping, a bird, etc...) They seemed to be higher frequency sounds not surrounded by other sounds. I mean that aside from that sounds everything else was quiet. Then one night I came into the room and was humming something.

My boyfriend asked me what I was humming and I said, I don't know it was just a tune I had in my head. He said that it was the song that had just been on the radio a minute ago and he had just turned it off. So he turned it back on and made me stand there and listen. At first I did not hear anything but he said to just hum a tune. So I did and soon I was humming the melody of the song on the radio note for note! It was amazing. We stayed up until about 5 AM listening to the radio and CDs.

Matt (my boyfriend) would sometimes tell me what instruments were playing or whether it was a male or female voice at the time. Then on the next song he would not tell me but ask me to try to decide what I was hearing. And soon I could pick out if it was a male or female voice and even some of the instruments. That whole night I started hearing all sorts of things...the water when I was pouring a drink, crinkling of a candy wrapper, a knock at the door and people's voices. I still could not understand what people were saying, but was hearing everything. I continued doing The Listening Program and was finishing CD 8 last week. During the couple weeks since I have been home, my processing seems to have gotten better and better. And just this last week I have been able to understand people when they speak and even talk on the phone some. I practiced a lot with Matt until I felt that I was able to understand enough to talk to other people. Now I can answer the phone and talk to whoever it is. It is amazing. The more I do it the better I am getting. I can also usually hear everything on the TV too, unless someone is speaking and there are a lot of other sounds too (a crowd, music, traffic). Background noise still seems to be a bit of a problem, but not at all like it used to be. It is sort of like my hearing came back in the same progression that it left. I was in church yesterday and could carry on a conversation with my friend with no problem, despite all the other people talking and the music in the background. I have not been able to do that for like 4 or 5 years, even before I started having so much hearing trouble. I am amazed. The Listening Program really worked for me. I am so happy to be hearing and understanding again….I have two interviews this week….I cannot say enough how much easier the process is and how many more employment opportunities are open to me now that I can hear again…. Thanks so much."

Lori Riggs, M.A., CCC/SLP
National Association for Child Developmet