Out of Luck

I was all pumped out to shift into full gears for Wednesday, 15th Oct. I booked that date among my friends early, about 5 days before. I had 4 confirmed subjects coming and more to reconfirm.

But that was last Saturday.

On Sunday it all crashed down on me.

I'm down with chicken pox. I was given MC for a week.

I cried and cried and cried.

I bawled my eyes out.

When I discovered the red spots all over my body, my mother asked me, 'Why are you crying? It's only chicken pox.'

In my tears, 'I have two presentations and I have appointments to do my thesis this week. Next week I have to present my thesis progress. How am I going to do all that now? This is really not a good time to be sick. This is not a good time to get chicken pox.'

My mother laughingly said, 'Then go to them (your lecturers), and say, "I have chicken pox. What do you want me to do?"'

I retorted, 'It's not funny, Mak' and continued drying my tears out.

The next day, my face and whole body was full with red spots and it keeps spurting by the hour. It was really gross.

One of my subject who was yet to reconfirm before agreed to come on Wednesday to total the subjects at 5. Unhappily I cancelled him. 5 more could not make it on Wednesday and 1 more just kept silent. It didn't matter anymore. It's not like I could do the test anyway.

I told my thesis-mate to proceed with hers on Wednesday but alas, bad luck seems to pass around; the HINT (Hearing in Noise Test) box that we needed to test the subjects is broken. The technician came today and said they (the company) have to send to the US to repair since they don't have the expertise (how dependent are we?).

Good news is, they'll lend us one for temporary use, but the bad news is, they don't know how soon they can give it to us.

With only a few days before progress presentation, I wonder what can we present with little amount of data??

I think it's the curse of the HINT rooms. They don't like to 'shift places'. Or someone 'kacau' the spirit inside the room. What do you think?

Haha. I'm just joking, I don't believe in those kind of things, and mind you, I also don't believe in luck. I guess 'dah tak ada rezeki'. Plus, a certain si kacak always say to me, 'sakit pengampun dosa kecil'.

Do pray for the recovery of my pretty self ;)

Testing 1,2,3...

Campus S transmitter

EduLink receiver

I started my research! :)
My parents were the first two subjects. First, I did the diagnostic tests: Pure Tone Audiometry, Tympanometry and Acoustic Reflex test to check their hearing levels and auditory pathways (which proven that they are totally eligible to be my subjects, I am so proud of them!); Double Dichotic Digit Test to find out their ear advantage scores and proceeded with the testing on the benefits of EduLink.

the setup

the subject seats here

the tester's small, cute seat

For that, I needed to find their speech perception scores in noise without them wearing EduLink; wear it on the right ear; on the left ear; and on both ears.
My father was supportive all the way just following what I asked him to. Not to say my mother was not supportive, but i could see she was sceptical most of the time, INITIALLY, but then she got the hang of it and was fully cooperative.
The testing procedure was pretty straightforward. I was on a roll until my friend's mother came. I performed the diagnostic tests, and the results were not I wanted. She couldn't be my subject. I was dejected. I called up everyone that I could think of who is still in KL, but they were all busy with raya preparations. So I only managed to get two so far.
But, the best thing about raya is, I managed to collect more subjects when I went visiting! So yay for me, can't wait to get more results! :)
Anyone who has relatives or friends whom you think would not mind being my subject, please, please contact me. Refer to post 'Looking for Subjects' for more details.

P/s: Selamat Hari Raya everyone!

Looking for Subjects

Are/Do you:

1. An adult aged between 50 to 60 years old?
2. A native Malay speaker? (Malaysians please)
3. Have symmetrical normal hearing in both ears?
4. Have type A tympanogram in both ears?
5. Right-handed?
6. Live in Klang Valley?

If you answer yes to all of the above, CONGRATULATIONS! You are eligible to be a subject in my research :)

If you fulfill questions no. 1, 2, 5 and 6 but are not so sure about no. 3 and 4, you are welcome to see me and do a hearing assessment. For FREE!

If you don't fulfill any of those criteria but know someone who does, please do let me know and drop a comment here. Your recommendation is highly appreciated, seriously.

Basically, what I will have the chosen ones @ selected subjects do is to go for a diagnostic hearing assessment which includes Pure Tone Audiometry and Immittance Test and then do a speech test using MyHINT (also known as Malay Hearing in Noise Test) without wearing the EduLink and with the EduLink on both ears and in the left and right ears respectively.

And that's it! Easy-peasy. So anyone interested? :)