It reminded me of times I listened to a recording of myself and was blown away by how I sounded. I knew it was me talking, but it didn't sound right. I also felt very frustrated having to ask people to repeat what they had said multiple times. I eventually taught Ambley the alphabet in sign language so he could simply say the words to me. This actually proved to be very effective for long messages or words that were difficult to discern by reading his lips. Another counterintuitive point was that I thought that by having earplugs I would naturally speak louder since I couldn't hear myself and it would sound like I was shouting. However, this was not the case; Both Ambley and Keoni had to ask me to repeat myself at a higher volume because I was speaking too softly. I felt like I was still speaking at a normal level, so I'm not sure if it was the way my voice sounded or my caution about having the volume too loud that led to this communication problem. The only technical silver lining I found was that trying to study without hearing all the distracting noises was much easier. I finished my readings almost twice as fast as usual, so I may have to continue using them to get school work