Any Competitive Swimmers?

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MomToDeafChild

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I wasn't sure where to put this thread, so am sticking it here since my daughter has a CI and it's hearing related...

My daughter is 11 and is on our fitness club's swim team (she is the only deaf child). She has a CI, but of course isn't using it around the pool. She is very good at reading lips, and her coach keeps a clipboard to write directions down if she needs to.

They have recently started competing in meets against other swim teams and since she can't hear the starting whistle, the coach and I have been discussing the best way to let her know it's time to go. We've discussed flashing a light, or, having someone standing down at the end of the pool and dropping a flag or an arm.

What the coach ended up doing was standing behind her at the starting block, and then tapping her when the whistle blows. Now, I don't know if it's because the coach is tapping her a split second after the whistle blows (she hears it, then taps) and then it takes my daughter a split second to register the tap, but she is always the last one entering the water. I can see that delay.

I don't like the flashing light or waving flag idea because then she has to be looking up and out of dive position, while everyone else is looking down and ready to dive in. That's just going to cause a late start too.

So if you ever swam competitively, what worked best for you?
 
I swam competitively in college. I had a few embarrassing false starts and late starts myself. The meets that I attended have attended with electric timing have a light at the end of the pool that is programmed to go off at the same time as the buzzer. So the only delay is how fast you respond to light vs how fast your teammates respond to sound. However, you are right in that it is a bad position to start a race in. You want your head tucked in when diving into the pool not looking at a light in the corner of the room. Ultimately, I had to get used to it and learned respond to the light quicker and get off the block faster.

I can't say this for certain, but I think one of the pools I went to in CA had lights right under the block which eliminated the need to look at the corner of the pool. It was a good move because watching for a strobe light at an outdoor pool on a sunny day is a lot of light. If you have tinted goggles, then you reduce that issue though.

Anyway, check out this article, it looks like these guys figured something out to get the strobe light close to them to avoid messing up their block/starting form.

New strobe helps hearing-impaired East swimmers get off to fast start - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star
 
I grew up in the late 70s and up to the 80s and I was a competitive swimmer. Didnt have all these technological advances for the pool like paperclip mentioned. However, I would watch or stand close to the person with the starter gun. That thing was so loud that I could even hear it but even if I couldnt hear it, I could see it go off. I would use that as my visual cue.

I guess they dont use those starter guns anymore nowadays?
 
when i was around 10ish, I was actually a compedtive swimmer. I never like the arm flagging because its slower than the actual sound. But they never used a real gun, so i just relied on the light that they use.

Now being a compedtive runner in track, they always use a gun. A gun makes a sound, but it also makes a small flame start and smoke. I look at the starter's face when he says "On your marks" "set" (official order required by US track and field) and guns go off, Light is faster than sound so i only pay attention to the light. I usually get off before others surprisingly.

edit: sorry for any confusion, I run without my processor on so i cant hear at all so i rely on the gun's flame
 
MomToDeafChild said:
I wasn't sure where to put this thread, so am sticking it here since my daughter has a CI and it's hearing related...

My daughter is 11 and is on our fitness club's swim team (she is the only deaf child). She has a CI, but of course isn't using it around the pool. She is very good at reading lips, and her coach keeps a clipboard to write directions down if she needs to.

They have recently started competing in meets against other swim teams and since she can't hear the starting whistle, the coach and I have been discussing the best way to let her know it's time to go. We've discussed flashing a light, or, having someone standing down at the end of the pool and dropping a flag or an arm.

What the coach ended up doing was standing behind her at the starting block, and then tapping her when the whistle blows. Now, I don't know if it's because the coach is tapping her a split second after the whistle blows (she hears it, then taps) and then it takes my daughter a split second to register the tap, but she is always the last one entering the water. I can see that delay.

I don't like the flashing light or waving flag idea because then she has to be looking up and out of dive position, while everyone else is looking down and ready to dive in. That's just going to cause a late start too.

So if you ever swam competitively, what worked best for you?
Click to expand...

I wonder if it's possible to bounce light off water so she can keep her head down and still notice it.
 
I was the competitive deaf swimmer, and participated at the national levels. I now have CI but I didn't have the CI when I was in the State squad. But I'll tell you a bit of my experinces.

I was only 12 when I participated the national competitions and swam against older swimmers and earned myself six medals and was in the papers. Pretty pleased with myself AND my coach. My coach is very good, he just don't care about my hearing levels, he cared for my swimming skills.

He knew that I am deaf, actually deaf enough not to understand lip reading (but now I have a very good speech, thanks to CI) - so he wrote on the HUGE whiteboard on the wall against the swimming pool. So every time I finish my tasks (such as 2 x 100 freestyles) - I would see an updated info on the wall what to do. It is very good, am very happy with it.

My experiences being only deaf (without CI or hearing aid) in swimming pool is very positive, I have a new hearing friends who learn sign language for me.

There are a LOT of deaf competitive swimmers (either with or without CI) in Australia, especially New South Wales and Victoria. Queensland used to have a big group of swimmers but sadly declined because deaf Queenslanders prefer something tough like football, haha.

Anyway, good luck to your daughter, to the future success. I am really happy for you and your daughter! I am planning to resume swimming for 2016 nationals, (I pulled out because I have dislocated left elbow just after my 2008 nationals. Very sad for me but oh well). Again, good luck!!
 
DeafCaroline said:
Curious - what do you mean "actually deaf enough not to understand lipreading"?
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thats what I want to know... lipreading doesn't rely on sound... only looking at the persons face and lips... so I don't understand how someone can be "deaf enough not to understand lipreading" maybe she has poor lipreading skills, but its not because of her DB loss levels...
 
Ditto, DeafCaroline and ash345....

I don't quite understand. It's like "I was actually blind enough not to understand Braille".....
 
Sorry for participating in this temporary derailing, but my first thought in response to username's comment about "actually deaf enough not to understand lipreading" is that perhaps he/she lipreads better when there is some sound through CI.

Put another way, with a quiet environment, with sound and lipreading, I score about 50% comprehension. When I have no sound and just lipreading, it goes down to about 30%. With just sound, I score even lower on comprehension. Anyway, the sound that I do hear helps me figure out what vowel it is and the lip reading allows me to figure out what constants is used (sh/th/t/r, etc). If I have no sound to use with the lipreading, I don't bother trying much because my overall comprehension with lipreading only is so low for most people. Some people are easier for me to lipread than others. Is it no longer lipreading if sound plays a supportive role in comprehension?

Is this not the case for others when they lipread? As in sound being helpful in lipreading? I assumed from my experiences that when username takes off the CI, his/her overall lipreading comprehension is greatly diminished and other forms of communication must be used.

Poor phrasing though in that he/she inadvertently tried to define the word "deaf" with the requirement of not being able to lipread or something.
 
actually hearing people can lipreading better than deafs...
its a myth..
 
paperclip said:
Sorry for participating in this temporary derailing, but my first thought in response to username's comment about "actually deaf enough not to understand lipreading" is that perhaps he/she lipreads better when there is some sound through CI.

Put another way, with a quiet environment, with sound and lipreading, I score about 50% comprehension. When I have no sound and just lipreading, it goes down to about 30%. With just sound, I score even lower on comprehension. Anyway, the sound that I do hear helps me figure out what vowel it is and the lip reading allows me to figure out what constants is used (sh/th/t/r, etc). If I have no sound to use with the lipreading, I don't bother trying much because my overall comprehension with lipreading only is so low for most people. Some people are easier for me to lipread than others. Is it no longer lipreading if sound plays a supportive role in comprehension?

Is this not the case for others when they lipread? As in sound being helpful in lipreading? I assumed from my experiences that when username takes off the CI, his/her overall lipreading comprehension is greatly diminished and other forms of communication must be used.

Poor phrasing though in that he/she inadvertently tried to define the word "deaf" with the requirement of not being able to lipread or something.
Click to expand...

This is the case for me with a hearing aid rather than CI. So your comments make a lot of sense to me.
 
paperclip said:
Sorry for participating in this temporary derailing, but my first thought in response to username's comment about "actually deaf enough not to understand lipreading" is that perhaps he/she lipreads better when there is some sound through CI.

Put another way, with a quiet environment, with sound and lipreading, I score about 50% comprehension. When I have no sound and just lipreading, it goes down to about 30%. With just sound, I score even lower on comprehension. Anyway, the sound that I do hear helps me figure out what vowel it is and the lip reading allows me to figure out what constants is used (sh/th/t/r, etc). If I have no sound to use with the lipreading, I don't bother trying much because my overall comprehension with lipreading only is so low for most people. Some people are easier for me to lipread than others. Is it no longer lipreading if sound plays a supportive role in comprehension?

Is this not the case for others when they lipread? As in sound being helpful in lipreading? I assumed from my experiences that when username takes off the CI, his/her overall lipreading comprehension is greatly diminished and other forms of communication must be used.

Poor phrasing though in that he/she inadvertently tried to define the word "deaf" with the requirement of not being able to lipread or something.
Click to expand...

You know, it's interesting because I do find hearing aids do help with lipreading however in October, when I was stuck in Alabama with a broken hearing aid for 10 days, my lipreading skills really improved a great deal since it was all I had.

It's just weird so say "deaf enough not to understand lipreading". anyway, hoping username can come back here and clear it up for us.
 
You guys don't use a light? I'm a competitive swimmer and we use a light but I guess that's different considering I'm in high school...

Don't worry about her looking up. I mean, even though there is a light, I still have to know when to bend over into the position you're supposed to get in before gliding into the water. What I do, is look over to the person who is supposed to flash light; I follow their arm movements and go when their arm is all the way to their side. Yes, that could ruin where you go at first but with practice, you've got nothing to worry about. Just make sure that the person who is controlling when to go actually signals your daughter.

Good luck.

P.S. When the arm is in midair, your daughter bends over and then when the arm is down to the person's side, your daughter goes. I hope this makes sense. I'm not sure how else to explain it... Oh! I drew some terrible drawings - take a look if you don't mind. :)
 

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As a person who took SpeechReading at Canadian Hearing Society/Toronto-1992 to 2007- as part of Dealing/Coping with your Hearing Loss. One can get about 30% of all spoken-at the the best of times. Reason: some constants are "down your throat" plus the fact one must use whatever hearing one has to make sense of what one is speechreading. That is why 'deaf' persons have great difficulty.

As I became bilateral DEAF on December 20, 2006 while waiting the Cochlear Implant process I took CHS speechreading-again. My ability dropped over 20% in actual tests. Again not a surprise.
I guess the Advanced Bionics-Neptune might be of some value to competitive swimmers. As a person who does go swimming -almost every day-don't consider the Neptune worth while for hear music in the pool.
To each their own
 
You could stick the neptune under a swimming cap (the head piece that is). But the body piece will still cause a little slow down in the water. I would think a competitive swimmer would prefer more aerodynamic over more hearing. But growing up deaf I am very comfortable not hearing while in the water. Once I get the neptune, I plan to get it very wet and swim with it on. will be interesting to experience hearing under water for the first time.
 
Cheetah said:
You could stick the neptune under a swimming cap (the head piece that is). But the body piece will still cause a little slow down in the water. I would think a competitive swimmer would prefer more aerodynamic over more hearing. But growing up deaf I am very comfortable not hearing while in the water. Once I get the neptune, I plan to get it very wet and swim with it on. will be interesting to experience hearing under water for the first time.
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It'll probably sound like what you're hearing now w/o your HA. :giggle:
 
LoveBlue said:
It'll probably sound like what you're hearing now w/o your HA. :giggle:
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LOL! It might! I'm actually more interested in it for running than swimming. It will be nice to take the CI off the ear and clip it on the shirt or arm or at the waist. Right now I usually take my CI off when running.
 
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