Interesting. I never tried SPEAK, only ACE. To me, everything sounded normal, and if not, much better than my hearing aids. So I have no idea what SPEAK is like.
I can say the same thing about my CIs with the exception of a few voices I have difficulty understanding. I primarily have difficulty understanding female voices or accents and a much easier time understanding male voices. (That was the same 6 years prior to implantation when I used an FM system.) When the SLP asked me how much I thought my life improved due to my CIs in terms of percentage, I said 50% because that's the honest truth. Don't get me wrong. I *love* my CIs, but I still find myself struggling to hear from time to time -- especially in noisy enviroments. I don't know...perhaps I was really, really excited pre-CI by those who said they could hear in a noisy restaurant at a table of 10. That's something I can't do. Sometimes I even have difficulty hearing the person next to me depending on their vocal quality and the overall level of background noise. I guess I expected to be able to hear better in background noise than I do. I don't have *any* regrets about getting CIs, but if I'm completely honest with myself, I *know* I'm not hearing as well as I expected to especially in noisy environments. Would I go back to wearing HAs if I could? No way. That might sound like a contradiction to what I've written here, but again I guess I expected to be able to understand female voices, accents and hear better in background noise than I presently do.
I totally agree that audio booths are different than real world. I am able to hear on the 10db line - yes, better than hearing people. However, when I'm out in the real world, I do have a bit difficulty filtering out sounds, background noises that hearing people have no problems with.
Do you hear only low frequencies at the 10 dB line or do you hear at 10 dB across the board? I was recently tested and scored at the 15 dB line for low frequencies and 20-30 dB for mid and high frequencies. This might explain why I have more difficulty hearing female voices compared to male. When I think about it sometimes it seems like I presently function as if I have a moderate hearing loss in regards to my ability to hear in noise as well as female voices/accents. I know I shouldn't complain because that's obviously much better than trying to function with a severe-profound loss, but I guess my expectations in that area were unrealistic.
Have you ever consider of asking your audi to have a portable computer (my audi uses the programs on a laptop), and have it attached to you while you're out at a mall, or a slightly noisy place, or whatever. Maybe that can help a little bit? I just wished there was some way that audis can realize that booths and rooms does not make up for what you hear in the real world.
I do too! Your suggestion of a portable computer is a good one and something I'll have to ask my audi about. If that's not possible, one thing I know we could do would be to go out into the waiting room and conduct the mapping there since my CI center is located at a large hospital.