I waved the newspaper at him and said, 'you see! It's official! I don't like to complain! The newspaper says so! That means it's true!'
He shook his head and gave me the 'oh-if-only-they-knew' kind of grin.
OK, so I might be the Complaining Type when it comes to stuff around the house. Mostly temperature-related stuff. (‘It’s too hot in here’ … ‘it’s too cold in here’ … ‘how long has the heating made that whistling sound?’ … ‘how long has the air-conditioning made that groaning sound?’) Seriously. Room temperature is supposed to be 22 degrees, right, not 18? Back me up here. (You see, I’m complaining right now.)
But it is true that you will not hear me complain about my cochlear implants. Though I might (Ever-So-Meekly) admit that music could be better … if there’s a chance I think admitting it might help others.
Below is a link to the article outlining the music research project happening at the Bionic Ear Institute at the moment. (There's a photo of the sound studio set-up at the BEI too, but it only made it into the print version, sorry!)
I’m one of the lucky ones, I know. I couldn't enjoy music at all with hearing aids, so I embrace all forms of musical weirdness with cochlear implants. Whatever it sounds like, I’ll take it. Well, I’ll try anyway. Electric guitar is not happening at the moment.
But the thought that some of us can’t even try because there aren’t any tangible sounds to ‘take’, so to speak? That some of us only perceive garbled noise? Identical tones in place of a melody? That some will deliberately avoid music altogether? I'm so saddened by the thought that it's exactly what inspired me to volunteer at the Bionic Ear Institute.
Yes, our personal perceptions of music are different. But in being a media spokesperson for the BEI, I am going to do my absolute best to represent all of us.
Enjoy. :-)
Posts
Hi Daniela, I received my CI in 1987. Having studied music from early childhood to a college degree in performance on the violin, I was determined to hear music again.
ReplyDeleteMy first music experience with my CI was merely a sensation of noise. Now I hear music as well as I can ever remember hearing it. To me music success with the CI is a matter of brain retraining. I would be happy to share with you an article I wrote about how I learned to listen with my CI, including music, which was originally published in a CI association journal and reused internationally. Please feel free to contact me at rifox@comcast.net Ruth Fox
Hi Ruth, I'm always so heartened to hear the musical success stories from cochlear recipients! And I am especially inspired by those who play the violin, for having to rely on the "ear" to tune the instrument at every playing session. There are some incredible musical success stories out there. I read as many as I could before I decided to take the plunge. :-)
ReplyDeleteI have the good fortune of having had perfect hearing for 27 years so, in helping the BEI, I am going to do the dangerous thing of delving a little deeper into sound comparison and compare the way music sounds bionically with the way it sounded naturally, in the hope that pitch and timbre can someday be improved and allow music to be 'felt' far more easily than simply 'heard'.
Thank you so much for sharing your success! It's so important for other recipients (or recipients to-be) to know that it is possible for some people to enjoy music with a cochlear implant. And I certainly hope my blog entries are proof of that! I would love to read your article and will send you an email. :-)