Re: Volume/Sensitivity - Evon music concerns

[Guest guest]

Hi Evon:

I received my first CI in 1996 - my surgery date was 11/18/96 and I

was activated 12/18/96 just in time to hear Christmas Music. What a

wonderful Christmas gift - a miracle beyond description. I will

never forget hearing my favorite music group 3 days post activation

perform their annual Christmas Concert. When they sang " Do You Hear

What I Hear? " inside I was shouting YES!! YES!!! I DO hear what you

hear!

What I remember of my experience is that the during the first few

years of wearing my implant (I chose to wear my CI and HA together

from day one) was that any FAMILIAR music sounded much better than

music I had never heard before. The instrumentals were still not

quite there. There were some things in the beginning that sounded

out of whack and others that were beautiful (brass horns). I think I

understand your description of understanding vocals but not the

musical instruments. The CI is designed to bring in SPEECH

sounds.......and if we get music enjoyment, that is just the icing on

the cake!

Before I retired I had a 50 minute commute one way. So I spent over

8 hours a week practicing listening to music or talk radio. When at

home, I directly plugged my body processor into the CD player on my

computer while I was working. I would guess I spent a good 10 hours

a week listening to either music or talk radio, more music for sure!

I have to be very honest with you. Initially music did not sound at

ALL like I remembered it, particularly if it was unfamiliar. I am

someone with alot of music experience, having played several

instruments in band and orchestra in my grade thru high school

years. I nearly cried the first time I listened to ie Avalon

sing that song that goes " Put your head on my shoulder, put your lips

next to mine " ! Now I can put on any of those songs from that era on

my Bose player and they sound very normal and natural to me. I can't

stress enough that this did not come without alot of listening

practice!

What I did was get CD's of vocalists who had voices that I could

usually understand and play them over and over and over and

over....and then some! I am one of those type A individuals who just

pushes myself when there is a goal I set before me. I doubt any sane

person would be as tenacious and stubborn as I was/am. However,

slowly it all began to come together for me......over a period of

about 3-6 months. After that point, I began working on my perception

of instrumental music that just kept growing in very small increments

over time. Now when I listen to classical music, if I could describe

it in visual terms, I would describe it as 3 dimensional with some

instruments more in the forefront than others. It did not sound this

way early in my implant journey.

I also happen to be bilateral now for the past three years. Music

perception improved beyond words with the CI replacing the barely

functining HA. Your description of how music sounds to you reminds

me of how it sounded to me with just ONE CI, so your description is

somewhat " normal " for a single sided CI user.

It is my gut feeling that so many factors figure in to our ability to

appreciate music. Our hearing history and our surviving hearing

nerves have a huge role to play in the ability to enjoy music. How

much we expose ourselves to music also is a big factor. I

particpated in the U of Iowa music research. In this research we had

to practice EVERY day listening on assigned music tasks. The progam

taught us what music sounds or melodies we were hearing and then you

practiced listening and identifying what you heard. Practice was the

KEY. The fact the program taught you what you were hearing made a

huge difference.

Both Cochlear and Advanced Bionics have a program that you can

install on your PC that are designed for this kind of practice. One

module of the program is identifying melodies and musical

instruments. I strongly encourage anyone who is struggling with

music listening to try this program.

This post got longer than I intended, but I hope it is of some help.

Just don't get discouraged and continue to be happy with the positive

things the CI has brought to you. You are still fairly new in the

life long journey of listening....so don't give up on it just yet!

Also keep working with your audiologist to seek a solution. The more

you listen to music, the better you will be able to give the

audiologist feedback. I should also mention that the Sound and

Beyond program I mentioned has a sweep of tones.....which I find

helpful to enable me to report to my audiologist what tones are out

of whack. The go up the scale - a nice little plus in the program!

Warmly,

Carol in WI

>

> This is all interesting to me on Volume/Sensitivity. I had CI

June 2003. I

> still do not hear music like " normal " (or, maybe I should say

closer to

> normal). Something (?) is definitely out of whack. It's hard to

tell what

> though. I'd call it " Lack of Melody " . I like the 50s music I

grew up with and

> Elvis sounds like himself most of the time - but the background

music just

> doesn't come in. Drums yes...and some instruments - but, the

combination that I

> get is just strange and ends up being more irritating than

enjoyable and when

> he sings, it is just his voice I hear...no music until after he

stops

> singing. I figure his voice is drowning out the background melody

that normal

> hearing persons hear. In trying to reason out what is missing, I

believe it

> must be the higher pitch musical sounds/blend that is not there -

or, just the

> fact that his voice drowns out everything else.

> Those of you who hear music well with only one CI might have some

pointers

> for me to try. Of course, I have tried changing

volume/sensitivity and

> switching programs the audiologist has put into my processor(s)

(both the body worn

> and the BTE). I still remain unsuccessful though in finding that

magic

> combination that others have apparently found with their CIs to

enjoy music.

> Again, I realize that with individual hearing loss and programs,

etc. makes it

> difficult to pinpoint what I'm doing wrong (if anything).

Everything else

> seems good - so, I've really no huge complaints about the lack of

pleasant

> sounding music. It would just be an added plus.

> Evon

> (BTW....yes, my name is spelled correctly. It is not Evan. I'm

female. My

> name is pronounced like the " Avon " Company.... - except with my

name you say

> " E " instead of " A " ) - then the " Von " part. I've a twin

brother (Leon).

> The doctor who delivered us suggested the names and spelling.

OK...I

> know...I know...off Topic! ha

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Carol,

I very much enjoyed your message. Is the program you refer to below

the DASL II? I have the Cochlear catalog open at page 10. If this

isn't the program to which you refer, could you please give me more

information?

Many thanks.

e

" Both Cochlear and Advanced Bionics have a program that you can

install on your PC that are designed for this kind of practice. One

module of the program is identifying melodies and musical

instruments. I strongly encourage anyone who is struggling with

music listening to try this program. "