
My journey to a cochlear implant - veb
http://spottedsun.com/my-journey-to-a-cochlear-implant/
======
gte910h
Many people assume these sound much more like hearing aids they do. At best,
they sound like a steampunk old time tube radio set with considerable static

<http://www.utdallas.edu/~loizou/cimplants/cdemos.htm>

for some demos. Ones with few channels sound positively terrifying to me.

~~~
michaelbuckbee
That is fascinating, it makes me wonder if you couldn't use an array of
multiple implants to achieve a better level of quality.

~~~
objclxt
There are a number of issues around quality: the number of electrodes is not
always the most important factor. The processing algorithm is also vital to
good quality, and that can be improved in situ. There's a lot of research that
has gone into algorithms that are best suited to speech, music, etc.

More importantly, many patients receiving implants do not have a healthy
cochlear, in the sense many of their auditory nerves may be damaged. In this
case the electrodes stimulate the surviving nerves, and additional electrodes
may not provide much additional benefit.

Again, the audio quality is really down to the algorithms: because each
patient is different the processor can require intensive tuning and individual
work to get it sounding reasonably decent. Far more research goes into these
audio processing algorithms increasing the number of electrodes (not least
because improving the processing benefits both new and existing patients).

~~~
peterb
There are approximately 3,000 nerve endings in a working cochlea that need to
be stimulated by a few (8, 10, 12, 24) electrodes. So no matter what, it not
going to sound like what a fully functioning cochlea. You can't get the
resolution. The algorithms are important, but so are the number of electrodes.
Ideally you want 3,000 electrodes perfectly aligned with the nerve endings.

It must be a difficult choice for parents to implant their children. Children
make the best candidates, but the technology is changing at such a fast rate.
24 electrodes today could be 3000 a few years from now. Once they are in, you
can't replace the electrodes, only the signal processor.

~~~
objclxt
This would be true for a consumer electronics device, but this is something
that's inserted inside the body and is expected to function for many, many
years. 24 electrode implants have been in the market for over twenty years.
The major, major strides in implant technology have generally happened outside
the body - speech processing packs have gone from shoulder worn packs to
behind-the-ear models.

You need to bear in mind that we're not dealing with traditional technology
here: we're dealing with implanted medical devices. This is not a situation
where Moore's law applies. It is vastly cheaper to spend R&D developing
speech/music processing algorithms than trying to cram more and more
electrodes into implants which require extensive testing and certification by
the likes of the FDA.

To be honest, it's not a difficult decision at all. If you're happy with your
child having an implant[1], you would be _crazy_ to wait a few years 'just in
case' the technology improved. Children implanted at an early age can often
adapt far more rapidly than those who are older.

But it's a moot argument, because like I say these implants are not like
smartphones that get improved every year. It is simply too costly to not only
re-certify, but to re-train surgeons and audiologists on the new devices.
Developing improvements to the external processing units is _many factors_
cheaper than upgrading the implants themselves.

[1] There are some parents who do not necessarily approve or want their
children to get implants, but not for the reasons you suggest. This mainly
happens with parents who themselves are deaf, or part of the deaf community.
This is a whole other ethical kettle of fish though!

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leonpanjtar
My friend has a daughter who was born deaf and then she and her husband
decided to implant her. It was a really hard decision but she was 4 and still
not walking due to balance problems and because she didn't hear her
surroundings. Well the decision payed off. She is 5 right now and she is
walking and running and she started talking a few baby words, so the doctors
are pretty sure she will be talking soon. I have been around in her life for
about 4 years and I must say that since she got the implant she became a much
much happier child.

------
williamjackson
My wife received a cochlear implant in October, so we are on this journey
right now. It has definitely been frustrating, but we have seen progress and
we are optimistic about the future. If you are interested you can read about
the implant activation process here:

[http://hegavememyears.blogspot.com/2012/10/what-i-saw-at-
act...](http://hegavememyears.blogspot.com/2012/10/what-i-saw-at-activation-
appointment.html)

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outworlder
> "From their studies, they found that there were four generations of my
> family with the A7445G mutation and the pattern showed that it is a maternal
> mutation, i.e. it is carried out by the females of the family and passed
> from one generation to the next."

Isn't that always the case with mitochondria, since they only come from the
mother?

I am not a geneticist, so this is a real question.

~~~
Adrock
Yes. In the comments, the author mentioned that they know this is redundant,
but only if you already know it is.

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pjin
There's a really cool experimental history behind understanding the cochlea,
especially concerning George Zweig, once a particle physicist. A lot of this
work was done in the 70s and is, IMHO, some of the best examples of biophysics
you can find.

One of the relevant papers you can find on google is:
<http://symposium.cshlp.org/content/40/619.full.pdf>

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jakozaur
Startup request: create a service where you could transcript just from videos,
without voice. Ideally a mobile app.

Some of the use cases are somewhat creepy, but there are quite a few
legitimate ones. In particular, there are a lot of recording where sounds is
broken/terrible and you could "restore" does.

You could start it yourself, but later you could make some kind of
marketplace.

~~~
malkia
That's probably very hard, and then you have the "Bad Lip Reading" channel on
youtube :)

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joeyo
> The disbelief came when it was time to listen to singular > words. With the
> screen turned off, I got 0%. With the > screen turned on, I got 8%. That’s
> crazy!

It's really amazing how pervasive (putatively Bayesian) multisensory
integration of information is in the brain. Even individuals without impaired
hearing have their auditory perceptions strongly a affected by other inputs.
The McGurk effect is a great example of this:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McGurk_effect>
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-lN8vWm3m0>

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ocean12
I really get a kick out of these personal stories that pop up on HN. I'd never
find them otherwise.

