
From Silence to Sound - esoteriq
https://medium.com/@cmmhartmann/from-silence-to-sound-a93f742fae88
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kradeelav
I was one of the few who was also implanted in '91, at 2 years old. (My
parents had to wait as medical regulations wouldn't allow the surgery to be
done to younger kids - nowadays they do at ~6 months, iirc. As the article
briefly mentions, the younger you are, the more neural plasticity you have.)

It's interesting to read the difference in experiences as for all intents and
purposes I was raised as a hearing-only child (no sign language or lip
reading) and didn't quite grasp the nuances until much later on. There was ~7
years of speech therapy to close the gap (so to speak) to hearing kids, but
after that it's been repeatedly mentioned that most folks assume that I hear
like everyone does. Wouldn't have it any other way, honestly - having that
modification done opened so many doors. (That being said, like the author,
it's amazing to be able to take the CI off to go to sleep. Soundless sleep is
something to be enjoyed.)

Would be happy to do an impromptu AMA if anyone has pertinent questions on the
topic. (Keep in mind that singular experiences are only singular experiences.)

~~~
mojuba
I'm very curious about the resolution and quality of the implant and how does
it affect how you hear music. Can you distinguish half tones? Can you hear
differences between similar sounding but different instruments (i.e. think of
various types of the flute)?

~~~
kradeelav
Those are good questions! Resolution is definitely less when it comes to music
- I can hear obvious signal degradation when it comes to somebody talking
through a bad phone reception for example, but the difference between a high-
def mp3 and a low-def mp3 is near indistinguishable.

I don't -recall- hearing half tones but that may be because I avoided
classical music out of personal taste and after a childhood of mandatory piano
lessons... it's been a while since I've gone near an instrument. Amusingly
picked up a strong fondness for 80's synthpop/EDM/industrial which feels like
it could be partially explained by it being 'beat heavy' and less
delicate/subtle with different instruments. Would be a fun study!

edit: Jumping back to explain that resolution/quality vastly varies from
person to person, even if they're using the same generation of devices - to
make a long story short, CI's hook up to electrodes within the ear, and the
more electrodes that can be sync'd, the better the resolution. Mine was an odd
case where I have a facial nerve right next to a cluster, and those had to be
turned off otherwise it would cause my face to twitch excessively whenever a
certain pitch of noise was played.

There's also single-implant users and bi-lateral implant users - most folks
these days opt for bi-lateral as you do get a whole 'nother level of quality;
I was one of the early bunch and have other medical complications that make
another surgery very difficult, and decided that since the single's been fine
for daily use, it's worth it just to stick with it.

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woliveirajr
> This silence is the most absolute that any human can experience, one beyond
> the best noise-canceling headphones or earplugs.

The author mentions how she likes silence. This is interesting, as
non-100%-deaf people began to hear noises even before being born, and even
when placed in the best anechoic chamber will still hear sounds from the own
body. So few people in the world really knows what silence is.

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hprotagonist
_Author’s Note. Although I use the word “hear” to refer to how I perceive
sound, that’s not an accurate term. Since cochlear implants bypass the natural
hearing process, we can’t properly call it hearing._

This is partially true. CIs replace everything up to the auditory nerve -- the
hair cells in the cochlea, the mechanotransduction at the eardrum, etc are all
literally short-circuited by the implant.

However, much of what we call "hearing", and basically all of the perceptual
aspects of it, begin on the AN itself, or in the areas of the brainstem and
midbrain that the AN projects to. These areas receive input from the AN as
would be true in a normal-hearing individual, with the caveat that the
available frequency spectrum is greatly reduced.

~~~
jrace
As someone who spent over a decade working with heard of hearinga nd hearing
amplification devices, I would argue that (much in line with your statement)
we don't "hear" anything until the auditory center in the brain process the
sound.

Even those with normal hearing do not process all sounds that arrive at out
Tympanic Membranes (and if we did...we would likely go insane from over
stimulation).

I had quite a few patitents that lost most of there hearing yet still had
constant tinnitus.

A small few even reported the tinnitus changing from a constant tone (whne
they had mild hearing loss) to almost recognizable speech and/ or music once
they had severe hearing loss.

It could be argued that even though they had next to no hearing they still
"heard" more than they cared for.

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spacejunke
I cried reading this. Thanks for sharing your story.

