Kubla_Khan

I've read that when a person who has never heard before receives a pair of hearing aids, that they are oftentimes overwhelmed by the sound since their brains haven't been trained to discern and prioritize the different sounds they hear. apparently, their brains place equal importance to a person holding a conversation and to the hum of an air conditioning unit, for example, since they can't naturally tune out sounds, which makes hearing very stressful for them. this apparently makes it so that people who can hear with hearing aids and such to abandon them after trying them out. did you experience any of this?

also, when it comes to music, I've read that in this past century, thanks to the standardization of tuning and high levels of music production that we've been subject to, we as a population have developed incredibly accurate pitch identification. has this affected your ability at identifying pitches that are out of tune?

also, because I've never actually heard a description that fully satisfies me, what was it like to think for you? when I am thinking, it takes the form of a monologue in my head, thinking of how the words as if I were speaking out loud to myself. since you hadn't heard words before you obviously couldn't have this sort of monologue in your head, so how did you think things? did it consist of some sort of visualization of sign language?

and finally, did you receive vocal training while deaf so you could speak even if you couldn't hear sounds? how was it like? were you surprised when you heard what words actually sounded like compared to how you imagined them to sound?

i'm sorry if this was a lot to ask and not entirely about music, but I've never had a chance to ask these questions to someone who is deaf before, and these are things I've always wondered about.

that's fascinating. it really gives a whole new perspective on listening, and how much most people take that ability for granted.

ok, I got another question, but it involves music theory, which i'm not quite sure how much you're familiar with.

Musical composition is obviously a sort of game with different tones, having them overlap to produce harmonies that are pleasing to the ear. due to mathematical reasons, the most pleasing harmonies are those that have clear cut ratios between the frequencies.

in the case of certain musical genres like jazz, however, they go out of the way to create harmonies that don't fit quite neatly into the ratios that we would normally find pleasing. in fact, in the earliest history of jazz, for example, it was dismissed by most of the older generation because it clashed with their perception of what music should be like, which was of a more traditional harmonization quality.

my question is, how was your experience with listening to jazz or a similar genre, which are identified by using rather unorthodox chords and harmonies? did you actively embrace it, or were you turned off due to their dissonant nature?

nah, i don't see bloodshot eyes and a lingering smell of burning weeds.