panchowarriortrilogy

Also implanted but could hear “normally” until my mid twenties. There’s really no way to describe the difference between what you’re used to and the way an implant “sounds”. I think that is mostly due to the fact that you’re not really “hearing” anything. It’s an electrical signal that your brain interprets as sound. Implant receiver microphones and software try to focus on frequencies used in human speech which is generally mid range and highs. For me it’s harder to distinguish what’s happening in more heavily distorted music than it is something that’s more mellow.

For example I love the Mars Volta but since I lost my hearing and started using an implant, it’s definitely harder to sort of separate all the instruments than it used to be. It’s just kinda a wall of noise compared to what you’d hear (maybe that’s a bad example).

Something more mellow with cleaner instrumental tones is far easier to listen to with an implant but at the same time, The longer I’ve had it, the more different sounds make sense. Like in the first year or so after surgery I literally couldn’t tell you what Mars Volta song (or any harder rock song) was playing or even hum back a portion of the music in perfect listening conditions(major factor when you’re hearing through microphones at all times). Now I can recognize a much wider variety of music and tones in general. Hope that makes sense.

Edit: about what you said about tonality and pitch. I used to be (still try to be) a musician so this is something I was worried about. Tonality is a whole different beast like I said before but I think pitch is highly dependent upon the individual. Not everyone is going to interpret the signal the same and the idea is that you get better at interpreting the longer you’ve had it. For the most part I think I can discern pitch ok. Not as good as before but it’s starting to be close enough. There’s 20 something electrodes in my cochlea trying to imitate the thousands of cilia you have in a normal cochlea so I think sometimes pitch gets into sort of an “in between” territory where it’s kinda pitch shifting a bit or something like that.

Why did you debate in the way you did in your discussion panels on your Netflix show? It seemed if you disagreed with someone or felt their point of view had been already proven wrong by popular science, you just shut them down. You didn’t explain why they were wrong and just made fun of them. Honestly I was really put off by that. What were you trying to accomplish with that show?

Yea? I do think my experience has been kinda unique.

Good questions. I actually did wear and still wear normal hearing aids for quite a while. I’ve only been implanted on one side and I’m on my second traditional hearing aid on the other side. Although I don’t get much benefit from it because my hearing is so far gone. You can only blast so much sound into your ear. If you can’t hear certain frequencies at all like me, a traditional hearing aid can only do so much. Neither an implant no a hearing aid is a “cure” by any means. It’s nice though because I can stream to both my implant and hearing aid at the same time using a separate device for music.

As for the mic quality. It’s really hard to say because the mics are specialized and built specifically for the application. There’s actually two mics on my implant receiver and two on the hearing aid but they generally focus forwards. Don’t hear as much behind me. To add to that there is built in software that is made to focus on certain frequencies and cut out background noise. There’s also a kind of compression effect at work. I do also have separate modes I can switch to that have a more natural and less compressed sound for quieter environments though.

Anyway a big factor with the mics is that they are attached to your head. I’m sure you’re familiar with a boom. The point is to get the mic close to the source so you can focus on that and cut as much outside sound as possible. Can’t exactly do that with hearing aids/implant receivers.

And yes it’s like learning to hear again.

I know that feeling! Like the noise is too “loud” and it’s like you get momentarily stunned?