Wendy

Editor: Losing the ability to understand speech is certainly the most common issue reported by people with hearing loss. Losing the ability to enjoy music might be second. So many of us are fascinated by people who continue to pursue musical endeavors, in spite of their hearing loss.

One such person is Wendy Cheng, a cochlear implant user who is also an amateur musician and viola student. Wendy also manages a website and listserv for musicians with hearing loss. Please visit http://www.aamhl.org to learn more about the Association of Adult Musicians with Hearing Loss or to join the listserv.

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Back in May 2006, Advanced Bionics (AB), the manufacturer of my cochlear implant, invited me to play viola at their exhibit during the Hearing Loss Association of America's (HLAA) convention in Orlando, Florida. I would be playing about half an hour each day and at the pre-banquet reception on the final evening of the convention. I had never done a solo gig like this before, but was intrigued enough to say yes to the invitation. John Redden, a fellow member of the AAMHL listserv (and a Clarion cochlear implant user as well) was also invited to perform at AB's booth.

Every spring I take a certificate exam for my viola studies that measures my skills at a particular level. Right after the exam were over June 11, I started creating a repertoire list of music to play at the convention which was set for June 28-July 1. One of my old music teachers suggested that I play Suzuki viola repertoire, but I wanted to do more than that. In the end I came up with a mixture of easy viola solos...some classical, some folk songs, a few hymns/ fiddle tunes, about two patriotic pieces and of course, some music from Disney movies.

Advanced Bionics provided a pickup for my viola and also worked with the sound person at Disney to hook the pickup to a pre-amp/mini-amp. But I was determined to hear my viola regardless of how much echoing and noise was in the exhibit hall. And I remember how badly I played at the American Academy of Audiology convention in Washington DC last year with just my CI and nothing else. So I packed my auxiliary microphone as well. I was generally scheduled to play in the early hours of 9:00-9:30 each morning.

I tried tuning up in the exhibit hall on the first day but it was too noisy in there and the normally trusty Seiko chromatic tuner I was using couldn't tell the difference between the extraneous noise and the viola. I actually turned the G string peg too far out of tune and had to adjust that. The following morning Mike Brownen, one of the audiologists at AB, suggested that I find a quieter place to tune so that's what I ended up doing....taking my tuner and viola and tuning my viola in a quiet side hallway next to the convention hall prior to playing. I plugged the aux mic into my body processor and switched to program 3 (which has my music program set for 100% auxiliary input) before playing.

And people actually stopped by to listen when I played. From the feedback I got, I knew I was generally playing in tune. Dr. Mead Killion, president of Etymotic Research, is a famous researcher in the area of acoustics and hearing loss. His company (http://www.etymotic.com) makes ear plugs for musicians, among other things. He was surprised I could play in tune because he has always had the impression cochlear implants did not transmit musical frequencies very well.

I brought my family along to the convention and we visited Disney World on Thursday and Friday after I finished playing each morning. But I decided to stay at the convention all day on Saturday. For one thing....I wanted to hear John play. I had also volunteered to report on a workshop which discussed music appreciation with hearing aids and cochlear implants. And last but not least, I still had not received any details regarding my performance on Saturday night at the reception before the banquet.

John's playing is incredible. And not only can he play the guitar, he can sing. In tune, no less. His many years of experience as a professional musician shone through in his playing. A small loyal group of hearing aid and cochlear implant users swayed to the Beatles music and other pop tunes he was playing. Edie Gibson, an audiologist at Advanced Bionics and Gallaudet graduate, signed the lyrics for members of the audience who needed it.

I was floored by John's ability to sing in tune...and felt wistful. I thought: this is what you shoot for if the CI processor can be programmed to provide accurate pitch information. And, I added to myself, I hope Advanced Bionics isn't expecting John and me to perform on the same stage tonight. I don't feel I should be on the same stage with a musician of his caliber.

Saturday afternoon, I finally get the details about where and when I'm to play at the reception. I would be sitting at a stool near a door leading into the banquet hall. I'd play for about 15 minutes. And John would be on the stage in the banquet hall performing while people are walking into the banquet hall. I thought: this will work. We would provide different musical flavors to add to the ambiance of the evening at different times before the banquet.

During the reception, I was supposed to play only 15 minutes, but enough people lingered to listen while I was playing so I decided to play half an hour instead while perched on a comfortable high chair. I ran though every memorized piece on my repertoire list and tried to remember to keep eye contact with members of the appreciative audience.

My last memory of the convention has to do with the male vocalist the Florida host committee invited to sing at the banquet. The convention organizers invited a high tenor who sang selections from I Pagliacci, Phantom of the Opera, and O Solo Mio. He even invited the audience to sing O Solo Mio with him(!) Deanna Baker, the caption writer, heroically wrote as much of the Italian lyrics as she knew on the video screen, but had to write "Singing in Italian" about halfway through the song. Of all the piece he sang, the one that really interested was the famous tenor solo from I Pagliacci. It goes like this: "Vesti la giubba e la faccia infarina....." (The male lead has to put on his clown's costume and be gay while his heart is breaking from his wife's infidelity.)

Although I could hear this tenor sing, I had a feeling of disquiet about the substantial number of banquet attendees who had high frequency hearing loss and in all likelihood could not fully appreciate this vocal music. A few days ago, I spoke with a young man who was monitoring incoming/outgoing traffic outside the exhibit hall door. He had heard me play viola in the exhibit hall but said it didn't always sound good (the cello sounded better to him) and he admitted to having a high frequency loss.