Do You Hear What I Hear? Music with a Cochlear Implant
- Part 1
By Cheryl Heppner
Editor: If you're at all interested in cochlear implants (CIs) , you
probably know that being able to enjoy music is one of the challenges that
is being seriously addressed by the CI manufacturers. Here's Cheryl's
report on Tins Childress' workshop on enjoying music with a CI.
This is part one of two parts.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tina Childress is Audiologist/Consumer Services Specialist for Advanced
Bionics Corporation. This workshop was about maximizing the ability to
enjoy music with a cochlear implant.
Cochlear implant technology is moving beyond words to music enjoyment.
There are individual factors that can't be controlled, but hearing
potential can be maximized through technology, practice, and choice of
music.
Tina had normal hearing and played a variety of instruments, including
piano, cello, clarinet, bassoon and percussion. She loved chorus and
musical theater. The previous evening she had played piano for the first
time in many years, and was so inspired that she immediately wanted to
purchase a piano and start practicing again.
Music Definitions
Music can be broken down into rhythm, frequency, intensity/loudness,
harmonics and melody.
Rhythm can be illustrated by tapping a foot. This is a beat. Rhythm is
the heartbeat of music. Most people with cochlear implants can pick it up.
It's important to know that not all people who can hear have rhythm or can
sing in tune, so not all people with cochlear implants will be able to do
this either.
Frequency or pitch ranges from low bass to high treble. Pitch is the
vibration pattern. A cochlear implant can give many of the pitches.
The first cochlear implants on the market were good at giving speech
information, but people with cochlear implants complained that music
didn't sound like it used to. That's because fewer channels are sufficient
for speech, but the brain needs more complex information for music.
Research shows that good results with music could require as many as
100 spectral bands or channels of information. The Advanced Bionics High
Res 120 implant can provide up to 120 spectral bands of information. This
makes it easier for the brain to understand music.
One of Tina's colleagues compared this with golf clubs. A set of five
or six golf clubs may make it possible to play the whole course, but if
you have the full range of clubs it's easier. And so it was for Tina, who
found that as she went from using the earlier cochlear implant technology
to the newer technology music became easier. People who have had Advanced
Bionics implants since 2001 can access this technology by upgrading
without surgery.
Loudness is better with a cochlear implant than a hearing aid, as it
can provide more range of loudness levels without switching a program.
Harmonics can be illustrated by the difference in a piano playing notes
and a guitar playing the same notes. When an instrument vibrates, it is
vibrating at a different level from other instruments. Every instrument
has a different vibration pattern. As instruments become closer, such as
violin and cello, it may be hard to discern which is which while
listening, but not all people who hear well can do that either.
Melody is the tune or song, a sequence of notes or frequencies.
Frequency is limited to the number of electrodes of a cochlear implant
that are being stimulated.
Practice
Tina's tips for listening to music and playing music:
- The music you select to listen to with your cochlear implant can make
a big difference. Don't start out with complex music. Tina played music
she was familiar with; she recommends that others use music they remember.
The brain will fill in the gaps.
- Get good quality equipment to play the music and use good quality
speakers.
- Resist the impulse to crank up the music, because that can make it
distorted.
- Listen or play music in rooms without a lot of echoes.
- To cancel noise, direct connect your implant processor to an iPod or
other listening device. Advanced Bionics cochlear implant users can try
using the T-mic headphones.
- Don't be concerned if you don't understand all the words. Hearing
people don't always get them either.
- Use visuals to enhance your music, such as watching a guitar player
to see the strumming of the strings.
- Talk to your audiologist about creating a music program.
- Go to the web and type the song title into a search engine like
Google to get the lyrics.
Here's Part Two
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(c)2007 by Northern Virginia Resource Center for Deaf and Hard of
Hearing Persons (NVRC), 3951 Pender Drive, Suite 130, Fairfax, VA 22030;
www.nvrc.org. 703-352-9055 V, 703-352-9056 TTY, 703-352-9058 Fax. You do
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credit NVRC.
