Geeking Out About Sound:

I am happy with some of the benefits that I have started off with the CI, but the complexity and the distortion of sound most times are overwhelming. I woke up and dropped something on my dresser which should have had a simple thud. The thud was a series of complex notes in sequence, almost like an 8-bit electronic keyboard sequence. The brush of my hands on my clothing is a simple and soothing sound, but opening a door might be a full scale.

Speaking with my boyfriend who works in radio, we started discussing how complex sound really is. If you think about it, each sound has a complexity to it, just our brains have already filter out all of the unnecessary information. If you look at an image (for example) and zoom in 200X, you see all of the little pixels and transitional colours. Scientifically, sound does have a similar complexity. Right now, with my new digital sound, it is quite possible that I hear all of those transitional sounds until my brain is ready to filter them out.

This viewpoint has given me hope, as I know that my brain is supposed to create a new “normal”.

In turn, I cannot help but wonder what a baby hears in real life. The experience of hearing sound anew is quite…. overwhelming.

Transitional sounds

The door closing can be a full scale and the trickle of water is a clashing of notes. These notes are everywhere: Overlapping of speech, a device falling on a desk… I can hear these simple electronic notes as I attempt to interpret sounds I should know…

Voice

Take a robot sounding like Barry White, add voice filters, then add a bunch of extra notes from an 8-bit keyboard… that is what people talking sounds like to me right now.

When someone gets excited or is a female with a slightly higher pitch, or someone starts singing…. lookout! It’s Cher with auto-tune gone wrong, and I cannot make out a word. Listening to music has not been the same!!

Softer Sounds Become a Pan Flute

Currently, some sounds are missing and one of those sounds might be the cat’s meow. He might as well be blowing out of his own pan flute instrument a couple of notes at a time. Often you might find me whistling for the pure joy of hearing what sounds like my own little flute playing a few notes! Music to my ears!!

The Middle Keys of a Piano

Every note on a piano sounds off and out of tune, and the same for clusters of 5 notes. The worst part is right in the middle of the piano: A 440 (or the A note below middle C) plus an octave and a half. Each of these notes when pressed sound like pure agony. It’s as if each of these notes replicates a cat crying out in pain! Oh, my ear…

Two Worlds Collide

As of right now, the CI has a delay in sound compared to my hearing aid. This drives me absolutely bananas. When someone talks, it sounds like two people talking over each other. The more I listen intently, I realize the CI side is giving me so many of the missing pieces that I am missing on my right. Between the two ears I am now getting the full spectrum with what’s going on, just at different pitches and slightly different times. I am told this part will work itself out.

The Beauty of Nothing to Something

Soft sounds for some reason sound incredibly beautiful. Hearing the articulation in speech is also something to savour. I will and have been honest about this – the first few days have been a bit strange and foreign to me, but there is such beauty in having an ear that did nothing, and now I can decipher beautiful crisp sounds and speech.

I am reminded in an email from the brand Cochlear, that the first month is a trial for most people. This DOES GET BETTER! I know with understanding of speech right out of the gate, I am already light years ahead!