Hi Bethany ...
I wear a CI made by Advanced Bionics (latest model ... “aurea” I believe). Implanted in November 2009. I am very happy with the way music is sounding with my CI.
Prior to the implant I wore HA’s with minimal benefit, and music wasn’t worth listening to (I have sensory-neural progressive hearing loss). Now, music sounds great, especially instrumental music, i.e. jazz, piano music, and light classical. I can distinguish all the instruments, bass, drums, solos, and seem to be hearing every note.
Vocals and lyrics don’t sound that great, as singers’ voices still have a chirpy “chipmunk” sound, especially women’s voices. Loud and “hard” rock music still tends to come off as just a wall of sound.
The CI audi told me that many people are dissatisfied with the way music sounds through their CI. Prior to losing my hearing beginning in my mid-30’s, I was an amateur musician, playing guitar and a bit of mandolin and other stringed instruments. So I used to listen fairly closely to music, and I’m thinking that has helped a lot with my “recovered” ability to enjoy music now. Recently I’ve been out to sample some “live” music to see how that sounds, and while not exactly perfect-sounding, I can certainly hear it much better than with just hearing aids.
All in all, I’m basically ecstatic with how music sounds now. It sounds very closed to how I remember it before my hearing loss.
I’m really hoping you can find some way to start hearing music better through your CI. Maybe a remapping would help, as other have suggested. Keep working on it ... all the best.
I wear a CI made by Advanced Bionics (latest model ... “aurea” I believe). Implanted in November 2009. I am very happy with the way music is sounding with my CI.
Prior to the implant I wore HA’s with minimal benefit, and music wasn’t worth listening to (I have sensory-neural progressive hearing loss). Now, music sounds great, especially instrumental music, i.e. jazz, piano music, and light classical. I can distinguish all the instruments, bass, drums, solos, and seem to be hearing every note.
Vocals and lyrics don’t sound that great, as singers’ voices still have a chirpy “chipmunk” sound, especially women’s voices. Loud and “hard” rock music still tends to come off as just a wall of sound.
The CI audi told me that many people are dissatisfied with the way music sounds through their CI. Prior to losing my hearing beginning in my mid-30’s, I was an amateur musician, playing guitar and a bit of mandolin and other stringed instruments. So I used to listen fairly closely to music, and I’m thinking that has helped a lot with my “recovered” ability to enjoy music now. Recently I’ve been out to sample some “live” music to see how that sounds, and while not exactly perfect-sounding, I can certainly hear it much better than with just hearing aids.
All in all, I’m basically ecstatic with how music sounds now. It sounds very closed to how I remember it before my hearing loss.
I’m really hoping you can find some way to start hearing music better through your CI. Maybe a remapping would help, as other have suggested. Keep working on it ... all the best.