I Miss Music

aglaeca said:
One of the advantages of larger speakers is actually that you wouldn't have to crank them up as much. The amount of vibration they put out is physically larger at the same amplitude. One way to think of it is to imagine putting your hand against the paper speaker cones--you'll get more dynamic vibrations out of one the size of your whole hand than one that sits in your palm.

If you can feel the vibrations from a small pair of headphones, I'd definitely give larger headphones a try. They don't have to be particularly expensive--I use a pair of $25 phones from K-Mart, and they're another planet away from earbuds. The only important part is to make sure they're large enough to fit over your ears, rather than in or on them.
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I'll definitely give those speakers some thought! Especially after I can move into my own house. But I think I'll try the headphones first. They're less likely to disturb my family. The kind of headphones I tried at first are the kind that fit on the ear, not in it. However, the vibration is barely noticable except in very wild parts of the music. If there's a very heavy beat, I can follow the music from my memory.

I'd like so much to be able to post a particular piece of music here as an example of the kind of music I miss listening to, because there is no heavy beat. If only there was no copyright issue. I'll be honest, and tell you I cried the first time I listened to that particular song and noticed I couldn't hear the little animal sounds in the background. I miss that most of all. I'm sure there's no way to get that feeling back, but that speaker idea sounds promising for the music part.
 
Playing Music

Do you know how to play an instrument? When you really want to listen to that soft music, if you know how to play an instrument, or even if you don't, you could express yourself through the instrument. Playing the piano or drums or guitar fast and slow and creating in your mind what it would sound like. I'm not sure if that would work at all, but I thought I would suggest it.
 
While I can actually hear, this thread got me thinking, these days I am able to hear music at will, it doesn't sound like it comes from my ears but its in my mind and I can move where the sound 'seems' to come from.. Actually just tried and I can kind of make it feel like its coming into my ears but it does sound a bit different.

For some years now I have been able to use hypnosis to illicit altered states in people, various purposes, ranging from helping theraputically to purely entertainment.

When I was a child, a few years old or so, I had an amazing imagination, I could see things as clearly as if they were real. As I got older this skill reduced, until a few years ago where I was almost unable to visualize / hear / experience anything from my imagination at will, nor was it even remotely as clear as I would have liked.

So I began experimenting with myself, I recall trying to create visual representations of things, close my eyes and recall the room, feel whats behind me, see whats behind me.. things like that.

At first I admit it felt futile, fortunately I was persistent because now I can visualize anything I wish at will, I can also recreate sounds that I have heard and I just toyed with making up sounds and that works too. Also merging multiple songs together, like a dj, is quite possible for me.

Hypnosis enables people to go into their past, experience anything they have experienced before, as vivid as if it were the first time, but I know of a couple of people who can do this without hypnosis. One woman I know claims she is able to recall anything she has ever seen, play it back like a movie as clear as if she was there. In fact I think most people with autism can also do this, 'thinking in pictures' was an interesting book on that subject, written by a woman with aspergers, her website here.

It seems to me, some of us are better at a given skill but we are able to train ourselves to learn and thats why I persue my personal goal of having a realistic imagination.

I think that targetted goals in improving this imagination, memory recall and creation can be useful.
 
I used to teach music in Jr. High schools. I had to quit because my vocal chords got nodes and pollups on them, so I couldn't hold a steady voice anymore, AND because I had a Titanium piston-type thing implanted into the stapes of my right ear. That made one eardrum thicker than the other so everything that made even the smallest sound was out of tune to say the least. I was going crazy so I started wearing the highest rating earplugs to block out everything. I really missed music, too, but I found that if I put my upper teeth on the edge of my guitar when I played it, the subtle vibrations were almost as good. Now, I use that more often even though I can hear it better. For all 10 years I taught, my goal was to find some way to create a visual representation of aural music...still looking for that....I've found that the smooth movements of signing are almost like music. Sometimes I find it very soothing just to watch a conductor of an orchestra or something while feeling the bass of the music.

Just a couple of thoughts...I am interested to know if anyone who has never heard music at all and then had hearing aids or cochlear implants that brought music into their world finds it as beautiful as those that heard it and lost it. Especially if they were a musician of any sort.
 
lauriesmyname said:
I used to teach music in Jr. High schools. I had to quit because my vocal chords got nodes and pollups on them, so I couldn't hold a steady voice anymore, AND because I had a Titanium piston-type thing implanted into the stapes of my right ear. That made one eardrum thicker than the other so everything that made even the smallest sound was out of tune to say the least. I was going crazy so I started wearing the highest rating earplugs to block out everything. I really missed music, too, but I found that if I put my upper teeth on the edge of my guitar when I played it, the subtle vibrations were almost as good. Now, I use that more often even though I can hear it better. For all 10 years I taught, my goal was to find some way to create a visual representation of aural music...still looking for that....I've found that the smooth movements of signing are almost like music. Sometimes I find it very soothing just to watch a conductor of an orchestra or something while feeling the bass of the music.

Just a couple of thoughts...I am interested to know if anyone who has never heard music at all and then had hearing aids or cochlear implants that brought music into their world finds it as beautiful as those that heard it and lost it. Especially if they were a musician of any sort.
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That gave me an idea, and I tried it out. I got one of my old headsets and I taped plastic over the ear thingies and cleaned them off with alcohol and stuck them in my mouth so the speakers touch my teeth. Nothing. I gave up. Then I thought, what if I bite it, so I tried putting them on my back teeth, and I got a slight vibration, but it wasn't musical. I gave up and started disassembling my experiment. Then it occurred to me, what about my front teeth! So I tried that, and there is a lot more variation in the vibration there! It's hard to get my teeth in just the right spot, but I can almost recognise the music. I wonder if my brain will learn to recognise it if I keep using it this way. Sometimes I can get it just right so I can feel a lot of it, and the plastic even vibrates the bass against the roof of my mouth. I can't pick up the higher frequencies though. This isn't sound. ... omg, I think I just found a miraculous position! It's like I can hear it! Remember I have no residual hearing, so this isn't bone conduction! Unless the last two audiograms I took are wrong =s Hmm, still no high frequencies though. Maybe that just requires real ears. But I think this has enough merit that I should continue to develop it and see if I can get it to really work! I think if I used a more rubbery sleeve, it would conduct the vibration to more of my teeth at once. I think the nerves behind each of my teeth are succeptible to a different range of frequencies. I might be able to teach my brain to recognise the full range as sound. I don't expect to be able to understand words, but I think this will be able to conduct music if I try hard enough and get it to vibrate just right. Thanks for the idea! Yesterday, I was really feeling like I could desperately use some music, and suddenly here came this post! :) This is definitely a work in progress, but I don't feel it will be a waste of my effort! :)
 
music and pinball machines...

I had a great dream about music last night! I couldn't hear the music, but it made a pin-ball machine light up and vibrate to the beat while I watched a score (full music notation of the music) roll by at the top of the machine. I woke up so happy with it that I just might look into trying to find a way to make it work!!!
 
Wow!!! you are very clever! I would never have thought about that. I am going to try it myself before I lose too much more of my hearing so I can really have something to compare it to. Way to go!!
 
PLEASE keep me up to date on your ideas! I am dedicating whatever time and resources I can to keep music in my life and maybe help others have access to music!
 
lauriesmyname said:
I had a great dream about music last night! I couldn't hear the music, but it made a pin-ball machine light up and vibrate to the beat while I watched a score (full music notation of the music) roll by at the top of the machine. I woke up so happy with it that I just might look into trying to find a way to make it work!!!
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That sounds like one of my previous ideas I wrote on this thread! I figured nobody would ever try it because it would require too much effort, but if you get it to work, let me know :)
 
Sub-woofers are great! they bring out not just the bass of movies, but a lot of the sound effects as well. If you can put one hand on the left woofer and one on the right woofer...who knows! It might give you more sensory information when watching movies or trying to get a better music response.

Your family might find it a bit loud....try it when you are home alone first.
 
lauriesmyname said:
Sub-woofers are great! they bring out not just the bass of movies, but a lot of the sound effects as well. If you can put one hand on the left woofer and one on the right woofer...who knows! It might give you more sensory information when watching movies or trying to get a better music response.

Your family might find it a bit loud....try it when you are home alone first.
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I've been curious about sub woofers. I wasn't sure how much noise they make, but you say they're loud? I'm often on a night schedule, so I've been trying to figure out a quiet way to hear music. The vibrating of my teeth is slowly working, but it's taking a lot of retraining of my brain to understand it. I also think I can get a stronger signal to my nerves if I can find a stronger magnet or if I can amplify the ear buds. I was using speakers from a regular headset, which are stronger, but they are too big to fit in my mouth for very long without becoming extremely uncomfortable (as well as causing me to drool :rofl:) :giggle:

I put the ear buds inside of a disposable glove that says "tough and strong" on the package (Mr. Clean). The signal I get from them is extremely weak, but I only paid a dollar for them anyway. I bet the clerk wondered why a deaf guy was buying ear buds :giggle: They are only rated up to 95dB anyway, so maybe that's just not strong enough.

The sub woofer would have been a great idea if it didn't make a lot of noise because I could put my feet on it. I've discovered my feet are very sensitive to sound. They seem to be able to "hear" the piano at my dad's church if I put my feet on the floor on the hollow wooden stage.

Anyway, it's all a work in progress, but none of it looks ready to be given up on yet :) If you come up with any other ideas or improvements on these, keep in touch!
 
I agree with the sub woofer, makes a big difference.

SimplyMints said:
I've been curious about sub woofers. I wasn't sure how much noise they make, but you say they're loud? I'm often on a night schedule, so I've been trying to figure out a quiet way to hear music. The vibrating of my teeth is slowly working, but it's taking a lot of retraining of my brain to understand it. I also think I can get a stronger signal to my nerves if I can find a stronger magnet or if I can amplify the ear buds. I was using speakers from a regular headset, which are stronger, but they are too big to fit in my mouth for very long without becoming extremely uncomfortable (as well as causing me to drool :rofl:) :giggle:

I put the ear buds inside of a disposable glove that says "tough and strong" on the package (Mr. Clean). The signal I get from them is extremely weak, but I only paid a dollar for them anyway. I bet the clerk wondered why a deaf guy was buying ear buds :giggle: They are only rated up to 95dB anyway, so maybe that's just not strong enough.

The sub woofer would have been a great idea if it didn't make a lot of noise because I could put my feet on it. I've discovered my feet are very sensitive to sound. They seem to be able to "hear" the piano at my dad's church if I put my feet on the floor on the hollow wooden stage.

Anyway, it's all a work in progress, but none of it looks ready to be given up on yet :) If you come up with any other ideas or improvements on these, keep in touch!
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