Strides forward into music
Some background: when I had music classes in elementary school, my teacher would inevitably send me to a corner of the classroom to read. The common assumption was teaching me music appreciation was a waste of time. Later I proved that I wasn't tone deaf -- I learned to play various instruments -- and came to enjoy music. I never did learn to hold a tune, and to recognize a melody would usually require I listen to a song about 2,508 times.
On the other hand, dance clubs were -- and still are -- a magical place. I loved rhythm, the powerful sound volume was a benefit, and I often went out clubbing. The louder the music, the more I'd enjoy it, though in hindsight I was probably clobbering my ear drums in the process. I could feel the music vibrate through my body, and that of my dance partners, as we moved with the beat, gliding across the floor. Since my hearing aids were sensitive to sweat and humidity, I often danced with them off. I then focused even more on the beat and the whisper of low bass that I could barely pick up unaided.
After getting the CIs, my enjoyment of music dropped dramatically. Hearing aids with their full range of the sound spectrum and especially in bass gave me a richness of pitch that was lost with after the CIs and their limited electrodes. While listening to the steroe, I find myself more distracted by background noises. CI programming favors speech comprehension, augmenting the clarity of consonants. Thanks to CIs I more easily hear the high frequencies, so instruments like the flute sound more musical. Overall though, listening to a recording of full orchestra classical music sounded flat. my favorite music genre just didn't sound right. Something was lacking, but what? Cochlear doesn't provide a true stereo AV cable solution for bilateral CIers. The only option is to use two AV cables, one for each ear. To listen with my iPod jacked directly into my CIs, I join the AV cables to a stereo to stereo splitter, and plug the other end of each AV cable into a CI. The overall experience was thus mono, because the same stereo sound is replicated in each ear.
For the holiday season 2007, I received the Teaching Company's "Understanding the Fundamentals of Music" DVD course. This was my opportunity to catch up on lost time, and the listening experience has been astonishing. Not only was I able to enjoy and appreciate the sounds produced by different instruments, but for the first time in my life, I could grasp the concept of scales, and even tell when two pitches were a half-step or full step apart! Getting excited again about music, I searched for ways to improve the sound quality. Thus I wondered if my disappointment with listening to classical music recordings was due to the limitations of mono sound.
A posting on the BiCiers Yahoo group about the Music Link t-coil headset with true stereo caught my attention. After waiting a few days for the headset, and with much anticipation, I finally received the Music Link, jacked myself into iTunes, and played my favorite music. At that moment I had a similar aha moment so many years ago, when I had both CIs for the first time at the dance club. Listening to Beethoven's symphony, I separate the violins on the left, and the brass on the right, merging into sounds with newfound depth. The layers of music build over each other, and not into a muddled mess of before. The downside of the Music Link -- compared with the Cochlear AV cable -- is a thinness to the music. I'm not sure yet whether it's because of the quality of the cable, the use of the t-coil, or something else altogether.
There is yet more to discover.
On the other hand, dance clubs were -- and still are -- a magical place. I loved rhythm, the powerful sound volume was a benefit, and I often went out clubbing. The louder the music, the more I'd enjoy it, though in hindsight I was probably clobbering my ear drums in the process. I could feel the music vibrate through my body, and that of my dance partners, as we moved with the beat, gliding across the floor. Since my hearing aids were sensitive to sweat and humidity, I often danced with them off. I then focused even more on the beat and the whisper of low bass that I could barely pick up unaided.
After getting the CIs, my enjoyment of music dropped dramatically. Hearing aids with their full range of the sound spectrum and especially in bass gave me a richness of pitch that was lost with after the CIs and their limited electrodes. While listening to the steroe, I find myself more distracted by background noises. CI programming favors speech comprehension, augmenting the clarity of consonants. Thanks to CIs I more easily hear the high frequencies, so instruments like the flute sound more musical. Overall though, listening to a recording of full orchestra classical music sounded flat. my favorite music genre just didn't sound right. Something was lacking, but what? Cochlear doesn't provide a true stereo AV cable solution for bilateral CIers. The only option is to use two AV cables, one for each ear. To listen with my iPod jacked directly into my CIs, I join the AV cables to a stereo to stereo splitter, and plug the other end of each AV cable into a CI. The overall experience was thus mono, because the same stereo sound is replicated in each ear.
For the holiday season 2007, I received the Teaching Company's "Understanding the Fundamentals of Music" DVD course. This was my opportunity to catch up on lost time, and the listening experience has been astonishing. Not only was I able to enjoy and appreciate the sounds produced by different instruments, but for the first time in my life, I could grasp the concept of scales, and even tell when two pitches were a half-step or full step apart! Getting excited again about music, I searched for ways to improve the sound quality. Thus I wondered if my disappointment with listening to classical music recordings was due to the limitations of mono sound.
A posting on the BiCiers Yahoo group about the Music Link t-coil headset with true stereo caught my attention. After waiting a few days for the headset, and with much anticipation, I finally received the Music Link, jacked myself into iTunes, and played my favorite music. At that moment I had a similar aha moment so many years ago, when I had both CIs for the first time at the dance club. Listening to Beethoven's symphony, I separate the violins on the left, and the brass on the right, merging into sounds with newfound depth. The layers of music build over each other, and not into a muddled mess of before. The downside of the Music Link -- compared with the Cochlear AV cable -- is a thinness to the music. I'm not sure yet whether it's because of the quality of the cable, the use of the t-coil, or something else altogether.
There is yet more to discover.