Seriously thinking about getting CI

[Boult]

One more thing, a CI does not do well with music. It may sound more tinny and weird. Of course, I love music but don't count on thinking that music would sound like what the hearing hears because it doesn't.

So far, I read that the CII by Advanced Bionics have expanded its processing program to include appreciation for music but the software isn't approved yet. Many CII users with HiRes claim music sounds better and an experimental 120C software (expected to be approved soon) is said to be even better because it has more pitch percepts through virtual channel mapping. How it works is certainly fascinating.

As for music, I have CII implant and Auria HiRes BTE (since HiRes 90K implant and CII implant are basically same but have different casing design though)

Since I am music lover, and it doesn't sound tinny to me. So it depends on mapping a person have. one out of three mappings are great for music and 2nd one does sound tinny. and the third one is weak. I plan to have remapping done. saving the first one but raise the bar into 20-30 db range (since I'm in 30 to 40 db across the board) and adjust the other two for special use.

I look forward to new BTE and mapping software designed for 120 channels feature this fall.

 

[sr171soars]

One more thing, a CI does not do well with music. It may sound more tinny and weird. Of course, I love music but don't count on thinking that music would sound like what the hearing hears because it doesn't.

...

It depends on who you are talking to and whether or not they have auditory memory. I know what it sounded like with my HA (my previous life) and I can compare it with my CI. Like Boult says, it depends on the map. I have the Freedom and music is pretty good and none of the tinniness that you mentioned. I listen to music all the time and enjoy every minute of it...

 

[netrox]

It depends on who you are talking to and whether or not they have auditory memory. I know what it sounded like with my HA (my previous life) ... I listen to music all the time and enjoy every minute of it...

My previous life? You were reincarnated?

Experiments have proven OVER and OVER that CI users don't do well with melodies, even if CI users think they hear them well. HiRes improved melody discrimination over other programs but it's still below 40%.

CI hearing is highly subjective to each person and implantees often misjudge their CI hearing. The only way to know for sure is to measure them in controlled tests and they don't do well as they wanted to believe. Don't get this wrong - many do well in speech discrimination, sound detection, speech comprehension, but when it comes to music, they did poorly even if they enjoy hearing it.

HiRes 120 software is supposed to change all that - it has the widest dynamic range (96 dB!), contains more channels which helps you hear more tones better and better loudness level.

Experiments with HiRes 120 showed that implantees enjoyed a HUGE improvement in pitch discrimination - they could detect more different tones than they could with regular HiRes which means better music appreciation.

 

[sr171soars]

My previous life? You were reincarnated?

Experiments have proven OVER and OVER that CI users don't do well with melodies, even if CI users think they hear them well. HiRes improved melody discrimination over other programs but it's still below 40%.

CI hearing is highly subjective to each person and implantees often misjudge their CI hearing. The only way to know for sure is to measure them in controlled tests and they don't do well as they wanted to believe. Don't get this wrong - many do well in speech discrimination, sound detection, speech comprehension, but when it comes to music, they did poorly even if they enjoy hearing it.

Er...reincarnated??? Where did you get that idea?

I hear you and I know what you mean. Believe me, I have an excellent auditory memory even though I never had "normal" hearing. There is one thing I don't fool myself on..is my hearing. I'm very discriminating and I know when it is not right. I agree it wouldn't be like a hearing person would hear it by no means. What I have found, compared to my HA it is remarkably very similar (I noticed that right off the bat) and actually brings out some things I didn't hear before. The differences are very subtle (some not as good and others better so overall a wash to me) and thus explains why I'm very satisfied and can compare it to my HA days. I was one of those that day 1 of hookup that I was off and running with very little adjustments... Perhaps that explains my experience.