Mapping for better music

[Guest]

Is there anything that the audiologist can do during a mapping to bring out better music?  I am having a lot of difficulty with heaing most music and it is heart breaking, to say the least.  I know that it will take some time, but I would like to do everything possible to make this part of the journey better.  I MISS my music. 

Thank you,

 

Annie

[Matt]

Hi Annie,

how long have you been implanted?

I had my two year review today and I set up another experimental program for loud live music. I'm going to a four day world music festival in a couple of weeks and I can't wait to try it out. I went to the same festival a month after switch on and loved it. It was very weird hearing all these strange sounds that I hadn't heard for ages and I finally realised it was the various instruments - I even heard cymbals and castanets!

Obviously everyones journey is unique and I hope you rediscover music with your new ear. At my third or fourth mapping session I took my ipod and played music I though I knew but I didn't recognise it at all due to all the new sounds I was hearing - not just the bass.

Be patient and practice listening to stuff you know.

Good luck,

 

Matt

[Guest]

Hi Matt:

 

I've only been activated since December 17th, so just under two months.  I lost my hearing in September, so I was only deaf for 3 months.  I've always loved music and want to get as much as I can out of my CI.  I am scheduled to get a second CI in March, and to be activated in April.  I am hoping that gaining 100% more hearing will help me with my music.  I know I may be pushing it, but music has always had a place in my heart and has brought me great joy over my lifetime.  I want it back.  We are invited to join our Grammy winning friends at a giant music festival this summer, and I am worried that I will be among these great performers but will not be able to hear the instruments!  I currently cannot hear guitars or fiddles, as well as a slew of other instruments.  So if there are certain settings that I need to ask my audi for when I go see her in a couple of weeks, I would love to know what those might be.  I need all the help I can get.

 

Cheers,

 

Annie

[Hilla915]

Hi Annie! It may help to bring a sample of music to your next appointment. Perhaps you could listen to the music with your audiologist and describe what you are hearing. Then real time changes could be made to provide the best listening experience. However, please know that since it is still so very soon after your activation, things are changing so much that it is not advised to make too many changes. The thing that will help most is time, which I understand can be difficult. The most important things are to keep pushing the system to improve and make sure to provide your audiologist with specifics as far as what is being noticed in times of difficulty.

Good luck to you, Annie!

[Adam]

Annie,

1 phrase was repeated to me many times as I was a little impatient. "PATIENCE, PRACTICE and PERSISTENCE".

Music took the longest as well as the phone to come back for me. I can remember early on thinking "I'm never gonna be able to hear music!".

With time though things got better and better.

 

Has music improved for you at all since first posting?

 

Adam

 

[Matt]

I just got home from WOMAD festival in Adelaide. Four days of amazing music of all types, from some unusual locations.

Highlights were a Japanese duo playing the tsugaru-shamisen, a Tunisian oud player, a singer from Azerbaijan and Tubular Bells for Two - amazing!

I just used my day to day program as it was an outdoor festival so the volume wasn't a big issue. I heard lots of interesting instruments really clearly and had an awesome time.

Can't wait for the next festival - The Gum Ball - in a months time.

[Adam]

That is awesome Matt! thanks for sharing. Do you have a specific program for music? I just have one. I never use the remote or use different settings. I just got an FM system and that helps a bunch in seminar and business meeting type settings.

[Guest]

Hi Adam:

 

To answer your question, YES!  Music has improved a lot since my last post on this subject.  I am now able to hear guitars and fiddles, but they do not sound quite right yet.  BUT I CAN HEAR THEM.  That is the good thing.  I am noticing now that I cannot hear pianos very well, but that is just another stringed instrument and so I know with practice and time this will come to me.  Patience is not my forte, though, so I am pleased that I am able to hear differences between "then" and "now".

 

My right ear is scheduled to be implanted the day after tomorrow and will be activated on April 12th.  I am going to wait until May or so to make my decision on whether to attend the Portland Waterfront Blues Fest over 4th of July weekend.  Our dear friend is one of the headliners and we have been invited to tag along.  Check out the line-up and if you loves blues and rock and zydeco you'll see that this is a hard thing to say no to!  My problem is that if I am there and among all of these fabulous musicians and I cannot hear them I will CRY.  The good thing is, though, that if we cannot attend this festival, if I need more time, there are always others and we are welcome any time.  Losing the ability to enjoy the full sounds and magic of music is almost as heartbreaking as it was to lose the ability to communicate with those that I love.

 

Annie

[Adam]

Annie, boy do i know the feeling. I got a few lectures from my audi because I was expecting way too much too soon. If I scored 75% i wanted 80. If I scored 90 i wanted 95. I can now actually pick  out instraments in songs that I never knew were there. Keep plugging away. Congratulations on going bilateral. After my second implant was activated, the best way for me to describe it was that everything sounded so much FULLER, RICHER, CrISPER. My sound location improved dramatically once I started hearing in stereo again

[Matt]

Adam,

I tried a few different programs for music but kept up coming back to my regular everyday program. I hardly ever use my remote as well. I have a couple of programs for VERY LOUD music, the type that shakes you when you're at the concert. Why do they need to be so loud?? My local Med El rep and my audi just played around a bit and reduced the bass sounds a lot and the treble sounds a fair bit. I've used it a few times and it's pretty good.

Regarding the phone - I haven't tried many others but am really happy with the iphone. The normal speaker is better than the hands free. Some other manufacturers are supposed to have better sounds for hearing impaired users with new models but I don't know any details.

 

Annie,

great to hear that music is improving, it took me a good few months to be able to recognise a lot of my music. I took my ipod to a programming session and played what I thought was one of my favourite tracks - I couldn't recognise the song and thought I must have pulled up the wrong album from my playlist.

I'm still unilateral and I'm scoring as well as bilateral in most situations so I can only imagine what the improvement will be once I'm bilateral. I'm waiting for some real world impressions of the Rondo.

Keep on listening!

 

Matt

[Adam]

Matt I got pretty frustrated and really thought I was doomed to never listen to music again. It took some time then something just clicked and I love my ipod

 

every once in a while I'll play a song and it will take a few seconds to recognise it but for the most part it sounds exactly as I remembered

[simekj]

This forum is really helpful.  I think it would be good if audiologists gave feedback on mapping techniques too so everyone can gain some valuable insights on what other people tried and use those for their own trials.

Karen

 

[Adam]

Karen,

Not a bad idea. I know since every brain is different, mapping is more an art than science so to speak. Luckily I didn't have to think way outside the box with my audi as she pretty much nailed it each map and just had to do minor tweaks each time.