Raymond Veith Posted April 1, 2017 Report Share Posted April 1, 2017 I have one implant.....Activated 8 weeks ago....Awaiting my second side implant in about 6 weeks. I am a 67 year old guitar player and a singer. I really miss music and so hoping it will again bring me joy. Right now, music just sounds like varying degrees of static with a rythmic beat. I started testing my pitch perception with a piano. I play a note, then sing that note as I hear it, and using piano tuner app on my phone, can determine what note I am singing. I am finding that my pitch perception is about 5 whole steps low.....I.e....I play a middle C on the piano and I perceive that note as E-flat below middle C. I have found several articles that explain that musical pitch perception is one of the short comings with CIs. Have any of you found any training that you would recommend for pitch training?? I have two friends with whom I love singing Crosby Stills and Nash music, but it is impossible unless I can correctly determine the pitch. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HearPeers Heroes Adam Posted April 1, 2017 HearPeers Heroes Report Share Posted April 1, 2017 Raymond, it takes a little time but I believe you will get there. For me, the 2 things that took the longest to come back were the phone and music. It took a lot of listening practice, then all of the sudden things started to fall into place. Check out this video on MEDEL implants and music. Maybe this will give you a little hope Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HearPeers Heroes Mary Beth Posted April 2, 2017 HearPeers Heroes Report Share Posted April 2, 2017 Raymond, Yiu are still quite early on and a lot will still change for you. When I started I could not even tell if two notes were the same or different. Now I am doing well even on small semitone intervals. I train on an iPad and like Auralia Pitch Comparison by Rising Software and Melodic Contour Identification by Qianjie Fu I am an Apple user so I am not aware of any android apps. Best of luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MED-EL Moderator Posted April 5, 2017 Report Share Posted April 5, 2017 Hi @Raymond Veith thanks for reaching out to the HearPeers community. Music is a complex signal, more complex than speech. As you are just beginning your journey of hearing with a CI, your brain needs some time to learn and adjust to these new signals. As Mary Beth mentioned, it may help to try out ‘Auralia Pitch’, which is a pitch training app that many MED-EL recipients have had a lot of success with in relearning to appreciate music. Wishing you all the best on your rehabilitation journey! Kind regards, Leigh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raymond Veith Posted April 5, 2017 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2017 Thank you for your input. I have begun practice with the pitch comparison software. I understand that I need to be more patient.....Patience is not my strong suit!! And I guess I don't fully understand the process training the brain. Here is my next question. Say I hear a 'C' and an 'E'......And they sound the same to me.....How does my brain learn from that repitition......Why wouldn't it continue to hear those notes as the same pitch? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HearPeers Heroes Mary Beth Posted April 5, 2017 HearPeers Heroes Report Share Posted April 5, 2017 Hi Raymond, Good question. I have no idea how my brain went from listening to two different notes and thinking they were the same to now being able to discern differences in pitch even with slight semitone differences. But it did. I know that playing scales on the piano has helped. Listening to music has helped. Using the pitch training apps I mentioned has helped. Exactly what is happening in my brain, is exciting but not something I can explain. For me, music has been a gift that has been slowly unwrapped with my CIs. Patience, exposure, active listening, training are your friends on this journey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MED-EL Moderator Posted April 5, 2017 Report Share Posted April 5, 2017 Hi Raymond, I can also recommend that you get in touch with MED-EL's in-house musicologist - Johanna Pätzhold. As a musician and MED-EL CI user herself, she can give you some personal advice and tips for your specific music-related questions. I've sent you her contact details in a private message. Kind regards, Leigh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HearPeers Heroes Matt Posted April 26, 2017 HearPeers Heroes Report Share Posted April 26, 2017 Hi Raymond, my only contribution is to listen to music you know and use that to help train yourself. I know when I went to an early programming session I took my iPod and played songs I knew - well, I thought I knew them. I couldn't recognise any of them as there was so much other stuff going on and I was only hearing a very monotone sound. Keep us up to date with your progress. Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HearPeers Heroes Adam Posted April 27, 2017 HearPeers Heroes Report Share Posted April 27, 2017 Raymond, how are things going for a you? Are you making any progress? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deborah Posted May 12, 2017 Report Share Posted May 12, 2017 On 4/5/2017 at 10:36 AM, leighf said: Hi Raymond, I can also recommend that you get in touch with MED-EL's in-house musicologist - Johanna Pätzhold. As a musician and MED-EL CI user herself, she can give you some personal advice and tips for your specific music-related questions. I've sent you her contact details in a private message. Kind regards, Leigh I am very interested in suggestions from musicians who wear CI's. I will be having my surgery on May 30th. I am a professional violinist, pianist as well as a music teacher. If possible I would like to reach out to Johanna Patzhold and ask her advice on returning to musical listening and help with pitch discernment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HearPeers Heroes Mary Beth Posted May 12, 2017 HearPeers Heroes Report Share Posted May 12, 2017 Do you know your Med-El COM (Community Outreach Manager)'s name and contact info? She/he can pass along your info to Johanna. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HearPeers Heroes hadron Posted May 15, 2017 HearPeers Heroes Report Share Posted May 15, 2017 On 5/12/2017 at 4:54 PM, Deborah said: I am very interested in suggestions from musicians who wear CI's. I will be having my surgery on May 30th. I am a professional violinist, pianist as well as a music teacher. If possible I would like to reach out to Johanna Patzhold and ask her advice on returning to musical listening and help with pitch discernment. @leighf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MED-EL Moderator Posted May 17, 2017 Report Share Posted May 17, 2017 Thanks for the tag @hadron , I've send Johanna's contact details through to Deborah. Cheers! hadron 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue C Posted September 2, 2017 Report Share Posted September 2, 2017 Hi Raymond, i have single sided deafness and got my CI activated about 10 weeks ago. I am a piano teacher and I am using Angelsound tigerspeech for the PC. Under the "basic module" it has "pure tone discrimination". I am lucky if I can hear the difference between a whole tone, I usually can hear a minor third or major third but they say practice practice practice. The average interval difference non musicians can hear with a CI is about 7 semi tones. My audiologist said being a musician is helpful because we are used to listening. There are also other modules I have not tried yet "Melodic module" and "Music module" within the Angelsound tigerspeech software. Best wishes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HearPeers Heroes Mary Beth Posted September 2, 2017 HearPeers Heroes Report Share Posted September 2, 2017 Hi Sue C. I play with that version in an iPad app. But I also like Auralia Pitch Comparison app for music majors as the sound quality of the tones is so much better and it displays the notes on the musical staff. I think it cost under two dollars. This week my piano lesson is Chattanooga Choo Choo. Loving playing the piano again! It gets much better (as far as pitch) over time. 10 weeks is really early days yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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