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Meet Amy, a new HP member with single sided deafness


Mary Beth

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@Amy just joined HP.

I am trying to connect Amy with other single sided deaf with CI HearPeers members.

@VeroNika

@Kylie

@Justin

@John R

@Jared Charney

 

I am sure I’m missing other single sided deaf with CI members.  I apologize.  Please join in.

 

 

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@Amyfeel free to ask any questions , I lost all hearing my right ear almost exactly four years ago, I got my CI in November and was activated early December--

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Hello @Amy!

I have been SSD for 3 years and implanted for nearly 2. Look forward to chatting!

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Hi!  I am a long time lurker...generally I am chatting with people on Facebook or in email.  I thought I would go old school and give forums a shot!

I am SSD since 2017, and implanted for just over a year. I keep myself busy with my dogs and music! :)

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@Amy

Tell us a bit about your music connection and your experience with music and your CI.

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I am a bassist by hobby... (not pro, as nobody has ever paid me more than beer!)
I learned to play around 2000-2001, and used to play with some friends who have since moved too far away.

Pre-Covid, I played a lot of Open Mics and things like that. We did do some FB Open Mic stuff when the pandemic came.... now, just noodling around, learning new stuff and waiting on the world to open back up.

I, In fact, I lost my hearing the day before we (My husband and I) where going to play at our neighbors vow renewal. (he plays Guitar)

When I first tried music after my hearing loss, everything sounded distorted and strange... It was pretty upsetting.  I couldn't hear cues, so my timing was a mess.
CROS made that worse, as I had EVERYTHING going into my good ear.  

It's much better with the implant!  Though, the day I was activated I made the mistake of having band practice! It was cacophony!  I thought I had made a huge mistake.
Now though, my brain has settled down and I don't know how I went so long without my CI.  Though admittedly, if I stream music into the implant, all I hear is percussion and voice...sometimes horns.  Strings are lost on that side.  But, I am working on it.!

AMA!

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@Amy

 

lol, I had to look up your “ask me anything” AMA!  Smile 

@Kylie SSD performs in a choral group.

@VeroNika SSD performs on piano and composes beautiful music

@Jdashiell bilateral CIs is a bass player like you

@MallaRuth bilateral CIs plays clarinet

I play piano a bit.  I need to return to practicing.

Music journeys with CIs fascinate me. They are so varied.

I am so thankful for the return of music to my life.  I love it!

Have you heard of Beats of Cochlea music festival ?  

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I found singing in a group with SSD extremely challenging, especially trying to get close harmonies. Also I couldn't measure my own volume very well.  But I muddled through with some excellent support from my group while waiting for surgery. 

Now post surgery it is much much better overall, I love having sound on both sides. I am now singing in 2 different vocal groups and still loving it.

But as you said @Amy if I directly input music into my CI it sounds not great, lots of components missing and jumbled. So still working on that.

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Single sided deaf with CI and quality of CI sound interests me.  I wonder if a brain that is getting full acoustic audio from one ear will work through what’s needed in order to reach a natural sound in the CI ear?  Or will it use the acoustic ear dominantly and have the CI ear assist the dominant ear?

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11 hours ago, Mary Beth said:

Single sided deaf with CI and quality of CI sound interests me.  I wonder if a brain that is getting full acoustic audio from one ear will work through what’s needed in order to reach a natural sound in the CI ear?  Or will it use the acoustic ear dominantly and have the CI ear assist the dominant ear?

I often wonder things like this!!

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I am just over a year and a half out and I think I am using both sides fairly evenly. When I use both ears together it sounds fairly natural (with a bit of tinny sound in CI). I can locate sound directionally, and get surround sound watching movies and listening to music. As a musical aid its been invaluable as I can pick out cues in the layers of sound.  It’s crazy how the brain adjusts!

If I were to venture a guess... Musically, Acoustic ear is managing strings, and timbre & CI is managing rhythm, & percussion. 

Kylie, what is your opinion?

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Hmmm maybe? I feel like my hearing ear is doing all the hard or detailed work for music and the CI is adding layers of depth.

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Interesting thoughts!  I absolutely think that in social/non-music  situations the CI ear helps the good ear perform some of the "noise cancelling" functions, separating important sounds from background noise in the way that the brain can do with two ears (but are impossible with SSD).  So when listening to music, the same could/should be true. Definitely agree that my CI ear locks in on percussion and bass parts like Amy suggests. If I don't have my CI on (rarely) and I happen to hear music, I miss having my CI, the music sounds flat.

Quirky story about me: I took up playing the ukulele a few years back (before CI), and I tried playing with a group at a meetup. But it was impossible to play along! I couldn't hear myself vs. others so I had no idea if I was in synch with them. I haven't kept up with it, but learning the ukulele led pretty much directly to my dream (current) job,  so it was a worthwhile endevour! I wrote an iPhone app that was effectively the "Guitar Hero" game but using the microphone to listen to a real ukulele or guitar. The game/app didn't pan out, but my knowledge of coding and sound analysis caught the attention of a certain company...

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This is a really interesting discussion! I am bilateral with my CIs but I have always had 'dominant' ears due to having big gaps between ops. Had my right ear for 10 years then got a second CI in my left. Right was always WAY dominant, so I could use it alone still and the left 'added' to it, but left alone didn't sound great despite doing lots of work to strengthen it e.g. listening to music with that ear alone. Then my right implant failed after another 10 years, so I relied on my left CI for a couple of months between op and activation. My dominant ear then switched, so now my right is weaker and music doesn't sound good through it anymore. I am working on it... sigh... it's a process, but the brain adjusts and compensates in wonderful and sometimes unpredictable ways!

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@MallaRuth

The brain is fascinating and an often neglected part of CI conversations.

I had been functioning with a power HA in my left ear (my right ear heard nothing after a surgery for Ménière’s for 24 years).  When we implanted my long standing “dead ear”, things started to change.  At first my CI ear helped my HA ear.  Then there was a competition in my brain between the CI ear and the HA ear (so exhausting) as each wanted to be dominant.  Next my CI ear far surpassed my HA ear and took the lead with my HA ear helping.  After that, my CI ear was quite independent and my brain ignored the “noise” coming from my HA ear.  Time for CI number 2.  Which thankfully is very balanced.

 

It seems like my brain was no longer willing to work so hard to sort out info from my very compromised HA ear after listening with my first CI became easy.

 

It’s important to note that both of my ears qualified for CIs from the start so my HA ear was very compromised.

I have friends who are bimodal (1 CI and 1 HA) and they are doing great that way.

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I’m single side deaf too.   Have rondo 2 for one year. Still fight tinnitus and being in noise.  As a group we need different advice and different rehab than others .
Has anyone found that noise cancelling headphones are helpful?  My jbl  minimizes noise that irritates me, while letting my bionic ear try to contribute more to my functional hearing. 

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