[kradeelav]

I was one of the few who was also implanted in '91, at 2 years old. (My parents had to wait as medical regulations wouldn't allow the surgery to be done to younger kids - nowadays they do at ~6 months, iirc. As the article briefly mentions, the younger you are, the more neural plasticity you have.)

It's interesting to read the difference in experiences as for all intents and purposes I was raised as a hearing-only child (no sign language or lip reading) and didn't quite grasp the nuances until much later on. There was ~7 years of speech therapy to close the gap (so to speak) to hearing kids, but after that it's been repeatedly mentioned that most folks assume that I hear like everyone does. Wouldn't have it any other way, honestly - having that modification done opened so many doors. (That being said, like the author, it's amazing to be able to take the CI off to go to sleep. Soundless sleep is something to be enjoyed.)

Would be happy to do an impromptu AMA if anyone has pertinent questions on the topic. (Keep in mind that singular experiences are only singular experiences.)

[mojuba]

I'm very curious about the resolution and quality of the implant and how does it affect how you hear music. Can you distinguish half tones? Can you hear differences between similar sounding but different instruments (i.e. think of various types of the flute)?

[kradeelav]

Those are good questions! Resolution is definitely less when it comes to music - I can hear obvious signal degradation when it comes to somebody talking through a bad phone reception for example, but the difference between a high-def mp3 and a low-def mp3 is near indistinguishable.

I don't -recall- hearing half tones but that may be because I avoided classical music out of personal taste and after a childhood of mandatory piano lessons... it's been a while since I've gone near an instrument. Amusingly picked up a strong fondness for 80's synthpop/EDM/industrial which feels like it could be partially explained by it being 'beat heavy' and less delicate/subtle with different instruments. Would be a fun study!

edit: Jumping back to explain that resolution/quality vastly varies from person to person, even if they're using the same generation of devices - to make a long story short, CI's hook up to electrodes within the ear, and the more electrodes that can be sync'd, the better the resolution. Mine was an odd case where I have a facial nerve right next to a cluster, and those had to be turned off otherwise it would cause my face to twitch excessively whenever a certain pitch of noise was played.

There's also single-implant users and bi-lateral implant users - most folks these days opt for bi-lateral as you do get a whole 'nother level of quality; I was one of the early bunch and have other medical complications that make another surgery very difficult, and decided that since the single's been fine for daily use, it's worth it just to stick with it.