Making New Friends Through Music And Cochlear Implants

Heinz and Walter are two amateur musicians from Austria. The two of them don’t only share a love for music. They also both use cochlear implants, and thanks to their hearing devices, can enjoy the world of music again. Both Walter and Heinz lost their hearing over the course of their lives. Both of them also struggled with the fact that they were no longer as independent, and found having conversations very difficult. At social gatherings they felt isolated. But it was the loss of music appreciation that hit them both the hardest. Not being able to play music and not being able to entertain people as part of their music groups was hard for the both of them.

And that’s not all that Walter and Heinz have in common: Both of them also decided to get cochlear implants. And both were desperately waiting to discover their new way of enjoying music with CIs. At first, there was a feeling of disappointment. “After my first fitting I really didn’t like listening to music, it didn’t sound right”, Walter recalls. His friend Heinz, who was implanted a couple of years later, agrees: “In the beginning my harmonica sounded terrible to me!”

但放弃不是这些激情音乐家的选择。当沃尔特与Med-El研究团队合作时，他遇到了一名听力学家，他是一个歌手。她致力于充分利用音频处理器软件，尤其是当它来到音乐时。谢谢她，沃尔特给了一个特殊的音乐地图，经过许多合适的课程，他努力提高他的音乐听力能力。“感谢这张地图和广泛的音乐训练，我真的很喜欢播放音乐。我喜欢几乎每天玩小提琴，吉他和萨克斯管数小时。当观众热情地唱着，真的让我开心。“

Heinz also put in a lot of effort to be able to enjoy music again. Together with a music therapist at his clinic in Austria, at home on his own, and even with a group during a three-week-long rehabilitation in Germany, he practiced regularly with his beloved harmonica. Step by step and after some time he could finally say: “It sounds good again!” The happiness he feels when he plays at social gatherings and spreads good spirits with his music is written all over Heinz’s face.

坚持不懈的是，一个强有力的意志，可以从划伤中听音乐和致力于定期密集的做法，这对于与CIS的音乐享受至关重要。但是，还有其他重要因素。耳蜗植入系统需要满足最佳音乐感知的技术要求：深层插入的电极阵列，刺激耳蜗的所有区域并覆盖具有高低色调的整个频率频率;一种柔软的无造物电极阵列，可保留耳蜗的细腻结构，并模仿自然声音;和一个高级声音编码程序，也能够传输甚至可以传输音乐的复杂细节。

对于没有播放音乐的CI用户或在他们的植入前没有享受它，音乐可能并非如此重要的考虑因素。

But recognising speech melodies, emotions and the meaning of a sentence, as well as better understanding in background noise, are only two of the many benefits regular music training might bring to all cochlear implant users.

音乐唤醒了记忆，带来了快乐和幸福。在沃尔特和海因斯甚至带来了新的友谊。其中两个人在当地的支持小组中遇到了CI用户，很快发现他们分享了一个常见的激情：高山民间音乐。

在与家人短暂的假期，它不仅徒步旅行，而且还播放音乐，这是该计划的一部分。他们的家人仍然记得沃尔特和海因斯无法听到的，享受看到他们一起玩音乐。

沃尔特和海因茨也喜欢接受新的挑战。Heinz最近参加了一个高山的角讲习班，享有美好时光：“研讨会是如此特殊的经验！特别是对于CI用户，高山喇叭是一个非常困难的仪器。车间的指挥是该领域中最好的。他也是一些合唱团的头，所以我们在研讨会期间也唱得很多。“

沃尔特现在还与听力损失的其他人一起分享了他作为音乐播放和乐趣的听证植入者的经验。他回答了候选人的问题，他们对耳蜗植入物的声音如何听起来。他提供了有关如何用CI聆听音乐的最佳火车的个人和个人建议。

Someone who also knows how users of hearing implants can achieve more music enjoyment is Johanna Boyer, a musicologist at MED-EL and a CI user herself.在这个博客文章中she shares her favorite training material, apps and tips and tricks for music rehabilitation.

上次，但所有音乐爱好者的提示从阳光灿烂的夏季歌曲和星期一动机曲调到了最好的贝多芬– there is something for every taste in store, tailored to the hearing needs of CI users.