What a Cochlear Implant Actually Sounds Like
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- čas přidán 11. 09. 2024
- If you're not hearing impaired, you may wonder what it's like to wear a cochlear implant-what does it actually sound like? Unlike what you may think, cochlear implants don't generate sound like a hearing aid would. Instead, they actually zap your cochlea! Join Olivia Gordon for a fascinating new episode of SciShow!
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I’ve had my cochlear implant since December 2009 and I’m glad I got it. I was completely deaf for about 20 years (HOH my entire life). She was fairly accurate in this video in that things don’t sound right and I had to practice hearing to teach my brain to be able to distinguish sounds. At first a dog bark and a car horn sounded exactly the same to me because my brain had not yet learned to distinguish them. But some things you can only know by actually having a cochlear implant as she pointed out. So I’ll let you know a little more of what it’s like. Today everything sounds natural to me.
Today I can not only hear what voices are saying. I can also tell who’s voice I’m hearing if I know the person. Here’s how I explain it to people. If you put on sun glasses that have colored lenses such as yellow or red. Things will look strange at first. But after a while the world will look normal through those lenses. So much so that the world will look strange for a while when you take them off. That’s kind of what it’s like. If you could hear how things sound to me it’ll sounds strange to you. But to me it sounds natural because it’s the only way I can hear things. Just thought I’d add that for anyone who might be interested.
Hi Ron, is pretty good to know you find it so great. I don't know which brand you got but I can say we tend to work to make people like you happier, more satisfied and have more fulfilling lives. (I work at Cochlear, but certainly somebody from any of the other companies will feel the same)
Rod Landaeta Mine is a cochlear. I’m very happy with it. I just wish I didn’t update last year because now I have to wait for insurance to roll around to get the Kanso. I also read that they can now connect to iPhones. Oh well. Maybe it’ll be even better by the time I get my next upgrade.
simonmana Yes. Do a search for cochlear implant iPhone and you’ll find it. It says:
“The Nucleus 7 Sound Processor is the world’s first Made for iPhone cochlear implant sound processor to allow users to stream sound from iPhone®, iPad® and iPod touch® directly to their sound processor, offering greater accessibility, connectivity and wireless solutions”.
Ron, Kanso and Nucleus 7 are pretty awesome technologies we released recently :)
I gather you might have a CP910 or 920, right?
The Kanso is CP950 and the newest, which is the Nucleus 7 we developed to connect to Apple devices is the 1000 series. We are always working hard to bring you more things to help you hear.
The Kanso processor does not connect to Apple devices though, is a smaller, lighter and off the ear version of the one you might have. Unfortunately, it takes some time for us to make things small and robust enough to keep it off the ear.
I am happy to be part of your journey :)
Just a side note... is not just to play music, you can answer calls, use it as a microphone, check your battery and find where your processor might be if you lost it... and more things will come soon ;)
The best gift, 85% deaf from birth, received a cochlear at age 46.. now a life time of hearing for the next (hopefully) 46 yrs .. truly grateful
I didn't realize you could get them so late in life! I figured you had to give them to children for their brains to be plastic enough to adapt
@@onometre i major in speech and hearing, its recommended that it gets implanted as early as possible (usually during childhood) but there are some cases where people will get them later in life
@@futurebwaystar53 neat thank you
@@onometre you're welcome I'm kinda nerdy about all things speech and hearing
This doesn’t answer anything
I wish there was a sample audio. Even if its only an approximation.
ノクス「Nokusu」 right wth...
There are some samples.
/watch?v=1dhTWVMcpC4
Yup... like the 400khz one... although it depends on the sound encoding strategy
Just search for low battery toys, she even said for it to be a vague approximation.
I went from completely hearing for 35 years to totally deaf and got a cochlear implant. Things sound completely normal as I remember them. Not at all distorted.
I wonder if it's different if you were born deaf? When you're brain doesn't know what it's missing and so has no template for what to do with sound. As a hearing person, I know I hear much better when I can see someone talk, even in an environment where other people are struggling and then I'll struggle in a quite room to understand someone on a perfectly clear phone line. If you've never heard anything, if none of the 'context clues' compute, will a cochlear implant 'make' sounds that are totally foreign to hearing people? I often wonder if you could look out of the world through someone else's eyes, would the sky be pink and the ground blue, but since we all point at the sky and say blue we all understand blue the same way. How much of the world is our own unique applied filter?
You are post lingual deaf and your brain developed the pathways of discrimination of sounds and remembered. Pre lingual deafness is a different story. A friend of mine was in that category and a cochlea implant would have made her hear better, but not be able to discriminate speech sounds well enough to make it worth the trouble.
@@adde9506 Wdym applied filter?
What would be the best way to listen to TV with i am implant? My dad has an implant but I am not able to understand how to help him
@@himanshumatalia7120 It depends. It sounds like your dad was born deaf, or functionally so? In that case, he would need to train his brain to understand the input before he can just use it. For instance, if he watches with the subtitles turned on, he could learn how the sound of words "feels" within his brain. It takes a while, just as with learning how to write, or sing. You may be able to find tutorial videos specifically designed to help the newly implanted, where people speaking are looking directly into the camera. Often, lip-readers report easier learning than people who always relied on sign language. Visual cues tie sounds to reality, shortening the process.
I have a cochlear implant and this is exactly how it goes. When I made the switch from a typical in the ear hearing aid to a cochlear implant, I was immediately able to hear so many new sounds, like heavy rain on the roof of my house, and bacon sizzling on a pan. However, there was a period when I couldn't quite understand what people were saying. It took about a year of "training" where I had to focus on each individual sound. Now, 4 years after getting the implants, I have no trouble hearing what people are saying. Heck, I can even hear an entire conversation from across the room.
IQubic +
Poor lil piggies tho.
It depends on your audio nerve. Since you used a hearing aid your audio nerve was being used. So your audio nerve understands how to transfer the sound, as opposed to my experience. I hadn't had sound in my ear for 20 years, and I can't make out anything with mine. I am slowly training my brain though, it's lots of work.
This is a good observation Emma West, training the nerve to get the best outcome possible is one of the most recommended practices.
I keen on your experience though, what parts of your rehabilitation have you found challenging and what sort of materials/apps could we provide to help you out? How could we make your journey more comfortable?
IQubic my fiance has hearing aids but is thinking about one day getting a cochlear implant, but I'm always wondering what that would mean for him. What are the pros and cons of your implant? Also, the videos said implants affect how you hear pitch and tone - isn't that a major part of music? Do you hear music the same or differently?
I've had the cochlear implant for over 27+ years it has been a wonderful experience. I've been able to hear my son's growing up and my parent's voice and music OMG music is my life. I thank my parents for giving me this gift of life of being able to hear.
I have hearing disorders and I’m afraid that I will be deaf at some point. The saddest thing I think about is losing the ability to hear music. Like you music is a huge part of my life and I can’t imagine my world without it. Glad you are well and have music in your life. 😃
@@bodie9676 I am a Cochlear Implant receiver and still cannot distinguish music when I listen to it. It's been 3 years but no luck.
I
I am surprised you can hear music correctly, since from what the gal in the video said, sound is distorted.
I was born hearing and remained so for 12 years. The next 12 years, I was pretty close to deaf. Then came the cochlear implant. After a brief acclimation, the sound was... exactly like the first 12 years of my life. Tone, pitch are fine. While it's true that the results can differ depending on the patient, I can tell you that for a lucky recipient (like me) who gets the full effect and has something to compare it to, the "talking doll that's running low on batteries" comparison is so wrong. There is way more to this than can be taught in a 3.5-minute video.
The cochlear implant scenes in Sound of Metal was extremely insightful where you heard what he was hearing inside his head
I'm here because I just watched that film.
@@jr2media635 same lol
All the academy awards are gonna bring a lot of people to this video!
such an amazing movie, i’ve always been terrified of losing my hearing, it helped me sort some of that sh*t out
@@_conchobhar_ yeah this is why I always wear ear protection for everything ! 😂
"What does a cochlear implant sound like?" **proceed to not provide an approximation of what it sounds like**
Ungrateful
Thanks. You saved me 3 minutes. I can just back out of here...
I imagine it sounds kinda like a guitar amp because electric guitars use magnets to create the sound 😂
She says at the very start of the video that it’s impossible to make the sound they hear.
Sound of Silence
I was one of the first few people that got into the “beta” for cochlear back in 2003 according to my audiologists. I love mine so much! I was born completely deaf.
I was also born completely deaf and got my first CI on my right ear when I was 2 (almost three) years old. I’m born 2001 btw. I’m curious if you know deaf culture or not. I’ve been mainstreamed in public schooling
I was among the 2004 batch
@@Smartdazzle dead?
@@lolitahaze02 lmao deaf* not dead. Very common autocorrect, I never notice it until I already hit send
@@Smartdazzle yeah, I didn't know if I were to laugh or be shocked. Thanks for clarifying 😲
Whos here after watching “sound of metal” with riz ahmed
Yeah the scenes with the cochlear implant hearing thought his perspective was very insightful, it sounded pretty unsettling and matrixy tbh
\m/
Me
Me rn
„One of those talking dolls ruining low on battery” .... nightmares
Gothgirl no wonder that they cried on "DEAF PEOPLE HEARING SOUND FOR THE FIRST TIME OMG (NO CLICKBAIT) (GONE WRONG) (GONE SEXUAL)" type of video because all they heard is a total nightmare lol
I have had a cochlear implant since 2018 and after doing a fair amount of rehabilitation which included lots of listening to music I now hear voices and music as well as I did before my hearing loss. It took 22 months following activation before I could listen to a complete opera and hear the instruments and voices perfectly. It took only 44 days before my word recognition was 92% (before implant it was 8%). My only difficulty is in noisy situations like restaurants
Really interesting!
Would you say deep bass sounds are there just as before?
My dad's deaf in one ear and mostly deaf in the other, so he got one of these implants. When I asked him this same question he said that he's grown so used to it that he's not even certain how the sound differs from organic hearing anymore. The main change I've noticed is that he went from not hearing you if you were a foot away to hearing every single noise in the house, even better than the rest of us.
very encouraging
I am just 25years old and I’m scared of getting one. I don’t know how life will become for me.
Thanks for this! My sister has an implant and I've always wondered what the world sounds like to her.
DioneN Exactly why I’m here too
DioneN I have them and Ik what it sounds like!
I'm here for same reason
u should watch the movie the sound of metal
my sister too !
I have a cochlear implant, and the way they sound really depend on the person themselves too. Depending on how active your auditory nerve was before the implant plays a big factor. Since I went 20 years without mine being used, my CI only sounds like static. I can't make out voices, or any sounds at all really. I just can tell when sound is present.
My friend who lost her hearing says hers sounds like robotic sounds. Like the talking doll.
It really depends on who you are asking. It really does take a long time to learn to interpret sound with a CI.
It's a lot of association, if i know someone is knocking on the door and it sounds like static that is in parts, then I know it is the door and it takes my brain to learn to associate that. There is also auditory therapy that can help with learning to hear again.
The CI don't work for everyone either, some don't want them, and some it just doesn't end up working. And since you can't test them, you won't know until you have the surgery and have it activated.
CIs aren't some magic cure. They aren't like glasses in the slightest, or even hearing aids. They are expensive, take lots of time, involve a surgery, and take loads of work and practice. However, they can end up helping people quite a bit. I am still learning to hear with mine, as I can't make out hardly any specific sounds with mine, but I know with more training and wearing I will get more used to it and learn to hear better.
Thanks SciShow for bringing up this topic! I get asked this question lots and explain this a lot, but I love having it brought up.
If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask, I don't mind them at all. :D
hi, am considering getting a cochlear implant after 35 years of not hearing in one year. over time did your hearing experience improve?
Hello! I am 14, hard of hearing, and cannot hear from my left ear, I am planning to have this surgery during the summer. I had a question that maybe you could answer, would you recommend the cochlear implant? I’ve been in a rabbit hole of the internet and all the results either give me a sense of relief and others give me a feeling of anxiousness. I know you wrote this YEARS ago but I still just wanted to ask and see. I hope you are having a wonderful day/night!
Can you tell me pls cochlear implant reduce the tinnitus
I still don't know what it sounds like.
Tesseract Wolf idk how i can explain it but i guess its more like irl hearing (for me) someone dosent fit to well with inplants so they are hearing the sound wreid but in Norway im one of the best ones to hear with inplants.
SamDJayRob Gaming were you never able to hear?
It really depends on the person. To me it sounds like radio static. When there is sound happening the static gets louder. when it's quiet there is no static. But I just got mine so I haven't been trained fully yet.
Hi I have cochlear implants just wanted to tell you there is no specific sound people who where since they were born(like me) hear like a normal person but people who get it when they were 13 and up can hear normally and speak normally if the practice speech a lot and put the implants all day (I did go twice a week to speech therapy) but in the first year or first months it depends you don’t hear a straight sound you hear only kind of beeps (I know that because I got my right side implanted when I was 8) and when you get used to it you do an higher level of hearing and slowly slowly it goes higher and higher until you hear normally
Thank you for sharing your experience. It is very helpful to people like me who are considering the surgery for cochlear implants.
When I first got my hearing aids, what I found was really strange is that you are aware of the slight delay between the sound and the hearing aid (fractions of a second) but after an hour or so, that delay disappears. Your brain manages to sync everything up into a seamless sound.
It does mess up your perception of where sounds are coming from slightly, but the ability to hear things properly again far outweighs that problem.
One other thing you discover when you wear hearing aids for the first time, your clothes are REALLY noisy. Your brain soon learns to filter those noises out, but for the first day, you find yourself being aware of the sounds made when you touch things.
I have 2 cochlear implants after wearing hearing aids for most of my life. If you want to know what a cochlear implant sounds like, the answer is, it depends.
When they were first turned on, what I felt were vibrations that came from a spot just above my ear, NOT sound. After a while, it became more like sound, like electronic garbling. Then I was able to pick out a few sounds like for example, "s" and "sh" were some of first sounds I recognized. I gradually was able to recognize even more sounds.
Now, everything pretty much sounds the same as when I had hearing aids. Only sounds are clearer, and easier to understand.
Music is a bit different. Much of it sounds the same though I think it sounds a bit "flatter" then from what I remember. I usually can only tell a difference if it's a song that I've listened to a million times before the surgeries.
Cochlear implant sounds like “COHclear implant”, not “COCKlear implant”
She pronounced it correctly: dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/cochlea?q=Cochlear
No. The OED gives only the latter pronunciation. I suspect that what you have heard is a euphemism, like the odd pronunciation of ‘Uranus’ with stress on the first syllable.
They are both valid pronunciations.
Cochlea and Cochlear are two different words. Cochlea refers to part of the ear, while Cochlear is a brand name of one type of implant.
Emma West but at 1:12 she still pronounces it incorrectly. Idk if she is pronouncing cochlear correctly or not because you said it was the brand name, but for sure she is saying the word cochlea incorrectly. (Or at least how I learned it).
That might be really strange to experience and obviously not as colorful as natural hearing, but for people who have always been deaf, that's incredible. I'm really glad science has gotten far enough to even do that, and I hope to see it continue improving
“It’s like a talking doll that’s running low on batteries. “......... . . . .
or a drunk Chucky.
It does not sound like a talking doll running low on batteries... those were the early generations of implants
Rod Landaeta - Can you describe what the newer models sound like?
It depends on the sound processor more than the implant (because is easier to upgrade the sound processor than the implant as we don't want people getting into surgery all the time). But our recipients tell us it sounds a little like a recording of someone speaking on the phone. It also depends on how many year you have been hearing impaired.
Rod Landaeta - Thanks! Interesting description. That certainly is better quality of sound than a low-powered talking doll.
Or ur mom
I thought it was pronounced coke-lee-ur
you are correct. Not sure why it is being said wrong.
Jahaziel D. diet cokealear
Jahaziel D. Your right it is
Jahaziel D. It is
Her accent sounds American, though
_If anyone is interested, _*_I can record some sounds and filter them to sound like a Cochlear Implant._*
I have a special Vocoder (a type of synthesizer) which lets me limit the number (and width) of returned frequencies.
It certainly sounds strange, and as Olivia says, some people may need to train themselves to understand what they're hearing. But for those with an attuned ear (or rather, brain) it's not too hard to make out words and different sounds.
The way she says “cochlear” 😑
*makes a comparison to battery drained dolls*
*Doesn't play any audio so I have to guess what that sounds like*
Just imagine drunk chucky. In the most nightmarish way possible haha
Nope it doesn’t sound like that 😂 I have cochlear implants but it would be funny if they did
Mum was only discovered as hard of hearing/progressively deaf at age 16, during my early teens she was the within the first three people in Wales, UK to get this operation. She left it for YEARS not realising there had been advancements in the gadget that attaches to the implant, so only recently (just before Covid) she got the most recent device for her implant - the quality difference she says was drastically improved from her first. Mainly, these new models have Bluetooth capability - meaning she listens to youtube and netflix straight to the implant!
Also an experience as a family we had to adapt was giving her a minute or two to switch her implant device on for phone calls ect. To me shes my mum, and i dont see a real problem with her due to being so used to her using this implant - she still struggles around new people because of the way sound is recieved with the implant, so she uses a combination of lip reading and the the "sound" generated by the implant to understand people. Just thought id share it because only when i sit down to think about it, do i realise the massive benefit my mum has from this invention!
Woah, that's essentially a cybernetic implant that interfaces directly with external digital silicon-based technology! Cyberpunk 2020!
I’ve had a cochlear since July 2018!, I had no hearing in my right and less hearing in my left ear, its nice of this nice lady to share what the cochlear implant does to deaf people and what it sounds like when they have it on
Edit:my grammar sucks.
I think it would be great if you did a video on Tinnitus, Hyperacusis, Hearing loss, Auditory Hair Regeneration or Stem Cell Therapy and its progress. As a person who suffers from Tinnitus and Hyperacusis from acoustic trauma it would bring much closure and happiness to me and my fellow sufferers. Due to my inner ear damage I can never attend loud events or risk loud noise exposure in fear of a spike in my Tinnitus and Hyperacusis. People like me who suffer from these problems get cast out. It isn't like cancer where there is tons of awareness. It isn't like diabetes where there is effective treatment. Its all these inner ear problems that nearly 1/5 people suffer from. With no real effective treatment or cure. Many of the tinnitus, hyperacusis or Menieres suffers I know are just tired. They have no motivation to fight for awareness. It takes lots of energy for someone with NIHL to understand and hear people. It would bring me and many of my fellow sufferers joy to know that we aren't being ignored from the masses. Because everyone can be affected by acoustic trauma or inner ear related problems. Everyone who has ears and hearing can. Its much more common than one might think.
As a person who has moderate hearing lost in one ear and a cochlear in the other, my cochlear only picks up beeps clearly. For example, I can hear a fire alarm with my cochlear implant, but cannot without. When my phone is playing music, my cochlear can pick up the noise but not the "music" itself. It's like a... Muffled version of everything. Plus, with the cochlear implant, everything sounds much more clearer in my left ear. My cochlear can pick up the S, Sh, Ch, T, ect, sounds that my left ear cannot. Hope this helps.
Ok, Love the video, but i wanna add some extra info. I am training to be a British Sugn Language interpreter, we learn all about this.
1) there are audio "representations" on youtube, many are copyrighted, so cant be nicked and used in scishows videos. Go look them up if youre curious :)
2) these are "representations," each person with a Cochlear Implant interprets the signals differently. (think about someone stimulating your brain, you wont react the same as other people, brains are complicated as hell!!!)
3) If you get a cochlear implant, you loose ALL natural hearing in that ear. them sticking electrodes in your cochlear is brain surgery, and medicine in 2017 isnt that futuristic... yet. to get the electrodes in they basically destroy the other cells so you wont hear anything AT ALL if you take it off (like when swimming!)
4) Cochlear Implants run on batteries, they die, your hearing is gone! (well, till you charge it up!)
5) 90% of people get a Cochlear Implant one at a time. Why destroy any hearing (no matter how small) in both ears, if the person then either hates it or cant stand using them? You may as well try one first in your worse ear! Oh and they cost Thousands of pounds! (yes some people would rather be Deaf. Theres a whole culture behind it!)
6) A BAHA (Bone Anchored Hearing Aid) would do bugger all for alot of people who are eligible for CI's. A BAHA requires a tiny bit of hearing left, the vibrations in your skull need to be picked up by the hair cells in the cochlear, and then actually passed to the brain! so if the nerves are damaged or the hair cells are that bad, a BAHA wouldnt work. a CI would be the only option (other than sign language)
7) The best chance of sucessfully getting a cochlear implant to work for you is to actually get it before you are 5 years old! Kids brains have incredible plasticity! they adaapt to stuff so well!!! therefore getting it younger gives the kid a better chance at getting used to it than getting it at 17 or whatever. will take alot of getting used to at that age.
8) Ci's and hearing aids should be a suplimentary tool, to help visual cue's such as basic lip reading or sign language. I wouoldnt trust robot ears to help me cross a road without looking! but at least they would provide abit more input.
9) Parents who are hearing with a Deaf child will freak out,. they want their kid to be like them / "normal" and to be able to hear and talk and all that. but the problem is that slapping some CI's in wont actually be whats best for every kid. Its obviously a personal opinion, but people who use a sign language are just as inteligent as everyone else! Sometimes they even reject their CI's later in life and prefer sign language to spoken. its up to them. but its important for parents to a) research whats the best option for their lifestyle which the kid will grow up in, and b) learn some bloody sign language!!! your kid goes swimming? Their batteries die? They loose one of the several thousand pound devices??? they wont hear shit!!! how will you communicate to them if they cant lip read as they are so dependant on CI's?
Also, everyone should learn some sign language! Do it now! Open a new tab and search for "your country" sign language alphabet! eg "british sign language alphabet" or "American sign language alphabet" its fun, and trust me, in school you and your mates can talk across the room in silence no matter how far they sepperate you!!! Its like a secret code!!! ;) Also, as an adult, if youre in a night club, sign. screw shouting in your mates ears! talk to each other across the night club! So damn practical :D im a bad influence X'''D
Thanks for reading :)
I can barely speak the spoken lamguage of my country (lived here for about 12 months in total over the last 2 years) so that takes priority
But once spoken Dutch stops being a struggle I might give Dutch sign lamguage a go
My sister has a cochlear implant. I'm so glad you made this episode. She will hear you talk through it. Think on that!
GREAT video! I have hearing aids, and yes the world sounds “normal” to me, just louder. They’ve come a LONG way in terms of technology and processing speed. A relative had a cochlear implant, and I recall them asking me what sounds were, because it all sounded SO different from a hearing aid or their pre-hearing loss sound memories.
Thanks for not even trying to include a clip of what it might sound like, I just wasted 3 minutes.
I too would like to hear an approximation of what it sounds like.
The sound is more like irl from what i hear but i can hear some noices that the hearing ones can't for exaple bats they use ultrasonic waves but i can hear them.
I got a cochlear implant 2 months ago. The voices sound like Chipmunks (animation movie characters) or people talk with helium inhaled.
Music is no go unless it's beat/rhythm oriented but still pretty bad.
Dull sounds, background noises are pronounced way more.
In a quiet setting I can understand satisfactorily with concentration. With background noise, like fan, traffic, crowds, very difficult.
Hopefully more training and remapping of the device over the next several months will improve my hearing.
Unnecessarily hard emphasis on an incorrect pronunciation repeatedly, to a hilarious effect 😂
Whiners gonna whine.
Based on the fact that my mother in law has one and can’t hear anything still, I’d say whatever she hears in there sounds awful. She had full hearing most of her life, started losing it in her 60s. She tried regular hearing aids and they steadily got less and less effective as her hearing diminished. She broke down finally and went for the implant. You have to yell at her and she basically still has to pair that with lip reading to catch anything significant. She’s like 90-95% deaf with it turned off, 80% still deaf with it on. Like almost functionally useless sometimes.
Just as a correction, there are three ways to enhance hearing, not two. I should know, I have a titanium stapes in one ear, which made my hearing very tinny, but I can hear thanks to it. It's a permanent alternative to a hearing aid.
Tasha from Love Island S8 got me very curious about this so here I am. Fascinating stuff.
I can’t get over her calling it cocklier implants rather then cochlear
I always found it funny how hearing aids worked by literally just REPEATING SOUNDS BUT LOUDER AND DIRECTLY INTO YOUR EAR. It’s nice to hear that we’ve also invented a more high-tech device of similar function!
I am teaching English to an Italian girl with one of these implants. To make things worse, we need to meet on skype because of lockdowns.
I now understand how hard is is for her. And she’s not even doing badly!
does she use any form of sign language?
@@cutiepoodle No, she doesn’t. We manage although with some difficulty. I am impressed by this girl.
@@matteoboldizzoni9870 that's awesome! just curious. I recently started using ASL signs to help teach my friend a second language. When he was in Japan, if he forgot a japanese word he would do the ASL sign for it and that would help cue the japanese word because his brain linked the english word to the asl sign and then piggyback the japanese word on the sign instead of the english word... i don't know, it seems to be a learning hack that might develop into something more if I can stick with it :)
@@cutiepoodle I’m not surprised as it is known that linking abstract concepts like words to something physical can help to memorize it.. I have observed during my years of teaching that learning new words is easier when they are put in a significant context for the student, so used in a phrase that is related to their job or life. In the case of this particular student the biggest problem is that not being able hear well also prevents her from learning the correct pronunciation of the word, so I spend a lot of time with her repeating words and doing listening comprehensions. I wish I could do better but learning to speak a language necessarily passes through learning to understand (skype doesn’t help).
Studying how people learn languages is fascinating and in part linked to brain science which is equally fascinating and way too hard for me!
@@matteoboldizzoni9870 can you teach ME Italian on Skype? I thoroughly appreciate all that you shared in your reflections about teaching :)
I don’t have a cochlear implant, but rather a BAHS. So, I don’t know what a cochlear implant sounds like, but it is somewhat similar to a BAHS, and that sounds like you’re hearing through a microphone, since that’s pretty much what a BAHS is. I have unilateral hearing loss, and the world definitely sounds different when you can hear with both ears. I had never heard surround sound until I was 15, and it’s extremely overwhelming to my brain to be able to hear all around me because I hear everyone’s conversations.
Can you do an episode on the differences between a syndrome, a condition, and a disorder?
I think it would be possible for them to actually do it. Just process the sound the way a cochlear implant does it, then do a reverse fourier transform on the output to produce sound. That should create a set of signals in the ear of someone with normal hearing that are similar to the signals produced in the ear of someone with an implant.
My mother is profoundly hard of hearing, and was involved in the deaf community, so I always wondered what it sounded like having one.
Mom mother has had the Cochlear implants for over 12 years. Her hearing began to decrease since age 14. She’s 63 years old and the dr would test your hearing back then By holding their watch next to your ear and if you can hear it you’re hearing is fine. 😕. For some reason they never really tested different pitches and tones. Her hearing was said to be caused by Penicillin shots. The doctors back then would give the same amount of Penicillin to a 300 pound man as they would a five-year-old. Sometimes it doesn’t take much commonsense was used back in the day.
I️ knew about everything she said in that video yet still don’t know what it actually sounds like...
I'm hard of hearing, and after so many "simulations" of what a cochlear implant sounds like, I think I'd rather be deaf.
I'm most likely going to get a cochlear implant in the near future. Being deaf on one ear, I'll be able to compare the sounds. If I remember, I'll come back here and explain/describe it in as much detail as I can.
Do it, because she is way off.....
Did you get it
@@rozempire2843 Yeah, I did. I was super lucky because I had full speech understanding on day one and aced all the tests for comprehension of difficult sounds. Best comparison I can make is that it's like listening to someone having a conversation through a solid wood door. Somewhat metallic and muted, but with the sharp notes somewhat increased. It's bound to be different for everyone because everyone's different.
@@jrgenlervik9374 Was the surgery painful when they installed the cochlear implant to you?
@@donaldtrumpy5914 The surgery wasn't painful. I was up and walking almost as soon as I woke up. It was a bit painful for a few days afterwards and everything tasted like metal and a 9v battery. The worst part was the following two weeks when I still had congealed blood draining from my sinuses.
This video really needs subtitles so deaf people wanting to get an implant can get this info 🙏🏼
My favorite part about the implants is the look on people's faces when they see it's basically a giant magnet in your head.
I went from completely hearing for 43 years to totally deaf on one ear and got a cochlear implant. It's been a little more than 3 years and I can't say I could carry on conversation on the implanted ear alone. If I have to use the c. implanted ear to listen to others it would be like I am trying to hear them from under the water submerged. You can hear them but it would be quite hard to understand them. Very disappointed, actually. I read some comments below that some people could hear in natural sound. That's really awesome. But it doesn't happen to everybody.
do you train and do hearing exercises?
I agree. Breaking the narration audio into 24 bands could be easily done in a synth studio and would have increased the appeal of this segment by actually (sort of) answering the question.
They must have gotten better. My grandson got one at 7 months age as a clinical trial to see if younger was better, You can't tell he was ever deaf now unless you really pay attention. He can sing and can hear different tones. He speaks English and Tagalog now which is so cute. He speaks English, born and raised in south USA, but speaks it with a Filipino accent due to his mother. Just too cute.
When I first got my cochlear implant everything sounded exactly like a robot on helium. Everything sounded really high pitched, robotic, and, for the most part, exactly the same. Nothing sounded like I expected it to or like it used to. Running water sounded like a whirring machine. A person yelling sounded like a car horn. Not to mention I still had trouble locating sound, so not only would I hear this random robotic sound that I couldn't recognize, but I couldn't even figure out where it was coming from most of the time. I had to actively search for the sound and put two and two together and realize that was my friend next to me laughing and not a really strange bird coming at me from behind (that is a true story by the way). I even had this problem when sound was happening in front of me, because it didn't sound like that's where the sound was coming from. They're not kidding when they say you need to train your brain to learn to recognize sound again because you really do. Everything sounds completely different. After some time, you get better at recognizing sound, they tweak your settings to expand your range and make things sound more like they used to, and, if you grew up hearing, your brain associates the new way that something sounds and makes it sound like your brain remembers it. So eventually, running water actually does sound like running water again because your brain remembers what running water sounds like and makes the water sound like it used to. I still have trouble understanding speech sometimes, so I think I need to go back and do some more training even though I have had my cochlear implant for about 2 1/2 years. And I'm not one hundred percent there yet as there are still a lot of situations where I have trouble hearing, such as in restaurants, cars, and group settings. But, yeah. This is basically what having a cochlear implant sounds like.
I am hard of hearing and cannot hear from my left ear, I am planning to have this surgery during the summer. I had a questions, would you recommend the cochlear implant? I’ve been in a rabbit hole of the internet and all the results either give me a sense of relief and others give me a feeling of anxiousness. I know you wrote this YEARS ago but I still just wanted to ask and see.
@@_slayson_ Yes I absolutely recommend a cochlear implant! As long as you're a good candidate for it and have been hearing before, a cochlear implant is a really amazing tool to have. It's a lot clearer than a hearing aid and the technology is constantly improving. I've had mine now for a little over 6 years, and with just one, I'm able to understand about 70% of speech with background noise. It's definitely not perfect and I do still misunderstand in several situations, but I'm extremely thankful I have one. I'm getting a second one this June!
What company are you going with? I've heard good things about all of them. I chose Cochlear Americas. I actually still have my original processor which is a Nucleus 6. I'm trying to upgrade to the Nucleus 8, which I've heard has really good sound quality and is way smaller.
A few things I'll say: For most people, the surgery is only mildly painful, and they really only need Tylenol afterwards.
One of your accessories should be a microphone that helps you hear in noisy situations. For Cochlear Americas, some people choose the phone clip bc they take phone calls a lot, some ppl love the Tv streamer that makes tv really clear for you and still let's it play for everyone else. I love the Mini Mic 2+. It's a microphone that connects straight to your cochlear implant and helps you focus on the sound in front of you with lots of background noise. It's great for restaurants, cars, lectures (you can give it to the prof and sit down). You can also plug it into your phone and use it for phone calls or music with a cord, or into other phones like a house phone for clearer sound, it has an aux cord. You could even plug it into your tv if you wanted to, if it has an aux plug. It's really versatile. I think the old design is personally better than the new one, but oh well.
Do you have questions?
It takes a lot of focused practice to improve understanding and many mapping appointments to make the sound sound mostly normal and satisfying, but if you do practice with it, you will get there. Some people it takes a couple years, or 5 years, or 6 months in really lucky people. But that time will pass anyway, so there's no loss. It should never be painful to wear, ever. If it is, go back to your audiologist. Hopefully you're someone who will respond well to it! Most people do! I wish you the best. I joined a cochlear implant experiences group on Facebook. It's a great place for troubleshooting and questions before the procedure. Good luck!
I don't see anyone complaining about her voice this time, which is really nice. This and last episode show how good of a host she is for scishow, IMHO anyway. Looking forward to much more of her! :)
Hmmmm. As someone who’s single sided deaf. I wonder how true the tone is going to be for me. I have full hearing in one ear and fully deaf ( since birth ) in the other. My surgery date is March 18th. I’m hoping the audio doesn’t sound like you’re saying mainly because I can’t imagine my head getting used to normal sounds from one ear and completely different sounds from another.
Hi. I know this comment is old. Assuming and hoping your surgery went will, if you mind providing a brief follow up? Do you sense sounds differently from both ears? How was the recovery phase like? And you could give any advice to someone who is getting a cochlear implant in one ear but the other ear is completely normal what would it be?
@@Shadow_from_the_sun hello! Yes, my surgery went very well. Recovery for me was about 6 weeks. Pain wise I was only hurting for about 24/48 hours. Then very mild pain for a week or so. The scare was sensitive to the touch for about 6 months or so but healed up nicely. Most people can’t tell I have the scar so that’s good.
My hearing is very good in my normal ear. If not perfect. So the implants sound kinda bothers me. Yes, you can certainly tell the difference on which ear is playing what. And there are things I can do now that I couldn’t do before. Such as hearing people talking to me on the other side of my head. Which never happened before.
To be honest. If I could go back I’d probably skip surgery and just get normal hearing aids again because hearing aids sound 100-1 better than my implant does. It helps but it’s certainly not perfect.
I used to teach Introductory Psychology at university. As a frequent elective for other disciplines, I would end up with a fair number of engineering students, who would zone out for many portions of the course. What drew them in, however, was often my depiction of the structural mechanics of the cochlea. It is a simply amazing piece of mechanical design, that emulates wave pools and distributes frequency-sensitivity of hair cells in conjunction with the efficiency of acoustic transmission along the cochlea. Just how the shape of the cochlea evolved to provide both the range of frequencies heard, and the precision within that spectrum is a mystery that deserves unravelling.
One of the aspects of the neural connections in the ear that allow for more precise pitch detection is *lateral inhibition*: the tendency for strongly stimulated receptor cells to suppress/block the output of adjacent less-stimulated cells. I don't know if this property is either built in to the electronics of the implant, or somehow arrived at neurally within the recipient's ear.
Interesting. I always assumed they allowed them to hear normally. It was a nice feeling in the "turn on" videos imagining them experiencing what hearing people can, after not having experienced it before. It is still a medical and technological miracle that it allows them to recognize and interpret speech and other sounds when before they were in silence. I do hope the tech keeps improving. Who knows what we'll accomplish in the future. Very cool topic!
Brian it's normal sound after a while for the majority of people. Not saying y get everything I Hooe to use phone soon. Got an upgrade better than my old implant already. Not finished being switched on yet.could hear audiologist even when she had mask. Never could have done thatcwith my old implant she asked me random questions and I understood her
In greek κοχλίας (cochlias) means snail so that's why the coily organ is called cochlea
The way you say Cochlear and Cochlea makes me cringe tbh. It's pronounced more like "coke-lear"
No. She said it right.
Awesome video, I have 2 cochlear implants and they work great for me! Never heard Cochlea pronounced like that, thought you said something else 😳🤣
coch·le·a
ˈkōklēə,ˈkäklēə/
Not coc·hlea
Sorry. This peeved me😂
Poe.tay.toe pu.tah.toe
Different dialect
@@theperpetualprocrastinator9776 I was thinking the same thing, but if you do a search, you'll see that the pronunciation is pretty consistent, it's ˈkōklēə. You'd think with the amount of research they'd put into this video, they would've used the most widely used pronunciation.
Yeah, that drove me nuts
Ugh, so bad that I couldn’t even watch the video! ☹️
I can very clearly hear that she is saying it with 3 syllables, which according to you is the correct way. Perhaps, the problem isn't how she is saying it, but how you are hearing it.
I have profound hearing loss in my left ear and my aunt had complete hearing loss in the same ear 6 months after me. I still have 13% word recognition which isn't enough for a hearing aid to be beneficial and too much for the doctor to justify recommending a cochlear implant. My aunt however did get one. She still has many of the issues I have, particularly with word recognition in loud rooms. But her overall word recognition has increased over time and is something like 40% now. The technology definitely has room for improvement but it's much better than nothing, especially if you are deaf in both ears.
This makes sense. People have a hard time wrapping their heads around the fact that the human brain is essentially a computer, so it doesn't deal directly with any analog signals - audio or otherwise. The cochlear implant is not sending analog audio signals to the brain (like an amplifier to a speaker). It is sending digital pulses that attempt to replicate the same digital pulses that the little hairs in the cochlea generate in a healthy and functional hearing individual. The brain (like a computer) receives these pulses and interprets and assigns them to corresponding "data" on what that sound is. (Or more accurately, what that pulse represents - audio in this case.) This is why the brain must be "trained" (or programmed) to use the implants. I would imagine it is probably very similar to the process that healthy individuals go through when hearing sounds for the first time in infancy (even before birth.)
Keep in mind that when I say the brain must be "programmed" that I'm not talking about actual input coming from an external source (like a computer) ... but rather, WE (as individuals) write our own "programming" on-the-fly as we experience sensations via our senses. This is why people who have cochlear implants will tell you that what they hear sounds normal to them. The truth is, they're not lying - it IS normal to them. It doesn't 'sound' "electronicy" or "distorted".
BUT ... because they (cochlear implants) are limited by only having 24 'leads' vs the thousands of 'hairs' in a healthy cochlea, the frequency range and pitch distinction could (and likely do) suffer. However, this would not be manifested as 'distortion' in a wearer of a cochlear implant. Rather, it would simply be audio signals that they would not receive ... or, they would perceive them but not distinguish a high pitch from a low pitch (as a very rough example.)
In closing, when you really stop and think about it, it actually makes perfect sense. Regular healthy hearing people already have large disparities between what we think sounds 'good' and what we think sounds 'bad.' That's why one person loves one kind of music (or even one kind of musical instrument) while another person hates that kind of music (or that instrument.) I'm hearing impaired (have worn hearing aids for about 32 years now - and I'm 37). I absolutely love listening to music. But, the music that is most pleasing to me are ballads and .... "sappy" kinds of music. They just sound good to me. I have a very hard time understanding vocals in music, but hearing certain people's voices mixing with the sounds of the instruments I really like. Consequently, that's why I don't care much for rap music or heavy metal. I feel like a lot of those music types are centered around understanding what the person is saying, and since I can't do that ... the mixture of instruments + vocals doesn't sound appealing to me. (In some, but not all, cases.)
Sorry for the way-too-long comment ... but this is how I wrapped my brain around trying to understand what a person with a cochlear implant 'hears' and I thought it might be helpful to someone else out there.
I've had a cochlear implant since I was 18 months old, I'm 24 now and I can hear everything with perfect clarity. I had a second one when I was about ten years old and that one sounds more like what the video describes.
Who else is hear because they watched Sound Of Metal?
Me
Me too
I've been recommended this video like 20 times in the past week. I feel CZcams knows something I don't about how soon I'm gonna lose my hearing 😅
Im kinda sad there was no audio. I know litterally nothing, other than this video, about this kinda stuff but it converts sound to electrical pulses right? And speakers convert electrical pulses into sound? Why not attach the output of the implant to a speaker and have it play the 12 or so channels that the mic picks up? Or just use the implant like a microphone to record audio? Its probably way more complicated than that (otherwise it'd have been done before) but it seems to be possible right?
the output of the implant is nothing like current used in speaker. The only purpose of one of the 12 emeters of the implant is to stimulate neurones. But I think I understand what your tryng to say. why not just "play" the sound of the frequencies targeted by the emeters of the implant ? I think it just cant be done acuratly because the emeters can vary in place inside the cochlea. But they could have try something like that just to give a rought idea of the sounds.
I'm as disapointed as you, they did not answer the question at all, but only expained what a choclear implat is and how it works...
Because that's not the kind of electrical signals it produces. The brain is not a loudspeaker, so it's not taking in signals to convert back to sound. It's like trying to plug your internet connection into a speaker while streaming music, and expecting to hear the sound. I guess the only people who would be able to describe it are those who have had normal hearing and then lost it completely.
Based on their description, I suspect it would be best approximated by an mp3 with really low bandwidth, like 5 kpbs or even less. mp3 compress by picking out the loudest frequencies and ditching their neighbors. The next best choice is finding the specs and using an equalizer to pick out the specific frequencies. Given that they only have 12 frequency channels, I suspect they have been optimized for speech and not music or hazards. So I don't know what typical specs are.
Because your ears and brain are part of the process. It's like trying to describe a color.
Watch this video /watch?v=1dhTWVMcpC4
The sound can change a little bit for each recipient... but it will give you a good idea.
I have a friend with a cochlear implant who is in marching band. She's not that good at playing trumpet but she does her best and I'm proud of her
It's pronounced Coke-lear
Will Hudson Some many people claim that their pronunciation is correct, even though it isn't...
dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/cochlea?q=Cochlear
Go ahead and search for it on google. There are numerous examples of both pronunciations.
Phil P, dictionaries usually do not include the vernacular speech. For example, your Cambridge dictionary doesn't include other vernacular speech into it's pronunciation, as the Merriam does include the other. Dictionaries aren't sources, they're a guideline, and assuming that with my search results, you had to dig a long way to get to your way of pronouncing cochlear.
Sick burn
Boo for not including any audio samples at all. However, many of the simulations on CZcams don't really convey the experience of using an implant. Often the sounds played are just of the pre-processing done on the audio before it is divided among the electrodes and don't take into account the crude way the signal will be delivered to segments of the cochlea. Basically, expect voices to sound like they're being spoken by robot talking through a cheap walkie talkie. Music is generally reduced to static although the beat is usually readily apparent.
Really interesting. Love you guys
That doll losing a battery was similar to what my aunt said for why she had her cochlear in one ear permanently turned off. She couldn't make out sounds in that ear no matter how hard she tried to train her brain. She said it was like constantly hearing a "malfunctioning robot in a different language" constantly. Her other ear she kept it turned on as that ear she was able to adjust her brain to sound, though she still has to turn it off from time to time as her brain can't handle certain sounds. Especially if she's feeling sick.
even the slightest chance for deaf people to be able to hear again is fantastic! Same for blind or mute people
I have a friend who’s been completely deaf all her life and has cochlear implants and I’ve always wondered what it sounded like to her
Shouldn't it at least be possible to put a sound through the formulas and generate the audio corresponding to the electric signals?
Yes, it is possible and we have done it. But it is misleading as there are minor differences between each people. What someone hears as rubbish others might pick it up quite nicely. To compensate for this the recipient needs to go to a fitting session (every year or six months) to fine tune the mapping of frequencies to the range your implant can do.
That level of work also kills battery life
Cochlear implants exist and yet we still haven't found a way to power remotes without leaky batteries.
Usually when we want to know how it sounds like, we'd like to hear it rather than only have an explanation about it.
Im ASL as a hobby and idk why but I always wondered what people with hearing aids hear.
I became profoundly deaf in my right ear about a year and a half ago, apparently due to my bout with COVID as it happened concurrently. Yesterday, January 5, 2022, I had my cochlear implant turned on for the first time. At this point I am very disappointed as the sound quality is nothing short of horrible. I was expecting a little better initially. I understand I should expect better results as time goes on and my brain adapts to the new sound. It does pick up even very faint sounds such as a clock ticking across the room but every sound sounds very high-pitched and shrill, almost like hearing glass breaking constantly unless the environment is quiet. All sounds through the cochlear implant seem to be an octave above the actual sound. Hearing and understanding speech is very difficult and requires much concentration. It sounds high-pitched and without any emotion, again shrill, distorted and robotic but I can hear it modulating. It's the modulation which gives, besides the context, the greatest clue as to what is being said. I invested a lot into this device, monetarily, emotionally and physically; therefore, I intend to work hard in the coming months/years the greatest success with it.
Hi Richard, can you give us an update on your cochlear implant? Has your situation improved? Also, did you try a CROS hearing aid before getting the implant?
The fact that it is a stimulus unlike the other four senses is why it overwhelms people.
This was an interesting topic, thanks for covering a little about it. I've been curious about cochlear implants ever since my cousin got one put in after a bad long-term ear infection took the hearing from one side. It sounds extra odd for him because he has one normally functioning ear and one with an implant so his sound is kind of half and half.
I mean...going from deaf to understanding speech is like night and day and almost miraculous tbh
I had cochlear implant on 24 November 2019
Raman Tiwari how has that been for you ? Can you hear ?
as someone who is deaf I can confirm all of this. every now and then i get my implants reprogrammed, sometimes it completely changes how i hear, it tricks my brain to talk differently to sound right to myself. after a day though, i get used to it. trying to listen to people in a crowd is a nightmare.
I've had it since i was 2, one of the few people to get it at such a young age at the time (2002)
This is a super click bait title. If it'd been "How Do Cochlear Implants Work?", you'd be spot on. Instead, you went on and on about how they work, but all you said about how they sound is, "It's impossible for us to simulate it, so just forget about it."
Oh, and people actually have simulated the sound. Jump to 3:55 on this video: czcams.com/video/1dhTWVMcpC4/video.html
my son is a bilateral implanted child, if you would listen to him you wouldn't even notice he is a deaf person even though without the implants he is, completely.
One of my college professors got a cochlear implant while I was in his classes. He suffered from Meiners, and had gone deaf gradually. He described it about the same, tinny and devoid of pitch, like a monotone computer voice. While he was getting used to it, we were allowed to text him questions during a lecture if we couldn't get his attention otherwise.
good question, good explanation, but I am sure you could have isolated 12 frequencies and replicated the sound for us to hear as an example...
It's pronounced cOchlear.
Actually, you can't hear if you're a totally deaf, but you can feel sounds. I mean, I'm totally deaf from the right ear due to nerve damage. But when they do a hearing test with the bip sound. I can feel it on my right side when they crank the volume crazy loud... My skin feel the energy of the sound.
As someone who has trouble with Olivia’s presentation style before I have to say she has calmed down her movements greatly. Well done!
I wore hearing aids for 27 years, since I was 2 years old.
I'm waiting for a cochlear implant and I hope they give a better experience than hearing aids
Now watching “A silent voice” will hurt even more ...😢
She had hearing aids.
Damage to the hairs in the cochlea are one of the causes of tinnitus. The broken hairs move even when there aren't vibration and the electrical signals this movement creates are what causes the brain to hear the tinnitus.
How do you make a video about something all the while mispronouncing it? My god, it's pronounced "koe-klee-er."
S P THANK YOU!!!!
Shes pronouncing it correctly for where i live :P accents are a pain in the ass eh? ;)
S P no, she pronounced it right! Maybe it’s just coz I’m British, but over on this side of the pond (sorry, I’m just assuming here that you’re American) that’s how we say it ..... just with a British accent! We all have different ways of talking, life would be boring if we were all the same, wouldn’t it?
She pronounced it correctly: dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/cochlea?q=Cochlear
uyiiko its sounds like she is saying cock the whole video.
That's a gross generalization. I've never heard anything like "a talking doll that’s running low on batteries. “ I'm bimodally implanted. (2 implants). I hear & play music fine & can hear better than many people my age (62). They do sound "robotic" at first, for want of a better term. But that quickly improved in my case. I went from scores of less than 10% understanding of speech to over 90% in both ears separately and together. I can hear things I haven't heard since I started losing my hearing 25 years ago. I was ready to stop working until I had these done, as I use the phone and Internet (online meetings with groups of people) constantly. I use Bluetooth to my iPhone and hear in both ears as if I was wearing headphones. Now I have very few issues, and encourage people to call me as opposed to my previous "text or email me please." The benefits of this technology far outweigh the negatives, and hearing at a high level is infinitely preferable to not hearing well.