4 ms·

Cochlear implants do not "restore hearing" but they do allow people who are completely deaf to sense sound well enough to understand speech. That's a huge chan

Cochlear implants do not "restore hearing" but they do allow people who are completely deaf to sense sound well enough to understand speech. That's a huge change in a deaf person's life.

canada_dry 6y ago
> to sense sound well enough My understanding is that it's like a low-sighted person being able to see contrasts and outlines of things. It's enough to differentiate things, but significantly less than the detail of regular ability.
- jonathanlb 6y ago
  That could be for Deaf people. I'm a cochlear implant user, having been hearing impaired most of my life. Because I know what things sound like, I have an advantage over Deaf users of CIs. Thus, for me, hearing is like the difference between a RAW image or the same image in JPEG with heavy artifacting, or like seeing something in 60fps- you know what you're sensing, but it's just off a little, but still much better than sensing nothing or very little at all.
- noisem4ker 6y ago
  There are several simulators on the Internet, so you can hear what it sounds like.
whjohnson37 6y ago
Cochlear implant user here - they completely changed the arc of my life. I lost my hearing when I was 12 and was deaf for 15 years, so I do have some sense of what normal hearing is like. Sound quality is pretty good in the speech-level frequencies but degrades when you move away from that range (music sounds worse than I remember). That being said, I score in the 90%+ percentile for speech recognition and am able to talk on the phone with no problems. There's no telling where I would be without my cochlear implants, but they truly have provided me a second chance at life. I got married, went to a great graduate program, and have a high paying, fulfilling job - all products of being able to communicate effectively. Communication underpins fulfillment and self-worth. Any product that helps those in need communicate better is a net positive.
- PedroBatista 6y ago
  Music sounds worse today even for people with perfect hearing.. :)

Cochlear implants do not "restore hearing" but they do allow people who are completely deaf to sense sound well enough to understand speech. That's a huge change in a deaf person's life.

canada_dry 6y ago

> to sense sound well enough My understanding is that it's like a low-sighted person being able to see contrasts and outlines of things. It's enough to differentiate things, but significantly less than the detail of regular ability.

jonathanlb 6y ago
That could be for Deaf people. I'm a cochlear implant user, having been hearing impaired most of my life. Because I know what things sound like, I have an advantage over Deaf users of CIs. Thus, for me, hearing is like the difference between a RAW image or the same image in JPEG with heavy artifacting, or like seeing something in 60fps- you know what you're sensing, but it's just off a little, but still much better than sensing nothing or very little at all.
noisem4ker 6y ago
There are several simulators on the Internet, so you can hear what it sounds like.

whjohnson37 6y ago

Cochlear implant user here - they completely changed the arc of my life. I lost my hearing when I was 12 and was deaf for 15 years, so I do have some sense of what normal hearing is like. Sound quality is pretty good in the speech-level frequencies but degrades when you move away from that range (music sounds worse than I remember). That being said, I score in the 90%+ percentile for speech recognition and am able to talk on the phone with no problems. There's no telling where I would be without my cochlear implants, but they truly have provided me a second chance at life. I got married, went to a great graduate program, and have a high paying, fulfilling job - all products of being able to communicate effectively. Communication underpins fulfillment and self-worth. Any product that helps those in need communicate better is a net positive.

PedroBatista 6y ago
Music sounds worse today even for people with perfect hearing.. :)