The discussion centers on the experience of a cochlear implant recipient who underwent surgery to improve hearing through a device that interfaces with the auditory nerve. The implant, which utilizes 16 electrodes, initially produced distorted sounds, but over time, the user adapted to interpret these signals effectively. Despite significant improvements in everyday hearing, music quality remained subpar, highlighting the limitations of current cochlear technology. The user expressed a desire to maximize the implant's potential, noting that only 5-10% of its hardware capacity was utilized, and emphasized the ongoing advancements in cochlear implant software as researchers continue to refine auditory science.
PREREQUISITESIndividuals interested in auditory technology, cochlear implant users, audiologists, and researchers in the field of cybernetics and sensory prosthetics.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.11/bolero.htmlIn early September, the surgeon drilled a tunnel through an inch and a half of bone behind my left ear and inserted the 16 electrodes along the auditory nerve fibers in my cochlea. He hollowed a well in my skull about the size of three stacked quarters and snapped in the implant.
When the device was turned on a month after surgery, the first sentence I heard sounded like "Zzzzzz szz szvizzz ur brfzzzzzz?" My brain gradually learned how to interpret the alien signal. Before long, "Zzzzzz szz szvizzz ur brfzzzzzz?" became "What did you have for breakfast?" After months of practice, I could use the telephone again, even converse in loud bars and cafeterias. In many ways, my hearing was better than it had ever been. Except when I listened to music.
I could hear the drums of Boléro just fine. But the other instruments were flat and dull. The flutes and soprano saxophones sounded as though someone had clapped pillows over them. The oboes and violins had become groans. It was like walking color-blind through a Paul Klee exhibit. I played Boléro again and again, hoping that practice would bring it, too, back to life. It didn't.
The implant was embedded in my head; it wasn't some flawed hearing aid I could just send back. But it was a computer. Which meant that, at least in theory, its effectiveness was limited only by the ingenuity of software engineers. As researchers learn more about how the ear works, they continually revise cochlear implant software. Users await new releases with all the anticipation of Apple zealots lining up for the latest Mac OS.
About a year after I received the implant, I asked one implant engineer how much of the device's hardware capacity was being used. "Five percent, maybe." He shrugged. "Ten, tops."
I was determined to use that other 90 percent. I set out on a crusade to explore the edges of auditory science. For two years tugging on the sleeves of scientists and engineers around the country, offering myself as a guinea pig for their experiments. I wanted to hear Boléro again.