What a Cochlear Implant sounds like

[@DJKrowbarKE]

As an Audio Engineer.... I feel for the younger lady looking for terminology that she has never used before. Thanks for the video.

[@urphakeandgey6308]

Yeah, I always find "laymen" descriptions of audio effects very interesting because they immediately say things like "it sounds like it's playing through a wall" when all I hear immediately is "low pass filter." Laymen also confuse reverb and delay a lot. They're both just "echo" to them.

[@DJKrowbarKE]

@@urphakeandgey6308 I agree with you 100%

[@ian_b]

I feel like she's trying to describe phase effects.

[@c.a.marsupial.1282]

I was thinking they really need a Audi engineer who could ask the right questions. Do you think you could have understood what she was trying to say. Talking through a brick wall turns out to be muffled in my opinion.

[@lorenmorgan1931]

Yeah I am pretty certain she is asking for a bit crusher to drop it down to 6bits with dither. At least that is what I assume she is looking for.

[@katiekawaii]

I'm super impressed with her ability to describe her own sensory experience. That is such a hard thing to do. As soon as she used the wall analogy, I knew exactly what she meant.

[@omgtkseth]

I was about to say the opposite. I bet she has no experience in audio editing or music playing. She has no lexicon...

[@catcat3964]

It was just muffled, that’s all she needed to say.

[@monad_tcp]

that didn't look hard, look like the test eye doctor do to you to give you glass prescription

[@nonachyourbusiness1164]

@@omgtkseth No, she has innate ability. That's to me a lot more impressive as she doesn't have the exact words but is still able to describe it

[@EnriquePage91]

Plus she mentions white noise and the final effect has no white noise on it. This is probably a mistake on the person showing the sounds as apparently cochlear implants consist of 12 “channels” (0 or 1 per channel essentially) that allow you to “read” sounds like a computer ( very broad analogy). White noise on the background might sound a lot like the quantization on the auditory frequencies your perceive with an implant (think of a broken radio changing pitch all of a sudden for example, or the “broken toy” analogy many people talk about). IMO she definitely explained herself well. So well in fact, that it was the person playing the audio and playing with the equalizer which did not manage to introduce that “white noise” feel she was talking about. In the end however, she probably got the band pass right and that’s probably why the girl was like “that’s it!”, but it makes no sense that the effect she says is “right” has a flanger on it. This makes no sense as flangers are very slight pitch shifting Audio effects, however when taken to the extreme (not the case here) they might sound a bit robotic (probably why the demonstrator decided to use it as an effect). If she had lowered the bits on the last demo to 12 bits, as in as many channels as the cochlear implant has, she probably would have said it was an even more accurate depiction of it (slightly more robotic, like the feel of a a “lofi” melody).

[@EmeraldKelsi]

I lost it when she went "NO!" at the beginning lol

[@victoriasampey8380]

@BEANSSSSSS ikr i would be terrified if i would have to hear that

[@Borboeygmus]

lmaaoooooo yes it's terrifying

[@moorpmoorp]

Borg

[@dion789]

The first one sounded like it belongs in a horror movie.

[@hayleyscomet3447]

Dion7 first one scared the shit out of me.

[@fluteloopsyd]

Papyrus Senpai Same!😂😂😂

[@vlia1918]

I got so scared

[@colalightyear7859]

its the borg, of course its scary

[@natashawigley5552]

If you've ever listened to the narration for The Silence Experiment, it sounded exactly like the mutant voices out of that.

[@ElliLavender]

Cochlear implants are an absolutely fascinating piece of technology and this sounds a lot closer to normal human speach than I thought it would

[@ophello]

*speech

[@WorthlessDeadEnd]

Lou Ferrigno said it sounded like beeps from a Star Wars movie (I'm assuming he was referring to R2-D2 or BB-8).

[@barbaravanriemsdijk8440]

From my own experience it's entirely within the scope of a CI to provide hearing which sounds completely normal.

[@WLS_Churchill]

@@WorthlessDeadEnd during the activation...

[@bio2020]

why are they fascinating? it's all existing technology that you are already familiar with in other electronic devices.

[@thompsonmatthew]

Sun status [] Not finally shining [X] Finally shining

[@megangonzaga]

This made me LOL

[@nikkinicole4990]

The first one was so damn scary even the girl was like NOO

[@diplamatikjuan3595]

Yeah, if everyone sounded like that to me, I'd live by myself

[@Artybodydoubling]

The sun is finally shining

[@Xevailo]

Nice day for fishing, ain't it?

[@agrobabb4943]

@@Xevailo Didn't expect a random vldl reference here

[@davemitchell116]

Extraordinary! I wonder if somewhere there is a professional audio engineer (or former engineer) who has normal hearing in one ear and an implant in the other. Such a trained technician (if he or she could be found) would give an enormous boost to cochlear research.

[@ThreeLetters3]

Dave Mitchell probably is and if there isn't, someone could purposely damage their hearing and do that

[@EmergencyTemporalShift]

Nah, you don't NEED dammaged hearing to install the implant.

[@taz874]

im sure theres many people who had natural hearing then lost it and now have a CI

[@xenontesla122]

MattGaming+ I really doubt that there’s an audio engineer who’s willing to damage their ears just to find out what it sound like. Audio engineers love sound. To have their hearing degraded would be a nightmare.

[@meowzerus]

The biggest struggle is processing the sound in the environment and converting that into signals for the brain to interpret. This needs to exist on your head running off of battery power. Hopefully technology keeps scaling to the point where that isn't an issue anymore.

[@NoThrottle]

Scishow didn't give us an example so i came here edit: People really finding this comment 2 years later so i fixed the typo (cam -> came) edit 2: I came across this comment in my notifs 2 years later (at which i said I would put an apostrophe in "didnt")

[@Dujuan_Thomas]

Omg same

[@NoThrottle]

Damn i forgot this comment existed

[@geminisfl]

SAME!

[@sarahgruner7711]

Same here!

[@lotusdynasty4712]

Same!

[@shaenj]

I have one cochlear implant and hoping for another. I went profoundly deaf at 50. haha..my daughter cried when I first heard again. It was easer for me being able to hear so long. It's much harder for the First Hearers. They are VERY shocked, some tear it off. But not for long. The implant is still wonderful to me, it has made my life SO much better.

[@ivyedan7183]

I freaked out the first time I heard...there were so many times I was terrified. I still get scared of lots of sounds even now.😊

[@SarafinaSummers]

I used to have a friend who wore these bilaterally. Having somewhat normal hearing and a seizure disorder triggered by sound, I was curious as to how this sounds. This is awesome. Thank you, friend, for showing us how this sounds!

[@warmcozy]

The final choice is played at 3:55.

[@LuckyElement7]

warmcozy thank you!

[@300076379]

Thank you

[@crixi__]

This takes all the fun off it...

[@justahker3988]

The 's' sounds were totally obliterated. Couldn't make out the phrase until I went back and heard the original.

[@whiteribbonman1]

+warmcozy I am SO glad I do NOT read comments first. You take all of the excitement and suspense out of the experience.

[@Borna909]

I must have watched hundreds of cochlear implant videos. None were as helpful as this one. As a single-sided deaf person, I cannot adequately express my gratitude. However, I am thankful in this simple way. The sun is finally shining!!!

[@aeon5566]

So it kind of sounds like a muffled more machinelike voice, but definitely not as robotic as I thought it would. Sounds pretty good to be honest. Wonder how it works with conveying emotion. How it works with pitch and such.

[@SarafinaSummers]

I want to hear how it sounds with music. I've been told by a user that it sucks for music, that it sounds like electronic noise.

[@farika_deaf2003]

it depends for every deaf person with cochlear implant for me it sounds like the cosest at 3:09 ...

[@lemonylimey]

@@SarafinaSummers Doesn't sound that way at all for me.

[@cc_snipergirl]

​@@SarafinaSummersI think the implants have improved significantly over the last handful of years. Last time I saw one of these videos, the sound was extremely robotic. Closer to dialup noise than the original sound. But that video was several years ago

[@bryede]

Well, we're hearing the processed audio before it gets to the implant, so we can't know how it's actually sounding in the patient's ear.

[@MrSir-hk9qc]

When he said, “The sun is finally shining”, **that hit deep**

[@MightyElemental]

It's incredible these implants exist, but I had no idea how limited the frequency range was

[@katho8472]

My thought too! So much high frequency missing. If only one could get it up to 4kHz or so...

[@handsdowntoo7150]

​@@katho8472From what i've read about cochlear implants, it IS possible to add more frequencies but due to technology limitations (and the way cochlear implants work) it isnt beneficial for the patient. The implants produce a crude interpretation of human hearing within a very limited range, so adding more frequencies tends to flood the patient with too much noise making it impossible for the implants/brain to interpret sounds as anything coherent.

[@aishahshamsul8642]

Because each section of the cochlea responds to a specific frequency and the cochlear implant electrodes cannot be fully inserted into the cochlea. Up to 1½ turn instead of 2½.

[@mondaytuesday1202]

It's sooo hard to describe sounds. She does really well.

[@HobbyOrganist]

My vet was always very deaf, and it was difficult to communicate with his,and much had to go thru the receptionist or someone else, but then he got the implants and could actually answer the telephone when I called! Mom taught sign language to the deaf in the LA school district for over 20 years, I remember she told me how people made assumptions about lip reading that were wrong, basically a person who never had hearing cant possible know what the sounds being mouthed by someone speaking SOUND like, so they can't connect a sound to the way your lips move.

[@MINDYWAAAA]

awh!!

[@laurelzimmer6723]

First time listening, everyone sounded like Donald Duck! After a couple of hours and some program tweaks, my parents started to sound like I remembered. Great moment! It took several months for my brain to adapt and learn to interpret everything that I was hearing, but my family's voices started sounding just like they used to within a few days. I went through a couple of years of frequent reprogramming of my "map", because my hearing changed every few months.

[@TheAkashicTraveller]

Control over the processor would be a must have for me if I ever end up deaf and getting one.

[@namangujarathi2737]

at what age you got the implant?

[@jbird1012]

That's really all I want. To hear my mom's voice again.

[@LuckyBadger]

I know this reply is from 4 years ago, but has the technology improved for you? Can you hear words distinctly? I have progressive hearing loss, and everything sounds muffled to me. With hearing aids, things just sound muffled, but louder. I still can't make out a lot of what people are saying and it's very frustrating. I'm trying to decide what to do next. I'm 56 now. Do you think I'm too old?

[@fireballxl-5748]

@@LuckyBadger You're definitely not too old. Your hearing loss will progress and (IMO) having it done when you can still hear a little more than a bit will aid in returning to your "normal" hearing more quickly. And you likely should do only one ear and "match" it up with your other as best as you can. Then get the second implant for the other ear and match that to the new implant in opposite ear. Seems a great time to get it done. BUT>>> be sure you want to live with no hearing at all (if you do both ears) when your implants are not turned on and it's at night in your home or apartment. Might be a good idea to have a dog. Anyway, consult a couple good doctors and stay safe.

[@hicknopunk]

Finally, a non clickbait on this!

[@watermain48]

I'm glad I wasn't having to make those choices. She did really well at describing her perceptions.

[@origamiSnow]

This is really cool, like they're working together to paint an image of sound!

[@shania9528]

Nice analogy :)

[@NYJYIK]

A lot of misinformed people. The "robot" voice is not permanent and people begin to sound natural as your brain adjusts to the implant and you keep working with your doctor. Im currently going through this and its a long process... BTW that doctor is beautiful.

[@ciaociaobb]

So are the people’s voices still the same like before you did the implant ? I’m very nervous and feel really depressed

[@NYJYIK]

@@ciaociaobb They sound completely normal.

[@grbradsk]

I'd say a complete neural reoganization of the brain takes about 18 months. I got roaring tinnitus about 5 years ago. It was very depressing at first and it absolutely rivited my attention, I could think of nothing else but the constant screech. But I decided to completely ignore it -- no hoping it would get better, no wishing it wasn't there, just complete acceptance/ignoring it. After about 18 months I realized that I mostly wasn't hearing it at all. Sometimes because it wasn't there, but often because I just couldn't pay attention to it -- like the traffic outside or your refrigerator fan. Sure, you could force yourself to hear the traffic outside, but in half a minute, you'll forget and it's gone. I'm guessing that's about the time scale of full auditory cortex reorganization.

[@georgia673]

@@grbradsk That's so interesting. Thanks for sharing

[@theninja4137]

It also depends a lot from person to person, from what Ive been told Some get to the level where it feels almost normal, others can never get to the level where they can understand speech

[@KurtBob]

I hope she grows up to be an Audiologist. The technology that will be at her fingertips in her college years will be amazing, and to have one good ear and one cochlear implant, she could really make it perfect!!!! How cool is that technology, thank you for sharing your process! that was really cool!

[@bobdawkins7473]

Not quite at the Cochlear stage yet, but maybe in years to come I'll need some extra support too. Hearing aids get me through most situations enough for now. Looks very successful from what I've witnessed with others. On a side note this hearing specialist is Godly!

[@lindayoder8003]

What about music??

[@Alec_Collins78]

So, she's using her "good" ear to tell the other lady what her deaf ear hears when she uses her implant?

[@tezer2d]

read the description guys

[@Alec_Collins78]

Tesser 4D Read it. Most implants, according to every other example I've heard, sound nowhere near as good as that.

[@Schule04]

Newer implants are apparently a lot better than the 10+ year old simulations you can find online, and the final audio quality depends on the individual.

[@rich1051414]

My neice watched this and she was confused. She said the last two clips sound identical. She has a modern cochlear implant, installed last year.

[@jdt3556]

@@rich1051414 hi! May I ask if can your niece still hear music naturally? Because with hearing aids, pianos, flutes, organs or giitar dont sound natural to me.

[@fireballxl-5748]

This was fantastic! Matching the hearing right and left to sound with the exact frequency response in the ear through to the brain. These implants are a great blessing. Thank God for them and the researchers and the doctors, nurses, etc.

[@FirstLastOne]

God had nothing to do with it. Nothing can NOT educate.

[@Divine_R]

@@FirstLastOneCringe materialist🤣

[@DonnaChamberson]

Thank God for Jesus.

[@yanikb.1312]

god made her deaf

[@Jacob-gj8hz]

​@@DonnaChambersonAmen. I don't understand the hate.

[@butth3ad]

i love the technicians patience and adaptability

[@sesesolomon]

Whos here after watching “sound of metal” with riz ahmed

[@tompratticus8890]

Me too

[@TheValCapGroup]

this sounds sooo much better then they made it seem like in the film

[@garrettation]

@@TheValCapGroup From what I understand, it's different for everyone. I believe many people have to train their brain when they first receive the cochlear implant and it can take quite some time, around a year for some people. So it's very possible someone would experience it how Ruben did. I don't have an implant myself, so this is only what I know from what I've read.

[@przemyslaw_polak_93]

Lol me too

[@jasonbladzinski5336]

Yup, definitely me.

[@StefenHudson]

When my implant was first switched on, voices sounded super high-pitched and tiny. The sound effect of broken glass had a sort of watery effect to it. Music sounded really interesting. As time went on, voices had a sort of slight double pitch quality to them. Eventually things started sounding normal. Also, what in the world do you do to get the effect for the first one? That was freaky.

[@Reubachi]

Literally the borg from Star Trek sound 😂

[@Thurston86]

@@ReubachiResistance is futile.

[@graysonrogers-barnes6302]

That's honestly so cool.

[@RennieAsh]

Some kind of modulation, maybe by noise?

[@Bapuji42]

I'm fascinated by this. Had you been able to hear previously? If not, how did you have any reference point to compare what you were hearing to? e.g. broken glass, etc.

[@ChadLorwick]

A cochlear implant receives sound from the outside environment, processes it, and sends small electric currents near the auditory nerve. These electric currents activate the nerve, which then sends a signal to the brain. The brain learns to recognize this signal and the person experiences this as "hearing". This is just amazing to me. I used to think it was like a hearing aid but really this is essentially using a program to interface with your auditory nerve through electrical impulses which your brain then processes into sound... Which is just amazing. Now I am wondering how calibration is done and how the received audio is manipulated and how the nerve is eventually artificially stimulated. I thought the field of bio-electrical engineering is fascinating as it essentially combines two very difficult fields into one. I wonder how many double PhD's worked on the development of this device. Side note I can only imagine how it affects your overall balance when your ears do not really hear the same. After getting one of these implants is balance affected in patients? or is your balance entirely reliant on other components of the ear unrelated to hearing?

[@antonliakhovitch8306]

I can answer the last one (because I googled it, but also I know which terms to look up and not everyone does) The vestibular system (which provides balance) uses the same type of sensor cells that the auditory system does, so it's pretty common for people who are deaf from birth to also have balance problems. However, those sensors are physically located in a different place from where the hearing happens, so a cochlear implant generally won't affect them.

[@paulj0557tonehead]

The cochlea must be very sensitive trebly because the one she chose has the highs and low frequencies virtually removed. They really should allow the recipient of the implant to play with a simple knob or slide controlled PARAMETRIC EQ until it sounds right.

[@DiThi]

It's not just parametric EQ, it should also have something to displace/stretch frequencies up and down. I guess they already do something like that in the set up stage. Also the limitation may also be caused by the hardware which may be removing those frequencies on purpose because they're just noise when misinterpreted as other frequencies.

[@Partyfreaker]

I have a theory about why she perceives edited sounds with a lower frequency as normal. When someone becomes deaf, higher-pitched sounds are often the first to diminish. To compensate for this hearing loss, the brain becomes more sensitive to high-pitched sounds. In her case, being completely deaf in one ear and using an implant to hear again, the brain is not accustomed to processing sound. As a result, high-pitched sounds might be distorted. When the specialist removed the higher frequencies from the audio test, her brain normalized the sound because it was more sensitive to high-pitched frequencies, making the sound appear to be at a normal frequency for her.

[@NiliMoto]

i believe you misunderstood what they were doing here. the edited sounds do not sound normal to her. they are playing the different edited sounds so she can compare the sound coming from her implant to something. whenever we hear the original sound, it is played through her implant and she hears it the way we hear the last edited version hear. this is due to the limitations of the implant and has nothing to do with the brain adjusting to anything.

[@Humungojerry]

@@NiliMotoyeah. it’s an interesting theory but i would not expect her brian processing to have changed much since she can still hear in one ear.

[@olivier0092]

@@NiliMotoso the last edited sound we hear is what she hears through her implant?

[@norkshit]

@@olivier0092 Yep, it’s audible but very low quality, and without the implant she wouldn’t hear anything. the fact that such technology exists at all is a miracle though. with the advent of better technology over the next century such implants will improve to the point that they match or even exceed the natural human counterparts. truly exciting times we live in!

[@jerryboics9550]

She described one time as like a robot. Ummm how does she...

[@robertbolding4182]

the patient should have slider controls. to select frequency ranges and volume

[@csp405]

The one before the last and the one at 1:10 sounded exactly right the original, and she said that the previous one at 0:52 sounded closer while it was way off low and muffled.

[@domdecosa]

Her perception of the sound is going to be different than ours. She's comparing her good ear to her bad ear so she knows what it's suppose to sound like.

[@megansmedia9034]

I'm supposed to get an implant. I'm more than terrified.. Lost hearing in my right ear at 28.5 years old due to unknown causes I got sensorineural hearing loss, just in the blink o an eye, I lost hearing in that ear. Thank God I have one left but I worry every day about losing that too, which is the only reason I'm considering the implant. She is a tough young lady even to go through the procedure!

[@robertwilmoth3626]

Did you ever get it?

[@normandiebryant6989]

If God only stuffed up one of your ears, does he really deserve thanks?

[@lp8688]

Did you get an implant?

[@SecondLifeAround]

I think it might’ve helped if someone could have explained to her how high and low pitch works. Because it seemed at times that what she was trying to describe, was actually wanting the voice to be in a lower tone, which is maybe what she meant by asking for more white noise to be added. Just an idea.

[@leacnnmn]

My grandma has a cochlear implant, and I've always wondered what we sound like to her. So thank you for this video :)

[@PufflePie]

my sister always described it as it being like you’re underwater, it seems like she’s describing something similar here

[@jopar3292]

Holy Moly, are those Sennheiser HD 540 headphones hanging up on the wall? Sorry for being off topic but to see one of those headphones in a place like the CIRL is VERY impressive. For the 99.9% of folks who wont know they are flagship headphones from 1980's and are one of the finest headphones ever made!! Sorry, its just super rare to see a pair!

[@DelusiUK]

Good stuff. It's hard to describe sound. This is the right way to do this though. Creating sound examples as they are described.

[@flybeep1661]

Basically it seems like higher frequencies are lowered (by a lot) and only the lower frequencies remain. It's a bit strange because at the beginning it went the opposite direction with more emphasis on the higher frequencies (more treble) and less lower frequencies. But when she mentioned it sounded "muffled" then I immediately thought cut out the high frequencies, that's what she means.

[@barbaravanriemsdijk8440]

To anyone contemplating a CI I can affirm it’s entirely possible to hear virtually normally with a CI and the sound will sound exactly as it should. However, it is NOT an instant fix. What you see and hear in a lot of these videos are depictions of early mappings (tuning sessions) or initial activation. When one gets a CI there is a period of rehabilitation where the brain lays down new neural connections. A CI offers an entirely new way of hearing and it is necessary to provide the brain with the tools in order to do it’s job. Expecting instant results will only end in disappointment. The adjustment time varies but if someone is prepared to put in the work they should reap the rewards for the most part.

[@leifwallin6024]

How is it for listening to music? Thanks

[@Aaron-xs5bv]

How long did it take you to adjust?

[@michaeljahnci]

@@leifwallin6024 I've got 2 MED-EL Synchrony 2 implants and I *love* listening music, it's amazing!

[@michaeljahnci]

@@Aaron-xs5bv maybe 1...24 months, the longer you practice, the better the result.

[@meaton3805]

I bet the adjustment period is different for different people. My uneducated guess would be that those who were hearing and/or recently had hearing loss adjust quicker than those who have never been hearing or who lost their hearing many years ago.

[@daftoptimist]

Ooo, this is interesting! I'd like to see the same experiment done with participation from people having various experience levels with their CIs, if there as more single-sided people who can use the unedited audio as a control.

[@joeserrenti9857]

It's amazing how the implant interacts with the brain for both sides to equal out to normal. There must be lots of higher frequency boost from the implant. Her choice indicated what would seem a large amount of higher frequency roll off to equal the Original... Also the flanging effect being added is interesting..... Rather than the totally clear original, apparently the twirling flange adds maybe some kind of more natural inflection making words more understandable. Even more interesting is no 2 people will hear that the same way through the implant. It's how the brain is translating that signal . All I can say is ...... Very Cool !!! 😁

[@SimonsBand1]

i think it's the other way round. The high frequency roll off to match the other means she's hearing the muffled form, and the reason the original sounds the same is that the originals highs aren't being picked up. She's not hearing the original, she's hearing the muffled sound, which means the cochlear implant would need to boost a lot of highs to get it closet, but then if it were doing that, we would hear that in the muffled version, it would be less muffled as she would detect the higher frequencies

[@joeserrenti9857]

@@SimonsBand1 OK..... That would make sense , because she hears it in reverse of what we do .... ! Interesting as all hell ..... Amazing how the tech in this field is moving steadily forward ....

[@antonliakhovitch8306]

​@@joeserrenti9857I think you misunderstood what's happening. She's listening to the original sound through the implant, and then she's hearing the modified sound through her good ear. She's then telling us whether the modified sound matches what she's hearing through the implant. Thus, the modified sound at the end is actually pretty close to what she experiences with the implant.

[@harleyb-ham266]

This is like the TV commercials that try and show you the better resolution on a new TV. You can't see the new resolution on your old TV and we can't hear what's in her head.

[@Zerbey]

Amazing how far these newer cochlear implants have come.

[@IanMcKenzie-ff5jw]

The girl was incredibly smart in coming up with métaphores. Wanting “white noise” combined with “talking behind a wall to reduce clarity” were what allowed the technician to adjust it. It was a great idea having one ear normal and one ear cochlear in order to normalise and make the experiment work - the normal sound played only to cochlear and the distorted sound played only un the normal eat and making them exactly match. Very clever idea.

[@Nabium]

ah, that's actually closer than I thought. any chance they'll be able to tune future implants to make it match perfectly?

[@Anastas1786]

I'm sure there are always people working on it.

[@Sarah_375]

Maybe some day

[@user9999-z]

They did I got mine if sounds just like normal

[@CriticalPosthumanism]

google "optogenetic cochlear implant" or "hearing with light cochlear" With that methode they can use 100 channels instead of just 12. But sadly we have to wait around 10 years. www.auditory-neuroscience.uni-goettingen.de/hearing_the_light_EN.html kzbin.info/www/bejne/fmmUoXmdic1sr5I

[@LouSaydus]

Yes, current implants only use about 12 channels. It seems each channel is able to reproduce about 66Hz~ of sound range. Where normal human hearing is about 20-20,000 Hz, this implant is only able to cover 800Hz of range. We would need about 303 channels to properly emulate "normal" hearing.

[@lindagirl1140]

The last one sounded muffled to me. Some sounded surprisingly good!

[@spuriouseffect]

I was expecting something more robotic like some of the other examples. That sounds so much like normal hearing, only a little muffled. Wow!

[@HoldandModify]

Amazing and I can only imagine what another 20 years of development will bring!

[@katherinewells3099]

My dad has implants for both ears. This is good. It helps me know what he is experiencing. Thanks

[@behindcloseddoorsministries]

Thank you for sharing ❤my daughter has bilateral implants but can't describe the sound very well. I've heard we sound like Donald Duck not sure if that's true or not. I hope it's more of the muffled ad sound that this young lady described, this made my day!😊 I also have a situation where she had her left one changed just last month from the Nucleus 5 which she got when she read 1 to a Nucleus 7 (because the old one failed) now that she is 12 and her right ear has the Nucleus 6 which she got when she was 4. She is sad because she doesn't like the sound of it after getting activated and she said that I sound very strange and different so keep us in your prayers that things get better please and thanks!🌹

[@beepbopboop7727]

Why wouldnt you believe her?

[@behindcloseddoorsministries]

@@beepbopboop7727 I’m sorry I’m not sure what you mean?

[@shepaaaarrrrrd]

I assume her hearing with the N7 has improved by now, yes?

[@kaylee1769]

@@beepbopboop7727 what do you mean? Her daughter is deaf, so she wouldn’t really know the difference between how her parents voice and Donald Duck.

[@JessieBanana]

@@beepbopboop7727 It’s not about not believing her. She’s hoping that she’s not making the correct comparison, or that it means something different, because Donald Duck to a hearing person is quite a grating sound. The character is meant to be a little ridiculous and annoying. Most parents wouldn’t want that to be the voice their child hears every time they communicate with them.

[@GRBtutorials]

Well, that’s interesting... as someone currently implanted in both ears (due to congenital deafness), the one before last sounds close to the original (I hear a subtle difference though and isn’t the best one), but the final one is ironically the worst of the pack! I guess it depends on the patient and the circumstances...

[@csp405]

To me too the one before the last and the one at 1:10 sounded exactly right the original, and she said that the previous one at 0:52 sounded closer while it was way off low and muffled

[@SeedOfEulogy]

I had the same thought, the one that was second-to-last sounded closest to "correct" to my ears, apart from some phasing. By correct, I mean closest to the original. Which is not necessarily the goal here; if her hearing is calibrated toward the lower end of the spectrum it makes sense to roll off higher frequencies to increase intelligibility for her. But from the perspective of the potential of the technology to accurately reproduce sound, this video fascinates me. I always thought CIs did not offer a full range of hearing and had aliasing and other weird artifacts. If the sound in this video is what someone hears through one, then the others I've heard in the past must have been calibrated way wrong. Which is actually not that surprising if the person has no frame of reference for what sound should sound like! Now I wonder how well it does with music or ambient noise.

[@13_cmi]

I’m not at all deaf but currently have horrible squealing and bells in my ears. Ears are just not made right. I need to have a chat with the guy who came up with ears.

[@13_cmi]

So 200 3000 with the crazy flanger is the best one for you? Odd that they use flanger for this stuff. I thought it was just for guitar.

[@kamiyama-chairdesklamp]

I don't even have a hearing aid because I can't afford them, and I'm at least currently not officially deaf, just hard of hearing. I also thought the second to last was best, except yeah, I can also hear the lo-pass FX, only in extra sybillance. (The "s" sounds--and they have a dance music sound because yeah, lo-pass filter, but other than that, it sounds like a perfect match to me, too!

[@bradrobinson7960]

The "Vocoder 1" voice sounds like the "Hive Mind" voice of the Borg on "Star Trek".

[@colalightyear7859]

Thats how it was done

[@李信宁-b7t]

It sounds like people talking in underwater, I deaf left ear in two months ago, after the treatment or severe deafness, know that sound, cochlear implants is too make me sad

[@TheAkashicTraveller]

I hope for your sake that you just put that through google translate.

[@haleymcdaniels4911]

I was born i am daef

[@rich1051414]

I am not sure if I understand, but you shouldn't be sad. Even if it sounds like you are hearing underwater, that is much better than not hearing at all. You should be happy.

[@beesokay]

@@TheAkashicTraveller ASL is a different language from english. It has different grammar and sentance structure, so if OP is deaf, then that's probably why the grammer and wording seems wrong to you

[@beesokay]

@@rich1051414 also that's an incredibly ignorant thing to say. Many deaf and HOH people are perfectly happy not hearing, and dont want to hear. The deaf community is an actual community with it's own culture, and many deaf people dont consider themselves to be disabled. Also, the sound from CI's can be painful to some people, and often hearing something unpleasant, painful, or robotic can be worse than not hearing.

[@luiginotcool]

This would be so much better if the woman knew what she was doing, I think she was just playing a list of pre-made audio clips in order, not actually trying to replicate what the girl was describing

[@timr.8812]

This is so interesting! On the one side we get to know what it sounds like to her and on the other side the engineers might actually be able, to improve the sound from tests like this one.

[@DaBigBase]

Praise the sun!

[@thecrazyisreal]

it will eventually die like your expectations.

[@lutyanoalves444]

lolololol thats sad tho

[@felipemelo453]

Thats the comment I was looking for

[@Jeroen74]

My 17 yo daughter has had bilateral CIs since she was three when she lost all her hearing due to pneumococcal meningitis. She essentially learnt to speak with them and speaks completely normally. She can even enjoy music with them which I never expected she would. When paired to her iPhone they basically become the ultimate noise-canceling headphones. It's amazing technology, but it still shows its weakness in more noisy situations like classrooms. She still uses lip-reading to support her hearing.

[@sorbecik6703]

I also have one side deafness and it sounds totaly different to me. It's more natural.

[@easydoz1]

Depends on your age and when/if you lost your hearing and if you like mayo or mustard...

[@matasu00]

Werczita which device did you go with?

[@terabit.]

This experiment IS OF GREAT IMPORTANCE towards that direction!

[@dontshakeme]

well not for me, I can hear all the differences and I hear way more like the original Got AB (Advanced Bionics) which uses the ear as a natural sound receiver

[@sakesaurus]

what's cool about it is you can have absolutely silent earphones which make you deaf while used. That's a practical application I can get down wiht

[@happypiano4810]

As I had already been told. It does sound like modified hearing loss.

[@bobb7918]

This was great I have mono hearing and it sounds pretty close to natural hearing except muffled. I never knew that as I have never tried anything to hear with my deaf ear.

[@SL-ko4xo]

I have have bilateral nerve damage in both ears since birth. I was able to make due with two behind the ear hearing aids fro 1965-2008. (I received my first set of hearing aids when I was three years old ). I then lost my hearing totally in my left ear and only hear about 25% in my right ear in 2008. In 2013 I was forced into retirement after 34 years because I could no longer conduct board or staff meetings. (I started as a respiratory therapist and as the hearing got worse I went to college at night to get my BA, and MBA. My career ended as a hospital administrator. I thank God for the time I have been able to hear. I was approved for bilateral Cochlear implants in 2008 but have been to afraid to take the leap. Soon I will need to. I love the fact that you can program the Cochlear implant aid to coincide with the opposite ear. Thank you for a positive video!

[@orome9793]

Good luck!

[@SL-ko4xo]

@SAWYER MCGEE hey Sawyer, let me know how it goes! I would be most interested in sound comparisons before and after. Was it difficult to adjust to cochlear from digital hearing aids? That’s my hold up is hearing things sounding robotic with Cochlear importants. I have been told that sound adjustments have vastly improved over the years. Thank you!

[@neriksen]

The operator has the most magnificent nature. She has definitely found her vocation.

[@grinbella4253]

I am deaf and I have cochlear implants it's sounds like what you can hear if you wear it but it is a device only for hearing los people

[@seamishmusic]

I've gotten so used to the "sound of the cochlear implant" because I myself am binaurally Deaf, (using the Kanzo model), and it sounded like the original got played twice for me at the very end of the video! What a learning experience for me too

[@Daruma_Studio]

It is painful watching her select from pre-recorded samples, rather than having one audio sample with effects and an EQ on it to change on-the-go.

[@Lisa-qt4hh]

Really interesting! I wonder what music sounds like through the Cochlear implant

[@stebolavirus]

Fascinating to hear what it's like to hear through a cochlear implant. Not easy and I have a lot more respect for anyone attempting to communicate with me when I probably sound like I'm half under water...

[@DigitalAndInnovation]

Alright- that answers a question I have had for years... not what does it specifically sound like- no no no... I was always wondering how the heck we "could ever know." Kind of straightforward of a test scenario- but really cool to see it all play out.

[@hebneh]

The end result is very good. The slight muffling, in this case, seems pretty minor. "The sun is finally shining."

[@GanimeadMusic]

I wish that my audiologist had the equipment in this video. I have had my Cochlear implant now for over 2 years and can hardly understand any vocals. I am tested every 3 months, but all they do is give a series of beeps then reprogram? I am unable to communicate with anyone.

[@gwynethbillinger]

I am nervous about invasive surgery. I also fear the electrode going into the middle ear. Will part of my brain be exposed?

[@n27272]

Interesting what could be done with better microphones or streaming music directly to the implant. Basically removing the quality of the mic from equation and testing how good the implant actually is at reproducing sound.

[@kyledbryant]

One thing is for sure....The Sun is Finally Shining. And so is her smile.

[@Corqii]

My dad's stepdad and my grandfather was born partially deaf in his right ear and fully deaf in his left (I think, I don't know the specifics but thats what I remember being told.), I've always wondered what his hearing aids sound like to him. His name is Grandpa John and he's really awesome, we visited him this summer with our puppy and he LOVES her, it was really nice, she ate his doorframe. My uncle hosted a party at his house and he lost his hearing aid in the paper towel cardboard tube *while* it was on the stand, couldnt find it for days, he found it right before the party. Also, went out to eat while he stayed back at the house with the dog, he fell asleep on the couch watching tv with her after doing some stuff around the house. We got locked out and my dad had to climb the roof and go in through the window to get back in. He'd lost his hearing aid again and I was the only one that could hear it ringing, I went into the room I was staying in and moved my blanket and got jumpscared by it. My mom always finds it impressive how well he can read lips, hes around 60-70 and didn't have hearing aids as a kid. I can only imagine how difficult life must of been until he'd finally purchased hearing aids.

[@crystalmacias3447]

This is great my baby has cochlear implants I always wanted to know what he hears and I know I do!! Thank you

[@americanpatriot8776]

+Crystal Macias I am 14 and was implanted in (right ear) at 16 months. (Left ear) at 4 or 5. The earlier the better. I recommend taking speech classes while young. It helped me tremendously. I did not like it but glad my parents made the decision to do speech classes. I hear and talk normal as if I was not deaf. Very incredible what technology can do.

[@tywi1757]

I am happy for you but I feel so sorry for your baby, your baby didnt have a choice. My girlfriend have C.I while she was very young, she is unhappy with it now..... (and angry to her parents)

[@crystalmacias3447]

Murray Twins yes. My son is 2 yrs old. Has had them for 1 yr. speech therapy has a lot to do with it. I'm happy to see my 2 year old babbling lots of words already! Daddy, bye, thank you, ouch, making lots off animal sounds, I say kiss kiss and he turns to give me kisses. Lots more than what I just put at just 1 yr of hearing with his cochlears. I'm happy to see everything he has accomplished and can't wait to see more that I know he will do❤️

[@somebodyelse50]

The implants are great when considering the alternative is nothing. Something for you to be aware of is that they do cause headaches for lots of people. Your little guy may or may not have this problem but you may want to watch for it. Also music and loud noise like loud automobiles (road noise and such) or loud movies at the theater are sometimes very hard on the ear when the implant is turned on. As for movies, they are hard to understand the speech most of the time. Myself, I generally get about ten percent of the conversation and just get the jest of the rest of the movie. Like watching a movie in a foreign language. Just FYI for when he starts watching movies and television. Radios and television are difficult to understand.

[@niadaniels1044]

MegaHouseGuy Why can't you hear at the movies?

[@GrandmaLoves2Scuba]

Curiosity satisfied, so thank you so much for posting this!

[@prawny12009]

I often get surprised when my deaf ear picks up sound i'm not expecting. there is some hearing there but its mostly higher pitch frequencies. Although i have partial deafness in my good ear too hearings aids don't seem to do a lot other than make my ear drum tickle so I don't bother with them. I wondered about these implants and how they sound compared to natural hearing but this is the first video i have seen that gives comparison.

[@Term-0]

From what i've gathered from the comment section, the sound can be adjusted (probably through frequency amplitude adjustment, and frequency shifting), then your brain will adjust and it will sound normal after a while.

[@seta-san2149]

now that they know the difference between correct sound and what the implant gives her shouldn't they be able to figure out the difference between to the two to give her more accurate sound through the implant?

[@youmaycallmeken]

From my understanding of this, after watching a SciShow video: It's like a low resolution digital photo with only a small number of pixels; you can not improve it just because you know how it compares to a high resolution photo. It time the technology will improve with more distinct signals being sent. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oqvKgqV-e6mBgqc

[@KrikitKaos]

Generally speaking, we never stop attempts to refine augmentative technology. I have no doubt each iteration of implant is an improvement over the previous one.

[@TheAkashicTraveller]

In the human cochlea there are approximately 3500 inner hair cells and 12000 outer hair cells. In order to perfectly replicate human hearing we would have to perfectly simulate the responses of these and somehow transmit that to the nerves from the cochlea. At the moment we do this by implanting an array of electrodes to to stimulate cochlea nerve. Manufacturers use varying numbers of electrodes but the receiver/processors don't transmit 1 channel to one electrode but rather 1 to many there's also the issue that the electrode don't just stimulate the nerve of one hair cell but many around it. Basically there are a whole lot of issues to solve before we can replicate human hearing. Another one, though I'm not sure if this applies to cochlea implants but does for other neural implants, is that the electrodes can damage the nerves so yeah.

[@rich1051414]

+Ken O That isn't completely true. They could apply processing to boost bands of the sound to make the sound more accurate, but it could never be perfect. Think of it like the 'color correcting' glasses you can wear. They could definitely use processing to make the sound sound less muffled, which would probably sound horrific to normal ears, far too sparkly.

[@feuermurmel]

I'm surprised that you didn't let the patient fiddle with the controls of the audio editing software, with your help.

[@sydneyellen2915]

I was born deaf in both ears and I have had CIs ever since I was a baby so at the end I couldn't even tell the difference??

[@elbowache]

I think an audio engineer and not an audiologist should have tackled this. CI work on channels that represent specific frequencies. A chain of single band EQs and a bit crusher would have gotten closer maybe.

[@brendalg4]

What is the purpose of doing this? Do they use the info to make it sound better? What if the person has never heard before? How can they adjust the implant?

[@khall3353]

I love that Audacity is being used.

[@slowfire2]

I can make out the melody and tone of the voices, but I don't think I get all the words... Cool anyway to be able to compare how it sounds!

[@wulu4303]

Would anyone be able to tell me what it would sound like to hear together with normal ear and ear with cochlear implant? Would it be somewhere in between what she heard in original sound clip and the final sound clip?

[@HomeBoyViktor52]

I haven't been able to hear through my right ear my whole life. i can only hear through it enough for a hearing aid but it is extremely quiet to the point where without the hearing aid I can hear nothing. so for prety much every since I was in year 2 (I'm australian) I have been given the option to get a cochlear implant. I would go for it if it wasn't for the fact that its a irriversable procedure. if u get the procedure reversed then u wont be able to get any hearing back into ur ear again. all the hearing for that ear will be gone. so thats the downside. but if u don't have any hearing to begin with within that ear then probably go for it :D

[@WhiskyMystery]

Normally they would implant the bad ear first.

[@epapa217]

How does she know what it’s supposed to sound like though? Or can she hear the original one in one good ear and then she’s trying to get the implant to match? I guess I’m confused about what’s actually happening here

[@zacworld2061]

Wow. That last sample towards the end of the video that she said was it sounded almost impossible to discern the words. I guess I had hoped a cochlear implant would be more clear than that.

[@rogerd8592]

I'd love to know how many channels she has, for the sake of comparison with my son's devices.

[@Lolimaster]

Supposedly changing the use of channel for tiny lasers will improve this aids a lot, like going from a single core 2Ghz to an AMD Threadripper 16c/32t @3.5Ghz

[@JasonEllingsworth]

If there is one thing I hope to see before I pass on (in hopefully at least 40 years) is for technology to be able to mostly restore sight, speech, hearing, and the ability to not only restore missing limbs, but "feel" through them as if it was your real appendage. Well that, and for our world governments to allow us to cure cancer.

[@carpetbeetle8349]

Well, we're pretty on-track for being able to grow entire new body parts. De/Recellularizing scaffolds is the main part, we just need to get better at it. We might live to see rejected organ transplants become a thing of the past if all goes well.

[@nuggetnougat]

she said it sounded like a demented robot voice, but the one she chose just sounded muffled. It makes sense since she's still getting the cochlear implant sound over the audio

[@andromeda8rose]

She was choosing the one that sounded closest to what she hears through the cochlear implant

[@andromeda8rose]

When she said it sounds like a demented robot she was talking about that specific effect that the audio engineer was playing at the time, not what she hears normally

[@RyanLye1975]

The modern multi-channel cochlear implant was independently developed and commercialized by two separate teams-one led by Graeme Clark in Australia and another by Ingeborg Hochmair and her future husband, Erwin Hochmair in Austria, with the Hochmairs' device first implanted in a person in December 1977 and Clark's in August 1978.[17]