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An a cappella singer and bilateral implant recipient, Keri Reynolds understands how important music appreciation is for many cochlear implant recipients. Prepared with patience and positivity, Keri began the journey of relearning how to appreciate music. Keri is part of the MED-EL USA Team and shares with us her personal top tips for music appreciation with a cochlear implant.

“Music shaped my world and adds listening beauty. It is truly the stuff of life.”

As a cochlear implant user for over 10 years, some of the most frequently asked questions I receive from new and existing CI recipients are: “What about music?” “Does music sound like you remember?” “Does it sound good?” I suppose recipients ask these questions because music is so much a part of who we are. It seems that whenever music starts, we involuntarily respond with foot tapping, fingers snapping, and hands clapping. We react because we enjoy it and music moves us to join in.

Read more . . . Music Appreciation

 

 

Washington Post
By Joe Heim
May 24, 2016

As he walked out of his elementary school last week, fifth-grader Neil Maes heard the clapping from his fellow students lining both sides of the hallways. He heard them cheer and yell his name, and he heard them wish him luck as he headed off to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which starts Wednesday morning at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md.

That the shy 11-year-old from Belton, S.C., can hear anything at all is a testament to technology, to a never-quit attitude and to faith, say his parents, Christy, a preschool teacher, and Peter, an aircraft mechanic.

The Maeses, who found out their son was severely hearing-impaired just days after he was born, have been working nonstop since then to help him have hearing that’s as close to normal as possible.

When the couple learned that their son couldn’t hear, they were in shock.

Read more  . . . Spelling Bee

 

"Children with cochlear implants are more likely to be educated orally and without access to sign language. Some deaf activists have labeled the widespread implantation of children, as cultural genocide.  Others call the criticism alarming and inaccurate."

WTTV • CBS INDIANAPOLIS
BY DEBBY KNOX
MARCH 17, 2016

March 16, 2016)- Close to 325,000 people around the world have had cochlear implants surgically implanted.  In the US about 58,000 adults and 38,000 children have been recipients. In Indiana, cochlear implants have been available to profoundly deaf adults since the 1980’s

Cochlear implants are surgically implanted electronic devices which bypass the normal hearing process. A microphone is used and some electronics are placed outside the skin behind the ear.  Together the device transmits a signal to an array of electrodes in the cochlea, which stimulates the cochlear nerve.

Read more  . . . Cochlear Implants