I went to my daughter’s piano recital last night and she was phenomenal. Because all music is horribly distorted for me, I couldn’t hear how well she played, but the response from the audience was awesome. My heart swelled. It also reminded me I’ve been meaning to point out a good article in the Bionic Beat newsletter. It’s for people who have Bionic Ear cochlear implants from Advanced Bionics, but it’s still an interesting read for anyone with hearing loss. (When you get to the website, click on Volume 2, Issue 1 – March 2005: “Is it Music to Your Ears?”) I’ve written before about the misery of music distortion with hearing loss, but the Bionic Beat article explains a lot that I’d never understood about how the ear processes music. When you get a cochlear implant, it restores much ability to discern sound, but comprehension is another matter — it takes time for the brain to “map” sounds to intelligible words, music, etc. Some who’ve gotten the implants regain more hearing and understanding than others; most continue to have to cope with a significant hearing impairment like people with normal hearing aids. My hearing loss is very much like what an implant recipient ends up with when speech is intelligible in the right conditions but music is incoherent. But cochlear implants are getting better all the time as developers create new algorithms for signal processors to better simulate the functions previously performed by the damaged hearing organs. It’s comforting to know so much research is being done to improve the situation and exciting to think about what the future will bring.