Lipreading Mom

The week after CI activation, I plopped a favorite CD into the car player that flashed the song’s name on the screen – a familiar song. When the opening instrumentals began, I was astounded. Instead of drums and guitars, I heard screeching static. When the vocalist sang, I could distinguish it from the opening music. Each word was staccato static, whereas the instrumentals were an endless stream of static noise.

I flipped off the CD player and sighed. So this is what I signed up for with a cochlear implant – a life without music. At least the music I remember.

I didn’t attempt music again until yesterday. My sons and I took a day trip to see my sister. My oldest son is a fan of former The Beatles member George Harrison and his later band, The Traveling Wilburys. We couldn’t get the Bluetooth to stream through the car’s stereo speakers, so I suggested that he turn up the volume on his phone music app and place the phone on speaker. 

The first song was a big early hit for Harrison during his solo career: “My Sweet Lord”. With the CI ear, the staccato static sounded more like words in a song and the instrumentals sounded more distinct. With my hearing aid ear, I heard the pitch and tone of Harrison’s singing voice. This was more of the music I remembered.

At a friend’s house, she pulled out her Alexa and asked it to play ‘80s pop songs. We sat around her pool. My oldest son splashed and made cannonballs in the water. This background noise likelyThe first song was “Don’t Stop Believin” by Journey. The beginning piano instrumental and guitar solo played. Then Steve Perry’s high-tenor voice sang words:

“Just a small town girl

Living in a lonely world

She took the midnight train going anywhere…”

Three weeks post-activation, I heard the music. It sounded like I remembered from long ago as a pre-teen listening to it on a boombox. I sang along:

“Just a city boy

Born and raised in south Detroit

He took the midnight train going anywhere…”  

Today my husband and I had an early lunch at a bar and grill with lots of background noise: baseball games playing on the TVs, drinkers chatting at the bar, background music. 

Typically I wouldn’t even attempt to listen to music at a bar and grill due to the competing noises. Then I heard a familiar song. “Oh my gosh…”

“What?” my husband asked.

A gentle drum beat with a squealing guitar played. Then came the folksy voice of Stephen Stills: 

“There’s something happening here

But what it is ain’t exactly clear…”

I remember hearing this song on the soundtrack of one of my favorite 1990s movies, “Forest Gump”.

“There’s a man with a gun over there

Telling me I got to beware

Saying I think it’s time we stop, children

What’s that sound?

Everybody look what’s goin’ down…”

It was the anthem of the anti-war movement during the late 1960s: “For What It’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield. I heard the background vocals harmonizing the words “What’s that sound?”

What’s that sound? It’s me clapping in that crowded restaurant because I heard the words, heard the drums, heard the guitar, heard the backing vocals. 

I heard the music – thanks to my CI.

(Photo description: I sit outside near a pool with my hair pulled into a ponytail. My decorated cochlear implant is visible behind my left ear.)

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To Swim or Not to Swim

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