What It's Like for a Deaf Person to Hear Music for the First Time

After hearing a description of a similar sudden change to hearing on This American Life, I expected the answer to be "confusing, because his brain can't interpret the sounds or sort out signal from noise." I was surprised that he was immediately enjoying music.<p>Any ideas why this might vary so drastically?<p>====<p>Edit: maybe it's a technological difference; the TAL story involved cochlear implants. <a href="http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/411/transcript" rel="nofollow">http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/411/t...</a>

Not really a technical comment, but I found a video of this type of experience to be so much more powerful: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsOo3jzkhYA" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsOo3jzkhYA</a><p>Even better, Ellen (US talkshow host) saw the video and paid for both cochlear implants ($30k each):<p><a href="http://ellen.warnerbros.com/videos/index.php?mediaKey=1_ccmh4z8w" rel="nofollow">http://ellen.warnerbros.com/videos/index.php?mediaKey=1_ccmh...</a><p>*edited for clarity

This just looks like a rough summary of a Reddit thread. Where's the discussion of why he was deaf, what he could and could not hear before, and what the new hearing aids did differently? I want to know more about the medical cause of his deafness, and the technology behind the hearing aids.

With so much more to listen to, Chapman says that, "ironically enough, I'm turning my hearing aids off more often than before." There are too many annoying sounds.<p>"Silence is still my favorite sound," he writes. "When I turn my aids off my thoughts become more clear and it's absolutely peaceful."<p>============================<p>This is remarkable. I wonder what the world would be like if we were able to turn our ears off and on.

I think one important thing to understand is that beautiful music is not the only kind of music that can be great. Sometimes music is designed to invoke a wide array of emotions which is why good music is crucial in TV and film. Good music can make you feel excited, happy, sad, scared, calm, nervous, anxious, angry, inspired, or any mix of the above.<p>So while I think it's great that he is moved by beautiful music, he should keep his mind open to allowing music to take his emotions in other directions too.

<p><pre><code> sigur ros - staralfur </code></pre> yes yes yes yes

Either this guy is spending a king's ransom on all these tunes or the RIAA is going to have a field day with him.

I felt unusually moved by this article, my rational side is trying to figure out why.

Beethovens symphony nine is the best piece of music, which I ever listened to :)

"...garnering the attention of Spotify, which gave him six months of free membersion..."<p>What is membersion?