Do cochlear implants sound robotic?

A few weeks ago someone asked a question on my YouTube Channel that I thought was a great question. The topic was, "Do cochlear implants sound robotic?"

Here is my response: You and I all perceive sound a little differently. For my right ear, the dominant one feels like I never really lost my hearing. It feels natural, music sounds amazing and I hear personality traits in everyone's voices. The way I hear today is way different than the way I heard the first day I turned it on almost 20 years ago. The medical advancements have allowed greater improvements to how anyone hears with a cochlear implant. On the other hand, my left ear got implanted at an older age which has made relearning to hear a little more challenging. In the beginning, everything sounded like ducks but after lots of training and rehab, I have been able to recognize speech and music with it alone. Huge milestone!

I am sure that whenever anyone turns on their implant for the first time it will sound a little robotic. It is like a new musical instrument that has never been tuned. Once it got tuned correctly, everyone enjoys the music. That is why a good audiologist will help tune the cochlear implant to fit your needs. #cochlearimplant #deaf #hearing #technology #bionicears#davidbcluffphoto #lifeinbetweenwithdavid #howihear