DocAudio,
I find your comments most interesting - what you say about the brain and hearing. I see that my hearing loss is not nearly as bad as those who have unilateral loss. I was told a few months ago that part of my hearing piano pitches correctly (I am 62 and have been playing since I was 8) is that I have worn hearing aids long enough to become a “trained listener” (about 7 years) and that my brain has re-wired itself for speech due to my dependence on the HA’s. I know what piano tone is supposed to sound like, and I have always taken that “for granted”, however now I am having pitch perception problems and although I do read music, the keys I press on the piano no longer reflect the proper tone and pitch such that I am a nervous wreck if I have to accompany someone to sing reading music I have not heard before. I can no longer depend on my ears to tell if I am playing the right notes any more. Records of music I am intimately familiar with are now skewed and out of tune. Is there any way to train my brain back to hearing music properly as well as the spoken word? I realize this is probably an oversimplification of my hearing problems, but the degradation of my hearing has been robbing me of my identity as a musician, and I feel like a part of me is dying. Perhaps that is just a part of my ego that needs to go – then goodby! But I am having a difficult time of it.
There is a lot about hearing that is not known, and I find that audiologists and even doctors do not want to say too much – but especially the words “I don’t know” to their patients and clients. People who hear me play say that it sounds great, but I can no longer enjoy playing as much because it has taken away my confidence as a musician. Perhaps this would be better discussed in a different post, but I am most interested to know if you have ever thought about this and if you will have any comment. I always thought that when I got to the retirement home I would take my keyboard and 15" Eons with me and experience the joy of playing the piano until I am gone, but I realize now that is not going to happen. I don’t mean to sound overly dramatic, because there are a lot of other things I have to rejoice about. But I just want to be real. I cannot pretend I am happy about loosing the little window into heaven that music has always been. And there are theological implications as well – just who is it that has robbed me of this joy. I’d like to meet him in a dark alley (LOL).