I am not surprised, there is definitely a difference in quality between streamed material, whether it be Bluetooth or any of the other streaming devices, and what comes in through the microphones. My guess would be it is the result of limitations to either the microphones or the analog to digital converters that can be fitted on the external processors.
@joanhawsey As I type this, I am listening to the music playlist I have just compiled to celebrate my upcoming birthday, which I had hoped to be celebrating with lots of friends and having a bang up party. Alas, Covid restrictions rule that out, so my friends will have to visit YouTube Music to party with me to the 65 tunes I chose to mark my 65 years. Being able to hear and enjoy the music again has been beyond wonderful and such a great and uplifting way to face my looming “Big One”.
I think your audi is very likely correct in assuming that music streaming is enhancing rehab. Since my implant, 6 months ago, I have noticed a huge improvement week over week in how I am hearing music. At first all voices sounded high pitched or off-key but, as the months have progressed, they are returning to what I remember. I still find female voices are a little high, and some instrumentals, particularly keyboard/piano, still sound synthesized, but I am hearing the lyrics now - likely better than I have for most of my life. I usually learned the words by reading the album covers, and I actually thought that’s what everyone did!
What I have discovered, though, is that if I am just listening through speakers and not via streaming (whether it’s music or audiobooks) voices generally sound normal now. I am not sure why, but I am very happy about that! So, as part of rehab, I try to listen with and without streaming.
When this hateful pandemic is over, I can hardly wait to attend some concerts. Meanwhile, I hold my own solo party every evening as I do kitchen clean-up. I dance like no one is watching - truth - and I have a grand time! Great exercise, too! I don’t think I fully realized what a loss it was in my life “the day the music died”.
Here’s hoping you have the same great results. Stick with it!
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Wow, reading your comment was like music to my ears. What a great experience you have had - and happy birthday. I turn 60 on Feb 8 - these milestones… My son is an operatic tenor and I hope to be able to enjoy his performances for years to come. You have provided great encouragement.
Thank-you, and Happy Birthday to you, too!! I gave away my 12 string guitar because I just couldn’t tune it anymore. My daughter is a piano teacher. Haven’t really been able to enjoy her playing for several years until this past Christmas when she and I visited my mother in a nursing home and she played for her. Unfortunately, the piano was dreadfully out of tune - the good news is that even I could tell! Ha!
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The thing that keeps blowing my mind when it comes to listening to music is being able to discern and follow lyrics where I was not quite able to do so prior to having a CI. Back in September there were some live performances around my city as part of a month-long festival - One had a singer and a quartet, which sounded great as a performance, and best of all, I got pretty much every word that was sung. For me personally, that was quite amazing.
Still need a little help using written lyrics if the singing voice is more on the musical rather than spoken side of things. Listening to music is always an adventure - discovering all the sounds that I hadn’t heard in songs before!
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I’m curious how people make the decision of which of the three brands of CI to go with: Cochlear, Med-El, or Advanced Bionics. I have spent a good amount of hours doing research and talking to reps and think I have made a decision…unless I learn something new from the surgeon. Any thoughts are appreciated.
@joanhawsey sometimes you don’t get the choice. Your surgeon or CI clinic could be affiliated with one particular company. It they prefer one company over the others. Sometimes the surgeon will recommend a couple and you make up your mind. Sometimes the AuD will suggest one over the others.
I didn’t get a choice, where I live in Aus is very loyal to Prof Graeme Clark the inventor of the Cochlear. But that said I’m thrilled with the outcome I had…
You contact representative from each company and have a meeting with them. They will tell you all about the wonderful qualities that this particular processor has. Do your online research and ask the rep all the questions you have…
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My conclusion after looking at them was that any of them would work. They are probably all roughly equivalent. Is there a best one? Sure, which one is it? I don’t think there is any way to tell and it will probably change the next time one of them issues new hardware. Is the best one in general the best one for you? No way to know. All three brands had features I liked, I would have loved a lot way of combining them but a choice had to be made.
In the end the deciding factor for me was what the local audiologists were familiar with. The surgeon was willing to implant whatever I wanted but to find an audiologist who was experienced with AB or Med-el would have meant an extra hour and a half drive one way for every appointment, and I didn’t see anything special enough about them to justify that.
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When you start looking for your surgeon and audiologist you may find one brand easier to deal with near you. This was the case for me.
As mentioned, using the internet can be helpful to get into contact with any of the three major brands. All three will be helpful answering your questions. This contact person from the manufacturer helped me find an audiologist and a group of surgeons in my area to choose from that have great reviews.
As it turned out for me, Cochlear was super helpful and had all the bases covered to guide me through the CI process.
Everything before the day of surgery sure seemed to be the most difficult for me. Between name brand CI, implant array models, insurance, money, Covid, surgeons, audiologists, etc it can be mind boggling.
When it’s all done you will probably look back and say it wasn’t that difficult.
Good luck with all this and ask questions.
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You all have helpful input - thanks for sharing your experiences. The reps for Med El and AB were both very helpful and answered my tons of questions well. Haven’t talked with Cochlear yet. Your points helped me see that things are circling around toward AB. They have the best option for direct streaming from both a CI with acoustical HA attached in my left, and a “matching” Phonak Link HA in my right. Built in mic, so no need for a separate device for phone calls. A CI specialist from an hour away visits my town monthly and will do my eval. She also services Phonak aids, so my mapping and follow up can all be very local. My ENT and CI AuD both recommend I go to Vanderbilt, about a five hour drive. Vanderbilt offers a convenient two day option that includes all pre-testing and consults the morning of day 1, surgery in the afternoon, activation and mapping day two. It really cuts down on travel time/expenses and I can get follow up at home. SO, seems like that may be my best route…now I hope I fail my CI hearing eval so I qualify. 
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Joan I have heard fantastic reviews about Vanderbilt. Yes all the way from Australia, their reputation precedes them. I heard they run intensive 3 day courses where they do several mappings in a variety of settings. It’s my dream to get to one of those 3 day courses.
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Oh thanks for sharing that. Very reassuring. Are you the person who warned against a short array when looking at hybrid acoustic/electrical CI? I’m curious what length is considered “short”. The longest AB has is 20 mm. I’m told that with the longer 24mm + that they have to deactivate some channels anyway. How to know what’s best?!
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Joan yes, their is an array specifically made short for hybrid. The full length array are around 30mm long, could be a bit less. The hybrid array is about 21mm give or take a mm or two. I’m not really sure about the exact lengths.
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What brand of CI do you have? Any idea what array they used for you?