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Tuesday, September 2

Music For New Ears - Creating Music For Cochlear Implant Users

Mike from Music For New Ears contacted me through Drew's Facebook page today to tell us about their amazing non-profit collaboration which aims to create music especially designed for cochlear implant users.

We all know how big of a deal music appreciation is to many CI users. Imagine a group of speech and language professionals collaborating with musicians to design music created just for those with CI's!

Please take a moment of your time to visit the Music For New Ears page on Ideablob.com and click on the green VOTE button on the right. If they get the most votes, they'll win a $10,000 grant to help develop this music.

Not decided whether you want to spend 2 minutes on this? Here is the description of their idea - in their own words.

Cochlear implants are surgically implanted electronic devices that provide a sense of sound to people with profound deafness. However, many aspects of sound, including pitch and timbre, are almost entirely lost in the process, making it difficult for cochlear implant users to enjoy music.

Music For New Ears is a non-profit collaboration between composers, hearing scientists, and cochlear implant users. We identify sounds that C.I. users can hear with the most clarity and use these sounds to compose new music.

Our mission is to help cochlear implant users better enjoy music by creating music specifically for them and the unique way in which they hear.
What will you do if you win $10,000 for this idea?

1) Pay our primary composer to create full-length music compositions for cochlear implant users.

2) Recruit C.I. users to provide us with valuable input during the composition process.

3) Arrange live performances for audiences of C.I. users in Boston, MA and surrounding areas.

4) Organize a national contest for composers unaffiliated with our organization to create their own pieces of music for C.I. users, with a grand prize of $1,000.

We have everything in place and we are eager to begin working. We simply need the funds to get started.


Sound good? Now go vote - I can't wait for them to get started!

Have a question for Mike? Email him directly at michaelpeterevans@gmail.com, or post your question as a comment so we can all see the response (Mike, let us know if this is ok).

7 comments:

Charlotte said...

Sounds brilliant, I was born profoundly deaf and never really heard music (feeling mostly). I have just got my CI. Would love to see how I hear music with it!

Regarding to voting we need to register to it.

leah said...

We voted! I wonder if you can vote more than once... (g).

Mike said...

Hello everyone! This is Mike, the director of Music For New Ears. I just want to say that I am completely floored by the length at which Drew's Dad is helping us, and the amount of enthusiasm we are receiving from all of you. You are maximizing both our inspiration and our motivation. Thank you so, so much. Have a wonderful day!

Vivie said...

brilliant!! I voted it too..And I'm going to post it in both my blogs ( Greek and English..) IF you don't mind!!

Drew's Dad..Terrific idea!

Dustin, Heather and Gavin said...

Hello Drew!
I love your blog you have alot of resources. I hope you dont mind but I put Drew's Go Buckeyes on my Blog! For my Family and Friends to see! It is Darling I love the part when Drew comes up to the screen and saids that's and you say yes that's you Drew back up a little! It is the age! I find myself doing this same thing with Gavin. It makes me laugh.
I've added to my friend link I'll check up to see how all of u are doing. We get Gavin turn on Friday!
Left Ear! It's a battle with the insurance to get bilateral implants! He wears a hearing aid on the right ear still hopefully we can get the other side done soon!

23 weekers said...

Thank you for your comment on my blog. Can I ask what Insurance company you used?

Shanon Woolley

23 weekers said...

I have BCBS of GA through Koch Industries. We ultimately want Bi-lateral. However, my ENT will only implant 1 at a time. He said the surgery would be too long to do both at the same time. Thank you so much for the info! I've been visiting your site and really appreciate all of the information you and your husband provide.

Thanks!
Shanon Woolley