Hearing Genius vs. Tech: 78 Keys Challenge 22 Electrodes!

Dear Mr. Wallburger,

I am writing you this message still completely under the impression of this afternoon in Vienna. I don't know who you sent to my house, but I have never experienced such a force of nature in my entire career as an audiologist. This man claims to be Beethoven – and after this conversation, I don't doubt it for a second. He gave me your contact because you are supposedly the tour guide for his renewed concert tour of 1796. I can't take all this seriously. But so be it!

Since he could hardly understand me acoustically, we communicated in a way that reminded me of historical reports: I typed my explanations into my laptop and turned the screen to him – just as one used to hold conversation books to him. Only today it was a bright monitor. He read my sentences with burning impatience, as if he wanted to devour the letters with his eyes.

The consultation was of an intensity that physically exhausted me. When I showed him the modern high-performance hearing aid, he reacted with sheer mockery and almost physical disgust.

Beethoven: "What is this tiny insect in my ear supposed to do for me? Do you think I want to hear the wailing of these electric cars or the distant clatter of tourist carriages louder? My problem is not the volume, sir – it's the substance! The strings are broken!"

I typed quickly: "Maestro, we need to talk about a cochlear implant. It bypasses the damaged inner ear and directly stimulates the auditory nerve with electrical impulses." I opened the graphic with the twenty-two electrode channels on the touchscreen. He leaned so close to the monitor that I could feel his heavy breath.

Beethoven: "Twenty-two? Only twenty-two points for the entire universe of tones? Are you mocking me? My piano has seventy-eight keys, and I wrestle with each one for the truth! How is a French horn supposed to fit through twenty-two wires?"

I hastily typed back: "The brain is the real marvel. It learns to mix the frequencies. It's like a patchy score, where your mind fills in the missing notes in spirit." He stared at the curves of the frequency bands as if they were hostile battle plans. Then he tapped so hard on the display with his gnarled finger that I feared for the glass.

Beethoven: "And the bass? If this algorithm, as you call it, cannot distinguish the low G from an F-sharp, my entire architecture collapses. A C major without foundation is a lie! Show me the bandwidth!"

He did not reject the implant, but he requested all the technical data sheets. He does not see the implant as a medical aid, but as an instrument that he still needs to tune. As he left, he said something that still gives me goosebumps:

Beethoven: "I will not allow a machine to dictate a false C to me. When I hear again, it must be the truth—or nothing at all."

Please let me know how we should proceed. He demands an answer by tomorrow on whether the software programming can be customized to his orchestral ideas. He wants to virtually compose the technology.

With highest regards,
Dr. Sven Weber

Background: Opportunities and Limits with Complete Deafness
When the inner ear is so severely damaged that conventional hearing aids are no longer useful, modern medicine offers a solution with the cochlear implant (CI). Unlike a hearing aid, which only amplifies sound, the CI converts sound into electrical impulses and transmits them directly to the auditory nerve.

The Opportunity: People who are completely deaf can thus understand speech again and participate in social life. After a period of training, many users can even use the phone again.
The Border: The sound quality of an implant is not comparable to natural hearing. Since only a limited number of electrodes (usually between 12 and 22) replace the thousands of fine sensory cells of the healthy ear, music and voices often sound tinny or mechanical at first. The brain needs time and patience to interpret these new signals. Enjoying complex music remains a major challenge for many affected individuals.

Further information can be obtained from the German Cochlear Implant Society e.V.