How Does a Cocliar Implant Help Deaf People?

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Many people in the deaf community prefer to communicate using sign language or lip reading rather using a coclear implant. But for some people, especially people who've lost their hearing later in life and want to continue using their native spoken language, coklear implants can be helpful tools. Mike says that reducing sound to digital ones and zeros and beaming them directly into your brain, it can sound strange.

In the same way optical illusions trick our eyes, audio illusions can trick our ears. This raises a fundamental question: What is hearing, and how much of it is made up by our brains?

This is the first episode of our new six-part series, Making Sense.

You can find more of Diana Deutsch’s auditory illusions at https://bit.ly/3Mdh6H4, Matthew Winn's research at http://www.mattwinn.com/Research.html, and Mike Chorost's writing at https://michaelchorost.com

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