 Hello and a big welcome to Sound Sensation. The show with Nia and Peter, we're taking a break from our day jobs at Medell to host a special show. It's going to be a big celebration of all things music and hearing implants. Yes, we've got a packed show. There's an interview with one of the world's leading hearing implant surgeons, videos from all over the world and three fantastic guests here in our brand new studio. What if we start with some music? That's a great idea. So while this first performance comes from Mayor Tom, a Spanish musician. Yes, he wanted some performers to join his latest music video. So we ran a little competition where hearing implant users sent in videos of themselves singing, dancing or playing their instruments. The winners were Ludmilla, a singer from Argentina, Paulina, a dancer from Colombia and Fabio from Spain who plays the piano. Congratulations. Very cool guys. Check them out in the new music video for Mayor Tom's song, Tu Paredes del Sonido, which means your sound barrier. It's a new version of the song that Mayor Tom wrote a few years ago for his daughter. She has hearing loss, but thanks to her cochlear implant, she can enjoy her dad's music. Let's go check it out. What a way to kick things off. I love how that song starts quiet and builds momentum. I totally agree. What do you think, Rami? Would you like to have them in your band? Absolutely. So Paulina, Ludmilla and Fabio won a competition to take part in that music video, but it certainly wasn't the first competition for hearing implant users. No, one of the longest running ones is Beats of Cochlear in Poland. Of course. And the man behind it is famous ENT surgeon, Professor Henrik Skajinski. Well, he's behind a lot of things actually. He runs the World Hearing Centre and has been performing hearing implant surgeries for more than 30 years now. And he's even been getting involved in the film industry, I heard. That's right. But why not ask the man himself about his work with music and hearing implants? Somehow he managed to find some time to talk to us about it. Hello and good evening. Professor Skajinski, in 2022, the eighth edition of the Beats of Cochlear music festival took place. To the people in our audience who might not know about it yet, what is Beats of Cochlear? The International Music Festival for Children, Youths and Adults with Hearing Disorders, Beats of Cochlear, is an occasion to present the extraordinary achievements of modern science and medicine. Users of all sorts of hearing implants show off their musical abilities. They present both their communication skills and their musical ones. They perform as singers, as musicians playing all sorts of instruments and as composers. When we look at our patients, it's crucial to see more than just a person who we help to communicate with their environment. From the beginning, we wanted the festival to showcase the success of many hearing implant recipients, so they could become ambassadors of modern science and medicine. Thanks to these people, we can show the potential effects of rehabilitation. The festival participants are extraordinary. They are often professionals in various music genres or music enthusiasts. We need both of them because they support our activities and strengthen the positive image of all of us. And how did it come about that you initiated a full-length cinema movie about a man that regains his love for music through a CI? Probably more than one person came up with this idea, and indeed, I was not the only one. The idea had come up in the past because of many talented people. We wanted to show their skills, we wanted to show them to the world, so they could raise awareness to potential candidates through their music. The Sonata movie shows the story of one of our patients from his point of view. And could you please now tell us a little bit about the plot of the movie in a nutshell? The plot of the movie looks at what Gregorosh was experiencing and the problems he encountered. It shows the experience of people who helped him in the diagnostic and rehabilitation process and helped him in developing his communication skills. The breakthrough moment for Gregorosh was an operation and the new possibilities that had opened for him. He took advantage of these new opportunities brilliantly. Gregorosh can freely communicate within his surroundings, finish music school and follow a profession, continue his career and follow his passion. And I have to ask, how does it feel to be portrayed by famous Polish actor Yershi Sztur, who appeared for instance in Nani Moretti's famous movie, A Famous Papam, from 2011. Do you recognise yourself in that representation? I have been asked frequently if Yershi Sztur played my character well or not. I always answer that we gained one more surgeon, Professor Yershi Sztur. So when did the film premiere and how has the reception been so far? The film first premiered last year at a festival and was released in cinemas this year. The film has aroused great interest. It received prizes at various festivals. It was awarded a special audience award. The film was warmly welcomed by disabled communities. Gregorosh's various issues and the numerous barriers he overcame in the end give hope and chances for others. Not only people with hearing loss, but also other people with disabilities. So in your opinion, do you think that the movie has the potential to raise awareness of the barriers and the treatment options for profound hearing loss or do you consider it mainly a cinematic experience? The film addresses the deep-rooted issues faced by the main protagonist and his family. The film shows the challenge of overcoming a whole bunch of problems. The film shows the gradual overcoming of what seemed impossible to achieve. The film shows the gradual overcoming of what seemed impossible to achieve. The film shows that applied therapy, treatment and modern technologies like hearing preservation in partial deafness are not only a media or cultural occurrence. It shows, most importantly, the scientific and medical breakthrough through modern communication means and popularizes achievements and problems of the disabled among various communities. At the same time, we see that many obstacles in life can be removed and that we can help almost everyone. And what role does music play in your personal life? Do you make music yourself? Music is essential to everyone's life. It is important for me and I enjoy it, although I was not always able to fulfill my dreams in this area. In my high school years, when I made my own electric guitar, I did not manage to create a music band. In my student times, when I actively worked in a student's music club, Medic, we organized numerous cultural events including festivals, student song reviews and other musical gatherings. In my everyday clinical work, I use music to support various groups of patients, tinnitus patients, hearing aid users and hearing implant users. Thank you so much for your time, Professor Skarzynski. It's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you and greetings to Inzmruk. And now let's end by taking a look at the trailer of the movie. I don't want to say that your son is supposed to feel the sound in the low register. You turn it off, you turn it on. Sonata, do you want to learn how to play Sonata? It's a school for deaf and hearing people like you. Send us here. You won't learn in our school. I don't have the time to play Sonata. I don't have the time to play. You believe that he will play. We believe that someone can teach him. Who is it? Bravo. Great. Today is the day. In my opinion, in his case, he should appreciate his heart. It's important to have a logic. I'm talking about music. If you already learn it, you can teach me, okay? You know what? I don't have them in my ass. Pennis, very nice. Women don't have them. They all have them. Sasha, do you have Pennis? Yes. Why Pennis? Because God wanted it that way. A crocodile? A smiling crocodile. Okay, I see. Let's get somebody in who can explain it all to you. Please welcome Dagmar Hermanova. So, thank you very much. Thank you for making your trip here and joining us in the studio. It's great having you and thank you for making the time. I would like to interview a little bit about your project, the Smiling Crocodile. And how did it come to the name Smiling Crocodile and what is it all about? Okay, this crocodile is called Smiley. And it's a mascot of the charity called Smiling Crocodile. And the name came out about 15 years ago when I set up the charity. And, you know, all the charities are about, you know, everybody wants to have a hope or is in need. But we wanted to have it something which is positive and which everybody would remember. And that's why everybody's asking me actually the same question. Why Smiling Crocodile is called Smiling Crocodile? But this is for it. And also the crocodile is a cool animal. It's a brave animal, right? And a crocodile has a power so it can fight for these children in developing countries to get hearing back. Great. Now, but I can see the name is very fitting for it. And it's a very cute mascot you have there. So regarding the charity project, what were some of the Smiling Crocodile's highlights in the past years? Okay, we have two main projects so far. One is in Czech Republic. And there we have a big center for children with severe complex needs. Or four children with severe complex needs. And they are that severe cases that they would need or they are already needing the palliative care as well. So we have currently the kindergarten and elementary school. But we are aiming to have the children's hospice in the next couple of years and also respite care. So this is Prague Czech Republic and abroad. We are supporting thousands of children with hearing impairment or complex needs from emerging markets developing countries Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, English-speaking Africa, India a lot. And there the project is about the awareness. That's one thing. But also we are supporting the rehabilitation, education and integration of these children to the mainstream society. That sounds great. And it sounds like very far-reaching as well, stunning. But I also believe that music played a big role in this project somehow. Music is a big thing for hearing impaired people. Everybody knows it or not maybe everybody, but that's where we are here. This is the part of everybody's life and also for hearing impaired. It's important. And yes, during the therapies abroad, in developing countries, mainly we do a lot of music sessions, but it's not enough, you know. And when we were thinking about awareness four years ago, the music is a great connection and everybody likes music and it's rememberable. So we have created the campaign for CYHE I Live and the major thing of this campaign is the song which now I would say it could be named as an anthem for the cochlear implant users in developing countries. And we've recorded the song with a professional singer from Czech Republic Milan Perotka and the children or the main musicians from developing countries in 12 different countries in 10 languages. And this music is just going on. The songs were number of times used in the media or during the concerts, during different shows and it helps the children to get the awareness and get the influence. That is amazing. So maybe we should have a little sneak peek into the video of the song. Sweet child nice smile that he is lots of different dreams dirži s nadežda nogo znáči because nice melody from the heart because zvuki maj tuši a piac zavu wunai darikomom xiwong cai cung qiši cingshō těnġeġ nice melody from the heart chōka mundi ma wona ku wālā wona ku lande kā wona cing van de kā mi kāndi ba mue hňaňaňaňaňa vana mai I live forever, I'm not afraid of the sun, I'm not afraid of the moon. countries intensively since 2011 actually and not just Medell but also Dr. Hochmeier personally and because of Medell a lot of projects could be done and a lot of children could be helped in a way that they could receive their habilitation and education if they are for example living in slums or they are orphans they would never be able to get any rehab without Medell support, Medell kind support. That sounds lovely great just regarding the charity project that you're running in India what's what are you raising money for? Okay in India as I said we support their habilitation and education of the children which are living in disadvantaged areas and you know one part is that they get their habilitation in the center but India is a huge country and these children living in the slums are living sometimes hundreds of kilometers away from the centers and from the therapies so they need some transport and we are fundraising also for the transport for these children and they used to pay the tuk-tuk service taxi service in India but we came we came to the idea to have our own tuk-tuk smiling crocodile tuk-tuk which would be regularly transporting the children from the slums to the centers so currently we would be happy if anybody would help us to fundraise for the smiling crocodile charity tuk-tuk specifically for this transport of the children. I understand and so how if people would like to contribute or donate something how would they be able to donate towards your tuk-tuk? They can definitely go to our website www.smilingcrocodile.org and they can push the button donate and donate whatever they want you and thanks very much for anybody's help. Are there any more questions for me there? There are not on here but there would always be of course but I would just like to say thank you so much again for coming for joining us here it's amazing work that you're doing and I hope that I'll see you again very very soon thank you Dasha. Thank you very much for having me over and thanks to everyone which is which is supporting us and which is willing to donate to smiling crocodile children goodbye. I'm really loving the energy of our band today actually now would be a good time to introduce them. Yes that's a good point okay so like us they work at Medell headquarters we've got research manager Rami on vocals and keyboard. Technical writer Marina on vocals and the acoustic guitar. Anaketa who manages ENT relations on bass. And software technician Jacob on the drums. And I must say they sounded very in tune. Yes maybe they got Marcus Seutel involved. Who? Marcus Seutel he tunes and repairs organs for a living. Not that kind of organ but real church organs in Europe Asia and even Australia which is especially impressive as he had all those chlorosis and uses a bone bridge bone conduction implant to hear. Let's go check it out. My job is to bring it to sound in this style as it is always is. But I tune the organ and I tune it. Yes and three and a half years ago I was in the middle of a project. It was just one in the morning on the left ear. It was a waiting feeling. I thought it would be a little dirty and with more research and tests it was then diagnosed orthosclerosis. That means my hearing bones can no longer transport the skull into the inner ear in normal success, let's say. Of course, we made great care at the beginning. A little hardened with my fate, which maybe everyone would do. Because I also hang a lot on my job and I do that with almost 30 years now with heart blood. But my doctors and also the technicians of the company Medell have made great courage from the beginning. And so of course I decided for the implantation and was then supplied with the implant in November 2018. And that was of course an incredible moment because I could hear everything. That was very impressive. Of course, my brain gets two different information from the right good ear and the implanted ear. And that also took a certain time until it all went back to normal. But now that's all no longer a problem. For these fine settings, my dear colleagues from Medell have already been in the hall in the cathedral with me. After I had activated the implantation for three months and they made such great changes that the hearing experience for me was much better. So not only the hearing experience, but also that of course hearing from the highest note to the loudest sound. And from this point of time I really work as normal as before on my job. It's amazing that he can carry on with his work even after hearing loss. Yes, just like Beethoven. He also used bone conduction when his hearing got worse. Of course that technology was quite different to an implant. Basically just the wooden stick between his teeth, still Beethoven managed to compose true master pieces. One of them was Ode to Joy, which leads us to our next video. Yes, this is a choir workshop for hearing implant recipients held right here in Austria. Let's take a look. The most important thing, I think, is that there is a lot of practice and the music that belongs to it. The music is one of the most important therapy forms in the CI history. I'm Astrid. I come from Switzerland, from Lucerne. I was also there in the Lucerne Kantonspital, and now to experience my music with the implant. As a child I sang a lot and music. I also come from a musical family. And then when my hearing was taken off and I carried hearing devices, the music was no longer pleasant to me. So I avoided listening to music, because I needed a lot of rest and it didn't sound good either. And then with the implant, at the beginning it was also a bit difficult with the music, because all the saved music pieces, until they somehow sounded like they used to sound, it was already a transition that wasn't so easy, but with time you learn to listen to music again. And that comes automatically, because I then started listening to a lot of music again on the radio or at concerts. And then it was a pleasure again. And that has always come to me, that I then also returned to the music field and I started to sing. That was actually some music. That was really nice. Oh, the Sankt der Flügelweib. What a surprise. It looks like one of the choir members is here. Welcome Mr. Heinz Kirchschlager. Hello. Hi, nice to meet you. Hi, good having you. Please take a seat. Thank you. So Heinz, tell me, how was the workshop in Sankt Pilten? It was a great experience to sing, dance and have a good time with 18 people of different countries. Also we got a small final concert. It was lots of fun. And the new family was founded. The C.I. singers. That sounds amazing. But I hear that you're not only a singer, you're also a musician, right? Actually, I started playing folk music with the C.I.R. It's like an accordion, quite late in life. I was 48 years. But my hearing got worse and worse. By 2017, I was almost deaf on my right side. So I gave up my music making. But then you got your cochlear implant and that changed everything, right? I got my C.I. four years ago. Adventure back to the C.I.R. a short time later. I soon realized that the instrument is the best hearing training and therapy for me. Now I own two new harmonicas and regularly I do performance with two friends. I regained back the joy of music. That's amazing. And now, of course, we would love to hear you play. Sure. Great. Oh, the man came prepared. It's beautiful. Thank you so much. Well, and Heinz, before we let you go, we saw that you brought another instrument, a very unique, a very special one, one that you designed and crafted yourself. Wow, what is that? This is a cochlear shaped alpone. That's incredible. The first worldwide what I made with my friend out of Brucewood. Beautiful. And how did you come to the idea to build this instrument? I knew I must have worked hard with my new C.I. And I think I must do something crazy those alone. It sounds perfect. Could we therefore hear a few notes? Of course. Great. It's awesome. And I hope for all two more pieces, you can. Oh, did you? Can we? Yes. That would be amazing. I, me being the gentleman, I would say ladies first. Okay, Peter, it's game on. Hold. Here we go. Ladies first. Ladies first. Okay, thank you. I may be a little competitive, so here we go. I want to do the high note, low note. You ready? Please do. There you go. I got multiple notes. Okay, Peter. Okay, I have a go. For you. Thank you very much, sir. This is fantastic. It sounds more like calling it out in the wild. Thank you very much, Heinz. Thank you for having you. Thank you for your inspiring story. It was awesome having you on the show. And I really hope that we're going to meet again very, very soon. Thank you for being... ...sincerely showed us how it's done. Next up, Eurovision. You joke, right? But one of our hearing-implant users almost made it. Really? Yes, one of our Bonebridge users, WoW judges in Israel's Eurovision selection competition in 2019. And Medell also had a special role in Eurovision this year. Wow, really? Yes, indeed. We had an extra studio set up for people with hearing loss at the Song Contest in Italy, with special assistive listening devices, subtitles and sign language to make it fully accessible. Roughly 80 people with hearing loss, hearing aids and hearing implants get to enjoy Europe's biggest music competition, Life in Turin. Okay then, in that case, let's check it out. The fact of living together with people who have your own sign language, however, is that, like you, you sometimes find yourself facing difficulties that seem insurmountable, it helps you to not feel alone, and, on the other hand, to find a bit of inspiration in your daily life. For the first time, we've heard and included listening to the music, which is usually your sound, but, of course, I don't understand a lot, so it's been a great experience. It's really amazing to see how far technology has come. It's easier than ever before for people with hearing implants to enjoy music. That's true. There's a constant progress in implant sound quality, streaming technology and even in music training software. Our next guest is working on just that, with a tool that has huge potential for hearing implant users. Welcome to one of the men behind the innovative Melodia app. Thank you for being with us here today. Thank you for having me. Okay, to start off, perhaps you could tell us a little bit about the Melodia app and what led you to develop it? Definitely. So, basically, many people think that we can't change our perception of music, of sound, even of the world. And at Melodia, we believe that this perception can be changed. Okay, so we can change the way we react to sounds, the way we react to music. And this can be done by the right triggers. And when it's being done, it can trigger also some emotional breakthrough, which are very good, like, for example, enjoying better to listen to music. Would it be fair then to say that it's almost training your mindset or retraining your mindset? There is definitely an aspect of it. Your relationship to sound needs to change, as well as developing some skills, developing some specific abilities, like, you know, micro skills that are going to combine together, create some bigger abilities for life. And in terms of the content of the app, how did you go about creating that? Well, Michael Fonder, Vincent Chintrier, has been working for 25 years, accompanying more than 3,000 people from all musical levels, all ages, and has developed a way to increase the musical potential, but also the listening abilities of those people. So the idea was to create some exercises in an interactive way to follow his patterns, to follow his method. Okay, so he was basically out in the field for many years? Yeah, it was basically one of the biggest field research possible in different kinds of music with different kinds of people. That sounds fantastic. Okay, so in terms of the app itself, I mean, there are several apps out there, I'm sure you're aware. What sets Melodia apart from a normal music app or a rehabilitation app? So an interesting thing about Vincent Chintrier is that he has some hearing impairments, he has some tinnitus himself. Ah, that's interesting. Yeah, he had an accident when he was 17 years old in a swimming pool, he fell on his ear, unfortunately, and he had a tympanoplasty. So he's always been very sensitive to what it means to be in the world with tinnitus or with hearing impairments. What it is to have, to develop some things in your mind to get around this condition and to be in the world with that. So what specific benefit can people with hearing implant or hearing implant users gain from using Melodia? So the first thing is about music perception and music enjoyment itself. Our goal is that through the exercises that music appear as more enjoyable for them. The second one is about being exhausted at the end of the day because you've been listening and your brain has made so many efforts. So the idea is that through those very targeted listening exercises to develop some focus and attention and also to help the brain spend less energy. With the things of everyday life. And the third one, which I think can be very important, what we have in music is interesting. In music, everybody can speak at the same time in a way. So you have different instruments playing different voices. In Melodia, we have some exercises with, for example, two voices played at the same time and then playing the high one again or the low one again. And the idea is to be able for your mind can actually separate, can discriminate different sounds played at the same time, which can be very helpful in noisy environments. Like, for example, in a restaurant when you have to focus on someone's voice or someone else's voice and filter the other voices around. That sounds actually like quite a fun game and very useful for hearing implant users. We often have the conversation that being in a restaurant or a noisy environment, as you said, saps the energy sometimes or takes a lot of concentration. So yeah, that sounds actually quite fun. A fun game. In terms of using your app for education, is this something that could be used, for example, in a classroom with both hearing-implanted children and people with normal hearing? Definitely. Most definitely. We have lots of schools, music schools, but also general schools, using Melodia all around the world. And what teachers said about that is that it develops a state of listening. Like, you know, creating this inner listening, creating some space inside to let something come and really listen to it. And it's not just about music, right? It's about having some more listening children in the world as well. Well, exactly. And that actually ties in very nicely to what Medell is about with overcoming hearing loss as a barrier to life. So we want to be out there enjoying all that life has to offer. Okay, so for all of our hearing-implanted users out there, could you let us know or let them know how they can locate the app? Where could they find it and download it? Definitely. So it would be through My Medell. And we have implemented a way for users to go on Melodia and connect with their My Medell credentials in order to have a one-year unlimited access on Melodia. So I'm interested. Have hearing-implanted users already used the app and have they enjoyed it? Oh, yes. Since 2017, we were first contacted by UCSF and Dr. Charles Limp, who conducted a study with cochlear implant users. The feedback were very good and the results as well. Then we started working with Medell in 2018 with Johanna Boyer from Medell in America. And she did a study. She also helped us fine-tune some exercises at Melodia so that they are completely compliant with cochlear implant users and during the studies she even proved that every cochlear implant user can actually start with Melodia, that the exercises, the first exercises, are simple enough for them to start and to make progress onto the app. So the feedback was also amazing because they started to say that their world of music, their perception of music was changing as well. So yeah, we are very excited with this new phase of making Melodia available to everyone in the world. That's fantastic. So the history with Medell and Melodia actually goes back quite some time and so this is the time now. We're ready, we're ready to go. It is. Well, Bastian, that's all we've got time for today. So I want to say thank you so much for coming in, explaining everything to us. It's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you very much for having me. Goodbye. So don't miss that chance and get your free one-year Melodia license via mymedell. Find everything you need to know down here. And with musical training, the sky is the limit. You can listen to music, sing, play an instrument and some people with hearing implants even go beyond that and produce their own albums. One of them is jazz musician, bass player and composer, Dizzy Yoshimoto from Japan. And another one is Roy Smith an American banjo and guitar player with cochlear implants who recently released an album. Here's some clips behind the scenes. Actually, let me just change my processor program okay to mic forward which I think gives me better control over my voice. The definition of cyborg is like park man, park machine and I am one. So what does it feel like to be a cyborg, Roy? Feel any different? Can you run faster? No, no, but I can suffer more when a fire engine comes by. I've realized that it's very important to me to be holding a guitar or a banjo and feeling it. For some reason, I mean I can use a pitch of instruments and the timbre of instruments pretty well but vocal pitch, my own vocal pitch is a real challenge. So this is where I'm pushing the limits of what's possible. When I got my first hearing aid and began to sound just like noise, I put my instruments literally in the basement. Put my aspirations in the closet. It dazzles the eyes with its chemical dyes. Going by with its harlequin charm. I expected it to suck and it's good. It's really good. Great, I loved it. And here it is, it's Mended Spirit. Yes, and if you want to see more world-class musicians with hearing implants performing on the big stage, make sure to watch Sound Sensation, the grand finale. Live from Vienna in Austria. Along with the premiere of Virtual Voices and Band, an online band made up entirely of hearing implant users. That's all from us for now though. A big thanks to all our guests, the studio team and of course the Medell Band. And also a big thank you to you for watching. Have a great time and keep the music playing. you