KPLU recently reported that Engineers at the University of Washington have developed a way for those with cochlear implants to enjoy music.
Cochlear implants allow hearing impaired people to hear speech, however the implants are not sensitive to pitch. Engineers have achieved the affect of changing pitch by adjusting the algorithm used to encode the sound. The new algorithm varies the pulse rates of the implants in a way that convey’s pitch. In addition to hearing music, the advancement may also help those with cochlear implants hear speech better in noisy environments by differentiating the different pitches of the people talking.