Cochlear Implants and MUSIC : The case of Jan Turbanski

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Cochlear implantation: right ear, 25 June 2013 

‘Playing music is my greatest passion’ 

Jan was interested in music since he was young. He started singing in a church choir, it was a beginning of his fascination in music. In 1977 he joined a regional folk music group ‘Chojnioki’ and started learning to play the local type of bagpipes – dudy wielkopolskie. He had to study on his own as there were no teachers; his only aid were tips from an older bagpiper. After one year of study he was accepted into the brotherhood of the Greater Poland bagpipers. He was a member of a folk group consisting of bagpipes and fiddle. 

Unfortunately, he had to abandon music because he started to loose hearing. It was probably caused by the noise associated with his profession – he is a blacksmith. 

In 2013 he received a Sonata cochlear implant. After one year of rehabilitation he started again singing in a church choir and playing bagpipes. He noticed that after cochlear implantation his playing has improved, because he can better hear fiddles and singing. He performs with ‘Chojnioki’ on different events and festivities. 

‘Music gives me a sense of being able to give something of myself to others and being needed’. 

Author: Mohamed Aymen Najjar
World Hearing Center, Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, Warsaw/Kajetany, Poland