Soundscapes of Code: Cochlear Implant as Soundscape Arranger

Abstract

<p>People living with cochlear implants hear their environment through microphones and software code. The interfaces between audio signal and self bring challenges of adaptation in situations where sonic phenomena are regularised to signal-to-noise automation. This chapter examines these embodied human–technology relationships by asking how machine-enabled soundscapes of code shape the sense of space, our understanding of acoustemology (knowing place through sound), and what kind of listening agency is given to the implant. These questions are approached through an empirical study: a one-year ethnography with an adult informant adapting and learning to listen with two cochlear implants.<br></p>