Last episode we met George Shin, who not too long ago received a cochlear implant and started to take piano lessons as part of a study at the University of California in San Francisco. This week we will learn more about his journey, the purpose and results of the study, and we’ll start exploring how people find meaning in music.

This week we attempt to find out if there are any universals in music, how the same sounds can go from speech to song, and how our auditory system processes music.

What is music? How would you define it? Does it defy definition?  In this episode we try to get answers to those questions from from a pioneer in music cognition research, a musicologist, and an otolaryngologist who surgically restores hearing and studies the brain basis of musical improvisation.   theensembleproject.com/cadence facebook.com/cadencepodcast  twitter.com/cadencepodcast [email protected]   Produced by Adam Isaak and Indre Viskontas. Music in this episode was provided by acclaimed New Zealand composer Rhian Sheehan from his album Stories From Elsewhere.