Wendy Cheng is a full-time systems librarian, mother, amateur viola player, and founder and president of the Association of Adult Musicians with Hearing Loss (AAMHL). She lives in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. and has a cochlear implant (CI) that enables her to hear at least some frequencies and volumes of music. Wendy is also an avid user of Etymotic's Companion Mics system.

"I love the Companion Mics system! Recently, I played viola in a community orchestra as part of a string festival concert to raise funds for the Monocacy Valley Montessori School's string program. The guest conductor for the event was Elizabeth Schulze, conductor of the Maryland Symphony Orchestra and also a strong advocate of music education. For the event, the orchestra was to perform Concerto Grosso for Four String Orchestras by Ralph Vaughn Williams – where each section of the orchestra (first violin, second violin, viola, cello and bass) would have players playing four different parts.

"Even for a musician with perfect hearing, this piece is an enormous challenge. It requires being able to hear the conductor's instructions and comments during rehearsal, as well as being able to hear the other musicians' parts while playing your own part.

"The first rehearsal, I brought the wrong kind of cable to connect the Companion Mics to my CI. Sitting in the back row of the viola section, I really couldn't hear Ms. Schulze as she gave the measure numbers for the sections we were rehearsing. I had to constantly ask my stand partner which measure we were on, which seemed to irritate her. It was all I could do to resist the temptation to pack up and go home halfway through the rehearsal.

"The next rehearsal, I overcame my reticence to call attention to myself and gave the Companion Mics speaker pendant to Ms. Schulze. I also remembered to bring the right patch cable for my CI. What a difference! I could hear Ms. Schulze clearly now, although I was sitting probably 40 feet away:

"'Let's hear the violas at measure 63.'

"'This Sarabande is supposed to be very sad and mournful. Put feeling into your music.'

"'This March needs to be played with military precision and rhythm – like a soldier's march. Let's try the opening bars again.'

"Also, my CI doesn't transmit the lower alto lines as well as it does the violin section, but with the Companion Mics I got a good idea of how the lower strings should sound. As a result, now I can listen to this music with far more enjoyment and understanding. My experience using the Companion Mics in this orchestra situation helped to make my knowledge of the music more complete.

"I was close to tears of happiness. No more straining to hear or trying to lip-read someone standing 40 feet away. I could concentrate on what we were supposed to play. This is what I always wanted orchestra conductors to do, and how I always hoped rehearsals and performances could be. Yaay!!"