I'm deaf from birth with hearing parents, BSL is my first language, I'm immersed in deaf culture, I've got a cochlear implant at age 13 that was my own choice - my parents were against it, but they supported my decision. I identify as disabled. Even though I can communicate with hearing people, I much prefer signing and deaf culture even though I get mild abuse from a tiny minority of deaf people however it's rare and I usually set them right. Let me say...
1. I never heard music before age 13, and I have never loved music after the implant, I can live without it. I rarely use my car radio, if at all. I simply don't understand music - it's just a bunch of random noise to me. I use music when I want to drown out boring noises such as car engines, however I'm more likely to turn off my processor than to turn on the radio. I don't miss what I don't know. I derive pleasure from many other things, I'm happy.
2. Children laughing as they play? I can *see* them. I derive so much more joy from seeing them than hearing them.
3. Birds singing? When they sing, I want to shoot the fuckers. Their noise is irritating due to the nature of implants, they sound like monotonous bleeping.
4. There are deaf smoke alarms that wake me with shaking and flashing. There are technology workarounds. I'm as likely to die in a fire as you are. You realise processors are taken off at night, and deaf people remain deaf, the implant isn't a cure, it's a prosthetic - in fact, that's exactly what written in my medical notes.
5. Who cares?
My problem is that cochlear implants are touted as a perfect cure - it's not. Hearing aids are of massively better quality than cochlear implants. Implants will only truly benefit a minority of deaf people, such as myself. My deafness is so bad that audiograms are just a flat line at the "No Response" spot at the bottom, I can't hear jet engines when standing next to them with 140dB hearing aids turned up at 11. Before implants I couldn't speak for shit, I couldn't understand any hearing people, but now with the implant, I can hold reasonable conversations. I know a lot more deaf people who are fluent in spoken languages and isn't obviously deaf that many people refuse to believe that they're deaf - and they wear standard hearing aids! Hearing aids are more than good enough for MOST deaf people and implants will actually be a hindrance, than a benefit. The issue is that when doctors find a child is deaf, they immediately recommend implanting, no matter the severity of deafness of the child - most of the time, hearing aids are in fact a better option.
The world isn't black and white - not everyone are the same. Different solutions fit different people - some deaf people benefit better if they're not taught sign language, while others benefit more if taught sign language. If I wasn't taught sign language I wouldn't be the happy person I am now.