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Remember when Rush lost his hearing? He has a prosthetic device in his inner-ear. It generates a stream of electrical signals to the remaining part of his nerves ~ but it doesn't affect all of them.

He can appreciate music that was recorded before he lost his hearing ~ provided he heard it back then. He can't get enough signal through this system to learn any new music.

So, why can he hear the old stuff? Well, his brain fills in the missing material. That's what's going on here. You lost some hearing. Your brain hears clues ~ a brief sound bit here or there, and FILLS IT IN so that you know what you heard.

Or maybe you DON'T!

There are people who have lost accuity in hearing ~ they are certain they are hearing "black" or "blacks" ~ and it can't be both either ~ but they are totally certain.

Sorry, that word isn't there. It's just your brain, and their brains, playing tricks ~ like it's designed to do.

Give you an example drawn from nature. You are out there hunting for a Rhinoceros and you hear a heavy breath behind you somewhere in the grass. Is it a lion, or a tiger, or a baboon? Your brain takes the sound you heard and matches it to a best fit ~ TIGER!!!! Oh, my gosh, and you turn just in time to let fly an arrow into a crouching baboon.

Sometimes the brain is wrong, but if it'd told you "Oh, that's just a baboon breathing" and it was a lion, then you'd be dead.