Hearing Coachella for the First Time: Part 2

News Channel 3 introduced you to a Palm Desert man, hearing the music at Coachella for the first time, since getting a life-changing implant. Now he’s sharing what his experience was like and how music has changed his life.

Justin Tyle says, “I just sat in the back, put my head down, closed my eyes and just listened to music. I didn’t care about anyone around me, just listened to the music.”

That’s how Tyle describes his favorite moment, hearing the band M-83 hit the notes, he couldn’t hear before. He says, “It’s more about being able to hear many different instruments at once, as opposed to just a three piece band.”

Instrumental music is where it’s at for the 27 year-old. He made a brief stop to see 50-Cent and Snoop Dog but didn’t hang around long enough to see the resurrection of Tupac. He says rap and hip-hop are lyric-based, making the genre hard to understand. Tyle says, “When I listen to music, in order to understand speech, I have to focus on it and I don’t want to focus on speech.”

Figuring out which sounds suit his ears hasn’t been easy but one thing has always been clear. He tells us, “My worst fear is living in silence.”

So, he’s training in Aikido, the marital art of peace and harmony. Before his cochlear implant, last May, it was hard for him to find peace in a silent world. He says, “I’ve had a number of rough years. I even attempted suicide at one point because of all the stuff going on in my head about hearing and emotions in regard to that.”

When asked what got him past the darkness, he says, “After I got the implant, it was music.”

Music is something he can now enjoy to the fullest, whether it’s at one of the most famous music festivals in the country or playing on a family heirloom. No matter what, he’s thankful for those moments, so many of us take for granted. He says there’s nothing he’d rather do than, “Just being able to sit down and listen to the music.”