Music is perhaps the most the sublime gift of hearing? But why is music so important to us and why does it have such a profound effect on the human heart? In this episode, these questions will take us on a journey through the ear, into the brain and right into the heart of the human psyche. Along the way, we will meet world class neuroscientists, like Daniel Levitin and a host of extraordinary people--from a woman whose brain cannot "hear" music to a deaf musician who is one of the world's top percussionists. We'll also meet Dr. Blake Papsin, of Sick Children's Hospital in Toronto, to explore how a revolutionary little device called the cochlear implant is restoring hearing to the deaf.

Originally broadcast as an episode of "the Nature of things" on CBC in 2008.

Chapters include: 1) Introduction 2) Our second sense 3) Music: it's all in your ears 4) Hearing for the first time 5) Hearing through sight and touch.