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Alive & KickingDeafness and the Cochlear Implant |
Unless we lose our hearing, few of us realize the contribution normal hearing makes to our lives. The ease of natural conversation makes a major impact on our psychological and sociological well being.
When my wife was in her mid-30s and attending a university class, she realized that even in her front row seat she could not clearly hear the instructor while others seemed to understand.
Even with the best medical care, major hearing loss followed within a few years.
Her hearing loss brought difficult years to our now fiftythree year marriage. It wasn’t that we didn’t try to adjust and communicate well, we were just unable to relate at the same level as before. We learned a number of important lessons in this process.
I have no question that hearing can be more important than sight in establishing and maintaining vital human relationships.
I can still see my spouse sitting at the end of the table holding a beautiful Thanksgiving meal which she had largely prepared. She was surrounded by our 20 well-loved members of our family, but she was all alone.
Everyone understood her limitations, everyone enjoyed her company, but she was now isolated. She could not participate, could not keep up with the conversation, didn’t know the topic; she was painfully alone.
Our many beautiful grandchildren were arriving during those years and were learning to talk, but she couldn’t hear a word they said. We were taking classes in signing and “cookie, please” was their favorite sign.
I learned the cause of the “terrible twos.” Like a two-yearold who struggles to make his needs known, I could understand, but I could not adequately reply. We found that writing notes back and forth was slow, tedious and awkward—and not nearly as much fun as note-passing in the fifth grade.
Our signing would have become more useful over time had another solution not found us.
We were given a video tape by someone who was associated with Speech Pathology. The tape portrayed a then-experimental program to restore hearing.
The film showed deaf people talking and laughing…socializing in someone’s family room.
We could not believe our eyes and ears! Some months later my wife was accepted into that experimental program for the FDA to receive a cochlear implant.
There are two stages to the procedure: first, surgery to place an implant in the mastoid protuberance behind one ear and the insertion of a fine filament containing 20 electrodes into the cochlea, which would then transmit electronic pulses to the brain by way of the auditory nerve. After a period of healing, the day came to program the external speech processor. The speech processor digitizes the sound and transmits to the internal implanted components via a magnet and radio waves.
I will never forget when the Audiologist said, “Merilyn, can you hear me?” The answer was “YES!” That afternoon we sat on our patio talking with our son for half an hour, and we only had to repeat one word to her!
At first she said I sounded like Donald Duck, but her brain knew the sound of my normal voice and within a few weeks I sounded the same as in the past.
Initially, a robin’s song sounded like a chain saw to her, but that too became normal.
What a wonderful adaptive brain! No longer is she socially compromised; she talks easily on the telephone, communicates with our fourteen grandchildren, family and friends. And this old two-year old is back in the loop! Marvelous science—amazing, adaptive mind.
Hearing—what a precious sense! What an adventure we have had! We appreciate medical research, competent professionals… and the price? About the cost of a high-end car that was paid by our health insurance. What a blessing this has all been. Take good care of your ears!
Guest columnist John Cooke taught high school biology for 30 years and is pleased to share his insights with our readers.