Cochlear implant.

[Gramaisc]

A friend of mine has had one of these fitted, a year or two ago - it is the most miraculous device!

However, he managed to knacker it this morning and I found him on my doorstep, bellowing at me, the gist of which was that he had done it before and his daughter-in-law knew how to put it back together again. I took him over there and she showed me, so that I can sort it 'next time'.

Without it, he is utterly deaf - with it, his hearing is probably better than mine.

 

[arthur]

My daughter had one aged 11 - she's now 35. She was the first congenital deaf child to have one in this country - great step forward for deaf people but not without its problems - hearing for the first time - very big shock - very hard to get used to. She didn't like it and couldn't get used to the noise around her. She did use it infrequently and make some progress with words and sounds but it wasn't such a huge success for her as it is for people that have gone deaf later in life.
She recently said she wants to try again to hear words and sounds with the hope that now she is older she will be able to overcome the obstacles she had before. We are going to B'ham hospital next wk for the electrodes to be re-mapped and have an upgraded post oral aid fitted - it starts another phase of her life in learning to use it. We hope that she will be able to tolerate the noise - she is keen to learn how to talk and listen to sounds in a quiet home surrounding.
Cochlear implants are now offered to hearing-impaired children aged 11 months - they can learn to hear and speak much faster if implanted young as their auditory nerve is stimulated at a very young age. I think that cochlear implants are a massive technological step forward.