Learning To Hear The World

Editor: Despite the fact that cochlear implants (CIs) have become more accepted within the culturally Deaf community, it's still a big decision for someone who has long been a part of that community to take the plunge. Here's Sherri Collins with her CI story. This story originally appeared on Orato (http://www.orato.com) and is republished with their kind permission.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For people who live with a physical impairment from birth, or for a long time, life feels as normal as it does for anyone else. They simply live using whatever resources are at their disposal. Until something changes and they rediscover the world.

That's what happened to Sheri Collins only a couple of weeks ago. She had a cochlear implant -- a small electronic device placed beyond the damaged portions of the ear that directly stimulates the auditory nerve.

Sherri is 42 years old; she is the executive director of the Arizona Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. She was born deaf and this is her testimony.

~~~~~

August 29, 2006 is a date I'll never forget. That Monday morning my husband and I were sitting in my doctor's office, waiting anxiously for the activation of the cochlear implant I'd had the week before. I was anxious and a bit worried, wondering what hearing for the first time in my life would sound like. Would it change me somehow?

I was born deaf, 42 years ago, in Illinois. My mother had German measles while she was pregnant and that caused my hearing impairment. I had some residual hearing, but very slight. Actually, not even with hearing aids I was able to understand more than 20% of what people said. However, I was mainstreamed into regular public schools most of my life and I was raised with sign language. Being deaf was just another part of who I was. Some kids had freckles, some had big teeth. I was deaf. Not a big deal in the overall course of my childhood. I was a happy, normal kid.

But now my life was about to change. I was "chatting" with my husband in the way we had always done it-through sign language, but something was different when, all of the sudden, I had to pause. We were "talking!" For a second or two I was not sure what was going on. It seemed I didn't need to follow his hand gestures any more. I realized that I was hearing. Perceiving the sound of my nails tapping together as I signed and hearing my husband's hands as he signed, was an experience out of this world. Then I heard his voice and my doctor's voice too. I was amazed. I had no point of reference so I can't say how different I found the way they sounded from what I had imagined. Truth is, I've never thought about how their voices would sound. It's difficult to explain, but I guess it's like watching a documentary about Africa versus actually being there, enjoying the view, feeling the heat, perceiving the smells and tasting new flavors.

Hearing certain sounds for the first time was and still is an overwhelming experience. I don't know how to explain it but I can say that, so far it's been way beyond what I expected. It's like being born again. I am relearning the world. For example, the first time I heard the water running I didn't know what it was, until somebody told me and then I made the connection. It wasn't the way I registered with the help of hearing aids. It's a totally different experience.

I am surprised by every sound, no matter how insignificant; for example, by the unique sound of a felt-tip pen across paper, the dull hum of an air-conditioner coming to life and my audiologist, reciting the days of the week.

There are several other sounds that I'm just discovering. As I said, I used hearing aids before, but the overall experience is not the same. It's just not as multidimensional as regular hearing. For example, when taking a Speech Discrimination Test (also known as Word Recognition Test) before the implant the specialist found I was able to understand only 24 per cent of what I was being told. I repeated the test, making use of the implant only and the hearing range increased to 81 per cent and jumped to 91 per cent when I also added a hearing aid.

Being able to perceive many sounds at the same time and letting your brain filter them and prioritize them is a unique experience. People who have always heard are not aware of the many sounds that surround us. They have learned to live with background noises and focus on what captures their attention. For me it's a process I need to go through until it feels normal.

Part Two