Sarah Churman, an adult woman who was born deaf received a hearing implant in 2011 that allowed her to hear for the first time. I don't know how old she is, but my guess is that she is in her 30's. She waited 30 years to be able to hear herself talk, hear her children talk, and hear her husband say, "I love you" to her.
Sarah was born with a DNA defect that caused her hairs in her middle ear not to form, which are the hairs that transduce the sound from a wave to a neural message. The implant that she received was not a cochlear implant, because he cochlea was fine, the hairs were the problem.
Though Sarah can speak very well, many deaf people cannot speak well or at all. The reason for this is because when you can't hear, you don't have a feed back system that tells you how to say words and sounds. Deaf people have to rely on visual aids to learn sounds. This is could be seen as a type of synesthesia. Deaf people see sounds. Sarah explained in her interview with Ellen that she read a lot throughout her life and she just simply liked to talk. In her interview on the Today Show, her doctor explained that though she was severely hearing impaired, there was a little part of her that hear sounds which is why she speaks so well.
We can learn a very important lesson from Sarah Churman. In her Ellen interview she talks about the sounds that she was looking most forward to hearing once she got the implant. They were simple sounds that one of us wouldn't even think about. When its raining, the trickling of the rain is just another sound. The birds chirping is just another sound. Sarah's world was not complete without all of her senses and this teaches us to not take advantages of ours that are intact.
Interesting blog post. Your last paragraph really emphasized the fact that we cannot take what we have for granted. Although we don't often realize the wonder of our bodies, and the simple things we can do, we need to be grateful for them. It was fascinating to read that her doctor said that she had a little part in her brain that could hear sounds. Sarah seems like a really optimistic woman, and we can learn a lot from her.
Sophie, first of all, love how you incorporated Ellen. Also, this was so interesting! Sometimes we don't realize how many different things have to work together in order to make one seemingly simply thing work. It's so interesting how she was able to speak so normally. She really does shows us that we take a lot for granted.
This video was amazing. The fact that she is just beginning to hear sounds and experience this whole part of life is unbelievable, and it really makes you think about the things you take for granted. Being interested in Speech and Language, it is interesting to me that she was able to speak so well after going her whole life without being able to hear sounds. I would like to learn how the whole process of teaching the deaf to speak works; there must be some fascinating brain work going on there. After all, most people first hear sounds, and then later on are able to mimic them, but with deaf people this is not the case. I wonder how this whole process works.
I have seen multiple videos on YouTube about people hearing for the first time after receiving a cochlear implant. You can't help but tear up, it's so beautiful. It's so hard to imagine what it would be like to hear nothing one day, never knowing what your mother, husband, sibling, or grandfather's voice sounded like, and then the next day being able to experience all of that and more. Here's a great video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTzTt1VnHRM
Sophie,
ReplyDeleteInteresting blog post. Your last paragraph really emphasized the fact that we cannot take what we have for granted. Although we don't often realize the wonder of our bodies, and the simple things we can do, we need to be grateful for them. It was fascinating to read that her doctor said that she had a little part in her brain that could hear sounds. Sarah seems like a really optimistic woman, and we can learn a lot from her.
Sophie, first of all, love how you incorporated Ellen. Also, this was so interesting! Sometimes we don't realize how many different things have to work together in order to make one seemingly simply thing work. It's so interesting how she was able to speak so normally. She really does shows us that we take a lot for granted.
ReplyDeleteThis video was amazing. The fact that she is just beginning to hear sounds and experience this whole part of life is unbelievable, and it really makes you think about the things you take for granted. Being interested in Speech and Language, it is interesting to me that she was able to speak so well after going her whole life without being able to hear sounds. I would like to learn how the whole process of teaching the deaf to speak works; there must be some fascinating brain work going on there. After all, most people first hear sounds, and then later on are able to mimic them, but with deaf people this is not the case. I wonder how this whole process works.
ReplyDeleteI have seen multiple videos on YouTube about people hearing for the first time after receiving a cochlear implant. You can't help but tear up, it's so beautiful. It's so hard to imagine what it would be like to hear nothing one day, never knowing what your mother, husband, sibling, or grandfather's voice sounded like, and then the next day being able to experience all of that and more. Here's a great video:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTzTt1VnHRM
Technology continues to amaze me.