Forwards and Backwards with Hearing Technology in 2004
The Cochlear Implant today
I have observed the development of the cochlear implant since it was a one
channel device in 1989. Long ago I wrote ER suggesting that a surgeon would have
a cochlear implant in his child, mas que pronto, and that the writers had made
the wrong choice for the Reese. The line for a CI used to be a very profound
loss in the better ear. The line has moved down to the bottom of profound. Many
people choose to also use a hearing aid in the other ear, and the CI industry is
discussing putting CI's in both ears.
While knitting a sweater for my grandson, I was watching TV.
A program came on called "Little Miracles", real stories about the Hospital for Sick Children in
Toronto. Last night the show was about a very small baby getting a cochlear implant.
There is no doubt that the surgery is brutal, and the equipment is clunky and
ugly but the child went from not hearing to hearing. The team consists of an
auditory-verbal therapist, an audiologist, a cochlear implant specialist, all
specially trained in this new field, and the
parents of course. And as a surprise Miss America turned up too, with her crown.
Babies Cry when the Cochlear Implant sound is turned on
Apparently, babies always cry when the sound is turned on. I thought that it
was similar to a birth cry. Maybe it is the first sound they make which is tied
to hearing for the first time.
The Development of Sound Technology
In 1965 I bought my dad a re-release on 33 rpm record of some very old music
from the 1920's. He listened to the new record and commented that he had not
thought the sound quality was so tinny at the time. In fact each new development
of the sound industry always sounded great until the next development came
alone. Think about the progress from wax to vinyl records, to 7.5 ips- 15
ips tapes, to 8 track tapes and the little Sony standard tape. Then the CD came
along and blew us all away. The digital music processing of today can take
anything and make it almost as good as the original live performance was. The
sound card on my last computer had different sound scapes from a bathroom to a
vast hall. Listening to the same sound in a different scape made a very
different sound.
Odious Feedback, lousy sound in the 1970's
My "Auntie" Kay had BTE hearing aids in the 1970's which squeaked from
feedback all the time. We had not learned the better way to talk with a person
using hearing aids, so we yelled at her from across the living room instead of
sitting close and facing her. With my
hearing aids in her ears, Auntie Kay would be in 7 th heaven because she loved
people so much and she was vitally interested in what people were saying. Helen
Keller said that deafness cut a person off from people. Auntie Kay fought with
that for her entire life.
Quack.Quack. Quack.in 1990
I had to laugh because I saw a brochure in the hearing aid dealers office
which had a duck on it, and asked "Does your hearing aid quack?" Reid had an aid
from that company for 3 years from age 2 to 5 which quacked all the time, and
spent 1 full year of its life being repaired. It quacked because it was all the
technology could do in an ear with a profound hearing loss. But I kept listening
to the hearing aid and asking "How is my son supposed to learn how to talk
English when all he hears is "quack, quack quack"?
No Quacks
I can tell you that my hearing aids do not quack unless I am with a duck. To
hear after 10 years of not hearing was such extreme joy that I was incapable of
writing about it. The closest I can come is to refer to the movie "Immortal
Beloved" about Beethoven when the ninth symphony was playing and the spirit
soared to the moon, the stars, the sky, the universe. I immediately thought how
Beethoven would have liked my new hearing aids a lot. Mixed in that joy was such
anger that my hearing was not important enough to our society that I had to cope
with increasing deafness for 10 years.
My Hearing Aids are Fantastic.
CI 's removed the need for hearing aids which were capable of being very
loud, so the hearing aids of today for mild, moderate and severe losses are
elegant with wonderful sound. I also have a fundamental understanding of the
need for the FM to reduce the effect of earshot and got a microlink built in the
hearing aids, and a handimike. Now when I go to the doctors I can stick the
handimike into his face and hear what he has to say...maybe I don't want to hear
that. I can also hear all the people who have soft voices in my life. There is a
big difference though between me and the average person getting hearing aids,
according to my hearing aid dealer. I am knowledgeable and enthusiastic and
would not consider a hearing aid without the FM. This unit costs a lot, but when
someone opts for a cheaper hearing aid and no FM s/he are not solving his or her
hearing problem as well as I do. Then s/he finds the hearing aid less useful,
and ends up not using it, and continuing to be deaf.
Need to do auditory/training myself
I have to teach myself to ignore all the sounds I have not heard for years,
just like Reid had to learn these things. The automatic program takes noise
samples and chooses the best situation. Crossing the crowd at the squat and
gobble in the local mall, both hearing aids turn themselves off. The fountain
near the stairs also turns the hearing aids off. In the toy department of Walmart, a child is playing with an odious electric guitar which plays a riff
from one touch on the string, over and over and over. I reach up to each hearing
aid and turn them off. With the molds in place I have a severe loss which is the
best way to go shopping.
The ear molds are tiny. I have decided that all the children who make a fuss
about their hearing aids are just getting what they can out of the situation,
although I am sure it is a surprise.
It is so much better to hear than not to hear.
Newborn Hearing Testing
When Jonathan was born in the same hospital Reid was, they had the equipment
for newborn hearing testing, 3 years ago but were not yet using it. Today the
twins will have a hearing test as part of the normal course of events for
newborn babies. I have fought for this, with many letters to many Ministers of
Health, and many Premiers, who responded with no understanding of the importance
of newborn hearing testing. So, in the 20 years since Reid was born, and the
average age of congenital profound deafness diagnosis was age 5. Locally the
hearing age threshold remained at 3 years because all the systems were set up to
examine hearing at that age.
I find it very satisfying that my work has resulted in my first grandchild
having a hearing test at age 2 weeks, outside of the established protocols, and
that the twins will have a hearing test in the hospital before they leave.
-PAM Candlish
1 January 2004
