Technological advances are helping more and more people with severe hearing loss. SDPB’s Levi Gutz has this story about people whose lives have been changed through the implants.
Sound . . . it’s part of our everyday lives. So much so, that we rarely stop and think about how incredible our hearing process is. We also may not think about what it would be like to lose our hearing.
That was the attitude that Michael O'Conner had.
I had good hearing at one time. And I had no idea what a fantastic gift that was.
O'Conner says, "I had good hearing at one time. And I had no idea what a fantastic gift that was. You have to lose some things before you really begin to appreciate them.”
O’Conner lives in Vermillion and grew up on a farm. He says he first blamed his hearing's decline on spending too much time around loud tractors and aging. But after an accident that took his right arm, O’Conner's hearing went from bad to worse.
O'Conner says, "My hearing started going down rather quickly in the scheme of things. People had to continue to repeat things to me I wasn’t catching it. Young girls’ voices were really difficult to understand. Women’s voices, high pitches were about shot. I quit listening to music because I couldn’t hear the high notes and it just ruined songs. There was nothing there. And as I lost my ability to understand the spoken word, my world shrunk. It got smaller and smaller, I had to quit a number of things.”
O’Conner says that hearing aids were no help and he conceded to living in silence. Until a friend suggested the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of South Dakota. O’Conner says he didn’t know anything about the program but trusted his friend. He met with Jessica Messersmith who is an Assistant Professor in the Communication Sciences and Disorders department at USD. After a few visits, O’Conner was diagnosed with severe hearing impairment and learned he qualified for the university's cochlear implant program. It's a program that Messersmith had started a few years ago. She’s been seeing patients since 2011. Messersmith met with O’Conner and explained the device, but he says it was an instant decision to get the implants.
O'Conner remembers, “It took me about three minutes to decide once I found out I was a candidate. I was ready to go. There was no question, like well we gotta, the pros and the cons; there weren’t any cons you know. I just absolutely did not want to go the direction I was headed. This isolation of being in a world where you can’t do the things you’ve done all your life, that wasn’t for me."
But an implant comes with a warning, Messersmith says it's not as simple as putting a device in your ear.
Dr. Messersmith says, "Unfortunately many people who come in to start the conversation about a cochlear implant think that it’s an easy fix or will give them normal hearing again or it’s a fix unfortunately it’s really not that way. There’s no way that we can provide a restoration of normal hearing."
Even hearing your first word takes time, Michael O’Conner says despite the lengthy process and regular appointments, he still remembers hearing that first word.
O'Conner says, "About four months later, what we do is go in every week, every two weeks and we adjust and adjust, bring it up a little bit at a time. And after, I think it was February which would be about four or five months later. I was hearing words, with this mechanical device. I couldn’t believe it. It comes so gradual that you don’t know what the immediate changes are. But when they tested me, I was hearing words. I couldn’t believe it, it was just elation. That was a very special time.”
Cases like O’Conner's aren't the only kind that is helped by cochlear implants. It can be a solution to many people who were born with hearing impairments.
Audrena Crum is four years old and also lives in Vermillion. Audrena showed signs of hearing impairment at a very young age. Her parents Randy and Carrie researched and visited several specialists trying to find a solution.
Carrie Crum says, "At that point the doctor gave us the choice that we could go for further testing or come back later. We chose to go with more advanced testing being an ABR, Auditory Brainstem Response. And so we did go for that, that came back with severe to profound hearing loss in both ears and they recommended a second opinion at that point. So we went to Boy’s Town National Research Hospital in Omaha. They did a sedated ABR where they actually put her under anesthesia for it to get a more accurate response and that came back with profound hearing loss in both ears.”
Their family friend also suggested the USD Cochlear Implant Program and the Crums met Jessica Messersmith. After a diagnosis and several tests, Audrena qualified for cochlear implants. The procedure was done by the time Audrena was 18 months old. Now she is saying words, short sentences, and keeping up with other toddlers.
Audrena- “Yeah, Elsa bike.”
Carrie-“What color is your Elsa bike?”
Audrena- “Um, red . . . uh blue!”
Carrie-“It’s blue! Yep it is blue.”
Randy-“Can you sing?”
Audrena-“No.”
Randy-“Can you sing ‘Let It Go’?”
Audrena-“No.”
Carrie-“She’s not gonna sing today.”
Carrie Crum says the Department at USD changed everything. Now Audrena can be like any other four year old who loves to have fun and watch Frozen.