Deaf Couple Hear Each Other for the First Time

Last Update: June 20, 2018 at 12:18 pm

SOURCE:  Metro

Feb 20, 2017

 

Incredible moment deaf couple hear one another for first time

This is the emotional moment a deaf couple hear each other’s voices for the first time in 12 years of marriage – after their cochlear implants were switched on.

Neil and Helen Robinson have both been deaf since birth and have communicated through sign language, lip reading and failed attempts at using hearing aids.

But they have become the first-ever couple to receive cochlear implants at the University of Southampton Audiology Implant Service (USAIS).

They underwent surgery to implant tiny electrodes in their skulls and are now starting to hear for the first time in their lives.

 

The emotional moment the devices were first switched on was captured on video – with Neil, 50, at first joking that he didn’t like the sound of his wife’s voice.

But he added: ‘I am getting used to it now. It felt incredible, in a happy way. It felt really emotional.’

 

Amazingly, Neil reckons his new-found hearing could have saved his life after stepping out of the way of an oncoming car after hearing it before he saw it.

The couple, who live near Salisbury, Wiltshire, were born deaf due to their mothers contracting rubella during pregnancy.

Despite their audio impairment they have lived full and happy lives – they have raised a son and Neil is an Assistant Curate at Salisbury Cathedral.

 

Helen, 54, tried for two years to persuade Neil to have an implant and he finally agreed after frustrating attempts at using hearing aids.

They first underwent surgery by Tim Mitchell, a consultant Ear, Nose and Throat surgeon at the Nuffield Health Wessex Hospital in Eastleigh, Hampshire.

 

The implant consists of two parts which sit on the inside and outside of the skull just above the ear and are joined by a magnet.

Information from the processor on the outside of the skull is sent to 16 electrodes on the inside, which then send electrical pulses to the brain.

 

FULL STORY WITH PICTURES:  http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/20/incredible-moment-deaf-couple-hear-one-another-for-first-time-6459802/