The gift of sound

Posted By DAVE FLAHERTY, LINDSAY POST REPORTER

Posted 2 months ago

For more than 30 years, Marty Lemire was unable to share in some of the simplest joys of life.

Now, he says a whole new world has been opened to him through a cochlear implant.

The Lindsay resident is one of relatively few Ontario residents who have had such a procedure.

A cochlear implant is a surgically implanted electronic device that provides a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing. Unlike hearing aids, the cochlear implant does not amplify sound, but works by directly stimulating any functioning auditory nerves inside the cochlea with an electric field.

The implant consists of three external parts, a microphone, a speech processor and a transmitter, and two internal parts, a receiver and stimulator which are secured to the bone and an array of up to 22 electrodes which send the impulses to the nerves in the scala tympani and then directly to the brain through the auditory nerve system.

According to information released by the U. S. Department of Food and Drug Administration, approximately 188,000 people worldwide had received cochlear implants as of April 2009.

Lemire's wife Karen was pronounced in her happiness with the change the implant has brought to their lives.

"It was a miracle. When it came to communication, on a scale of one to 10, we were at one," Karen said.

Karen said her husband rarely went out because he could not hear the conversations around him and he had to rely on reading lips or having things written down for him to understand.

"I couldn't even watch television without captions," Lemire said.

Hearing loss is hereditary in Lemire's family, as one of his sons suffers from a similar condition that he did at that age.

His brother has also received a cochlear implant and was the person who first encouraged him to get one.

The Lemires said Marty's newfound hearing has allowed them to do things they couldn't have before.

"We didn't travel a lot because we couldn't talk during the car ride," Karen said. "Now Marty can hear people in the back seat and beside him, so now we're going to make a trip to Texas."

Lemire received his implant about three-and-a-half months ago and continues to visit Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto to receive updates.

After every visit, he said he can hear new sounds.

Cochlear implants are covered under OHIP, but Lemire said approximately only 70 people receive the surgery under coverage each year in Ontario.

Becoming a candidate for the surgery is reliant on medical recommendation, as well as a number of other factors such as not benefitting from hearing aids anymore and having severe to profound hearing impairment in both ears.

The cost is anywhere from $55,000 and $110,000 Canadian.

It also does not come without risks, Lemire said.

Lemire explained he was warned there is a very small chance he may lose what residual hearing he has left.

There are other possible risks tied to cochlear implants depending on the age of the recipient and the type of implant.

The success rate of an implant depends on a variety of factors, and Lemire admitted he has met a few people who have had the implants who weren't as satisfied with the results.

However, Lemire said he needed to do something about his hearing loss while he could.

"You are really limited in your possibilities. I knew I was taking my chances, but I know I would have done this years before if I could have," Lemire said.

Cochlear implants have been a controversial topic within the deaf community.

Some see it as a threat, which as they view it, is a minority threatened by the hearing majority.

The debate is especially linked to cochlear implants for children who are born deaf.

Some members of the deaf community do not see deafness as a disability to be fixed.

The Lemires said while they see the viewpoint of both sides of the argument, they cannot deny the positive effect it's had on their lives.

"I would recommended it to anyone who has the chance," Lemire said.

Information on cochlear implants can be found at http://sunnybrook.ca/content/?

page=Dept_ENT_Prog _Coch.

dflaherty@thepost.ca