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| Dale Henry |
Born with a severe to profound hearing loss that was bilateral ie, one ear heard loud sounds, the other quieter sounds, he had struggled for years to communicate effectively in high noise environments eg, hotels.
He wore two hearing aids from the age of nine months, both of which gave him a very minimal level of hearing, but it was sufficient to enable him to communicate using lip-reading and the little bit he got from his hearing aids.
Fortunately, he was able to struggle through school gaining a good grounding in mathematics, computing, and English.
But, over the years, the hearing in his right ear weakened, and eventually even with hearing aids, he couldn't hear.
His cochlear implant was fitted at the Royal Darwin Hospital ENT Department on 2 March 2020 and the outcome has been far better than anticipated. For a considerable time, he had not been able to communicate via telephone or mobile phone but several months after his implant, we can now talk on the mobile and use Facetime.
It's a wonderful outcome for which we are very grateful.
When you are hearing impaired and wear hearing aids, people expect you to be able to communicate normally as though the hearing aid resolves the problem. But unfortunately, that's not the case.
Hearing aids simply amplify sound. All sound.
Our son's quality of life has now improved substantially because he can communicate almost normally, something we all take for granted.
To the designer of the cochlear implant, Cochlear Australia and the Australian and Northern Territory Governments who made this implant possible, plus the medical and audiology staff, we say a heartfelt thankyou.
