Deaf 8 Month old reacts to his CI implant activation

[Shogun]

Made me smile today

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HTzTt1VnHRM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Saul Good]

That is awesome.

[CHENZ A!]

That is so cool. The things we take for granted every day man..

[DaFace]

That's gotta be a trip.

[jidar]

Very moving.
Another triumph of science.

[Gadzooks]

Fuck that baby. He's an asshole.
(Just trying to liven' up this thread).

[-King-]

*Silence*
*Silence*
Mom: "HI JONATHAN!"
Baby: What in the living FUCK was THAT!??!
*Drops pacifier*

[RJ]

Wow, that's great. Thanks for posting.

[cdcox]

That was DaKCMan APesqe.

[Saul Good]

How freaky would it be to suddenly have another sense? I can't even wrap my mind around it.

[WV]

Awesome!

[FAX]

As a scientist dedicated to a complete and full understanding of all aspects of life and death, I think it's interesting that a cochlear implant requires that the brain translate "sounds" differently.

With a toddler, it makes little or no difference whatsoever. However, an adult who receives a cochlear implant has to re-train their brain because a "doorbell", for example, no longer "sounds" like a "doorbell". Instead, that particular "sound" is merely an electrical stimulation that the brain has to connect with the concept of "doorbell". It's really pretty fascinating.

It makes me think of how different people may or may not perceive color in the same way. My "green" may be someone else's "purple" and we would never know.

FAX

[mikey23545]

Wow.

That gives one a feeling that's hard to put into words.

[Bearcat]

As a scientist dedicated to a complete and full understanding of all aspects of life and death, I think it's interesting that a cochlear implant requires that the brain translate "sounds" differently.

With a toddler, it makes little or no difference whatsoever. However, an adult who receives a cochlear implant has to re-train their brain because a "doorbell", for example, no longer "sounds" like a "doorbell". Instead, that particular "sound" is merely an electrical stimulation that the brain has to connect with the concept of "doorbell". It's really pretty fascinating.

It makes me think of how different people may or may not perceive color in the same way. My "green" may be someone else's "purple" and we would never know.

FAX

It's pretty fascinating. I have friend who was born deaf... she got a CI about 2 years ago at the age of 25. She blogs a lot about her experience with learning how to separate sounds and figure out sounds when she can't see it (such as a siren going off or someone's cell phone). I think it's very interesting.

There's an HBO special about CIs, too, which follows two grandparents who get CIs.

[RJ]

I have an uncle who couldn't see until he was 5. He's always carried himself with an odd sort of gait, a sort of side to side motion like he's feeling his way along. I always assumed it was a carry-over from when he was blind. He was also extremely talented musically as a younger man. He could play virtually any instrument and sang a beautiful tenor.

[-King-]

It's pretty fascinating. I have friend who was born deaf... she got a CI about 2 years ago at the age of 25. She blogs a lot about her experience with learning how to separate sounds and figure out sounds when she can't see it (such as a siren going off or someone's cell phone). I think it's very interesting.

There's an HBO special about CIs, too, which follows two grandparents who get CIs.

Yeah, I think it would be a great experience. It's living living a new life. The sounds we call annoying may be like music to their ears because they're new.

[BossChief]

Thats one of the coolest things Ive seen in years!

Thanks for sharing!

[Pants]

That is just...amazing...speechless.

[threebag]

That's great.




Wonder if his mommy would like to celebrate?

[Sure-Oz]

awesome

[alnorth]

It makes me think of how different people may or may not perceive color in the same way. My "green" may be someone else's "purple" and we would never know.FAX

Well, not to be a nit-picker, but thats very unlikely. It is well understood that yellow is brighter than red, which is brighter than blue. There is no compelling, convincing reason to believe that humans perceive colors differently from one another. Maybe we perceive colors differently from certain animals or color-blind humans, but not each other.

[Dante84]

Here's a movie (documentary) in which I never would have imagined myself to cry, found myself in tears.

Its called "Hear and Now," and I strongly suggest you putting this in your Netflix que.

In this deeply personal memoir, filmmaker Irene Taylor Brodsky documents her deaf parents' complex decision to leave their world of silence and undergo a dangerous surgery to get cochlear implants -- the only one of its kind that can restore a sense. At the age of 65, Paul and Sally Taylor decided they wanted to hear their first symphonies, hear their children's' voices, and talk on the phone. How will this operation transform them, their relationship with each other, and the deaf world they might leave behind? This is a story of two people taking a journey from silence to sound. The question is, what will they make of it, and what might they gain -- or lose -- forever?

Seriously, its a beautiful film.

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/g9SGoWnzMUw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0912587/

[Buck]

I got a little dust in my eye or something after watching that.

[Pitt Gorilla]

Simply incredible.

[R&GHomer]

Amazing! Thanks for sharing.

[ExtremeChief]

That's awesome dude. Thank you.

[Groves]

I haven't seen "hear and now", but another one, "Sound and Fury" is really good. It's about the war within the deaf world about whether kids should or should not obtain hearing. Some intense stuff.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0240912/

[BIG_DADDY]

Great video Sho.

[eazyb81]

One of the coolest videos i've seen in years. Thanks for posting!

[Jethopper]

Well, not to be a nit-picker, but thats very unlikely. It is well understood that yellow is brighter than red, which is brighter than blue. There is no compelling, convincing reason to believe that humans perceive colors differently from one another. Maybe we perceive colors differently from certain animals or color-blind humans, but not each other.

True. Once data is sent from your eye to your brain it percieves it through channels which are composed of opposite red/green, blue/yellow, black/white. So it is highly unlikely people see color differently. However, how intense the color appears to different individuals is a completely different conversation.

[FAX]

Well, not to be a nit-picker, but thats very unlikely. It is well understood that yellow is brighter than red, which is brighter than blue. There is no compelling, convincing reason to believe that humans perceive colors differently from one another. Maybe we perceive colors differently from certain animals or color-blind humans, but not each other.

Well, no offense, Mr. alnorth, as you are a well-respected and time-honored poster with proven, extraordinary brainial abilities. However, this is a good example as to why questions such as these should be left up to the scientists such as myself and other scientists like myself.

For example, you state that yellow is "brighter" than red and that there's no reason to believe that humans perceive colors "differently" from one another. Those are common mistakes that non-scientists often make because, as non-scientists, they assume that all persons perceive "brightness" as the same thing. "Differences" might also be interpreted by each brain differently, as well. One man's "difference" could be very "different" from another man's "differences" and these "differences" could be very "different", indeed.

Consider, for example, that guy who played the guy in that movie where he was sent to the mental institution and the nurse was a real bitch and the Indian dude finally suffocated the guy at the end and ran away. Was that guy really just acting crazy for the film? Or, is he really crazy all the time and just pretends to be normal when he's not making mental institution movies? Or, alternatively, consider the guy who is hired as an interior decorator for the Chinese Military. Does he really think that brown and khaki go well together or is he just saying that because money is involved? See what I mean, Mr. alnorth? Most lay-peeps would never think of complex thinkings such as these which is why it's best to leave complex thinkings such as these up to us scientists.

FAX

[Old Dog]

Thanks for sharing that one.

[blaise]

Great video.

[Demonpenz]

Shameful. Real parents would have put some fucking Megadeth in there.

[Bweb]

Thank you for sharing that...how special! :thumb:

[Sure-Oz]

I was showing the video to someone and double clicked it to go to youtube, why does it have 151 dislikes

[Fumblerooski]

I was showing the video to someone and double clicked it to go to youtube, why does it have 151 dislikes

Alot of deaf people are very anti CI..

You'd have to ask them why.. Er, write it down for them to read..

[Bearcat]

Alot of deaf people are very anti CI..


Yes. In the deaf community, there's a lot of debate on whether the child should be old enough to decide if they want a CI... and even those who decide to get one on their own are said to no longer be culturally Deaf. From an outsider's perspective, at times it almost seems like an 'us vs them' argument for some deaf people... you're either part of the Deaf community or the hearing community, even though some (with or without a CI) classify themselves in both.

[Dante84]

Yes. In the deaf community, there's a lot of debate on whether the child should be old enough to decide if they want a CI... and even those who decide to get one on their own are said to no longer be culturally Deaf. From an outsider's perspective, at times it almost seems like an 'us vs them' argument for some deaf people... you're either part of the Deaf community or the hearing community, even though some (with or without a CI) classify themselves in both.

Unfortunately for the child, if he or she waits until he or she is old enough to decide, then the child has missed the opportunity to learn vital speaking skills and auditory communication devices (tsks, pshtttt, mmhmm, meh, ha, etc...)

[kepp]

Unfortunately for the child, if he or she waits until he or she is old enough to decide, then the child has missed the opportunity to learn vital speaking skills and auditory communication devices (tsks, pshtttt, mmhmm, meh, ha, etc...)

Exactly. If it were my child I wouldn't have to think twice about it.

[Baby Lee]

Well, no offense, Mr. alnorth, as you are a well-respected and time-honored poster with proven, extraordinary brainial abilities. However, this is a good example as to why questions such as these should be left up to the scientists such as myself and other scientists like myself.

For example, you state that yellow is "brighter" than red and that there's no reason to believe that humans perceive colors "differently" from one another. Those are common mistakes that non-scientists often make because, as non-scientists, they assume that all persons perceive "brightness" as the same thing. "Differences" might also be interpreted by each brain differently, as well. One man's "difference" could be very "different" from another man's "differences" and these "differences" could be very "different", indeed.

Consider, for example, that guy who played the guy in that movie where he was sent to the mental institution and the nurse was a real bitch and the Indian dude finally suffocated the guy at the end and ran away. Was that guy really just acting crazy for the film? Or, is he really crazy all the time and just pretends to be normal when he's not making mental institution movies? Or, alternatively, consider the guy who is hired as an interior decorator for the Chinese Military. Does he really think that brown and khaki go well together or is he just saying that because money is involved? See what I mean, Mr. alnorth? Most lay-peeps would never think of complex thinkings such as these which is why it's best to leave complex thinkings such as these up to us scientists.

FAX

As taught to us so stirring by dirtyrute this week, we can't know anything to metaphysical certainty.

But the strongest evidence I could submit regarding us perceiving colors the same way [at least when not chemically altered], would be the coordination of all the gradients and combinations of colors, as well as the general agreement on concepts like haze, luminescence, sharpness, glow, etc.

If your green were my brown, and your blue was my yellow, what are the odds we'd come to consensus regarding every shade between green and brown and blue and yellow and red and purple, as well as levels of brightness and sharpness, which can likewise be replicated by electric eyes and computer drawing programs?

[WilliamTheIrish]

You should see it live... it's quite an event for parents too.

[pr_capone]

It makes me think of how different people may or may not perceive color in the same way. My "green" may be someone else's "purple" and we would never know.


That was something that we went over in our physics class... how people perceive color.I disagree that your green being someone else's purple would never be found out.

To find out if your purple is someone else's green all you need is a box of crayons. Take 10 people and ask them to pull out green. If 8 people pull out green, and the other 2 pull out purple, then you know their sense of color is different than the others.

[Baby Lee]

That was something that we went over in our physics class... how people perceive color.I disagree that your green being someone else's purple would never be found out.

To find out if your purple is someone else's green all you need is a box of crayons. Take 10 people and ask them to pull out green. If 8 people pull out green, and the other 2 pull out purple, then you know their sense of color is different than the others.

I don't think he's referring to syntax differences. People who see purple as brown still call it purple. They just think brown is what purple looks like.

[Dante84]

You should see it live... it's quite an event for parents too.

Experience in this field? or a personal experience to share?

[FAX]

That was something that we went over in our physics class... how people perceive color.I disagree that your green being someone else's purple would never be found out.

To find out if your purple is someone else's green all you need is a box of crayons. Take 10 people and ask them to pull out green. If 8 people pull out green, and the other 2 pull out purple, then you know their sense of color is different than the others.

Another excellent (yet, somewhat unfortunate) example of an esteemed poster ignoring established scientific method. What, pray tell, happens if we have no crayons? Did you ever think of that?

Besides, your test would not work, Mr. pr_capone, and proves nothing. Nada. Nil. Bluns. When asked to fetch a "green" crayon, for example, I could pull out all the "greens" in the box. I know them as "green" and I call them "green". I declare them to be green because all my life I've been told they're green and everyone I know has also mutually agreed that the name of that particular color is "green". However, my brain might interpret them as, what you would call (if we had identical optic nerves, retinas, and brain circuitry) say ... purplish-gray.

FAX

[Bearcat]

Unfortunately for the child, if he or she waits until he or she is old enough to decide, then the child has missed the opportunity to learn vital speaking skills and auditory communication devices (tsks, pshtttt, mmhmm, meh, ha, etc...)

Yes, it is much more difficult if you wait.

It's more of a cultural debate, as far as "forcing" a child into the hearing world.... 'disability' is a touchy word in the Deaf community, and implanting a CI into a toddler is, in some people's opinion, wrongly stating the child is disabled and should be 'fixed' without their consent.

[Baby Lee]

Another excellent (yet, somewhat unfortunate) example of an esteemed poster ignoring established scientific method. What, pray tell, happens if we have no crayons? Did you ever think of that?

Besides, your test would not work, Mr. pr_capone, and proves nothing. Nada. Nil. Bluns. When asked to fetch a "green" crayon, for example, I could pull out all the "greens" in the box. I know them as "green" and I call them "green". I declare them to be green because all my life I've been told they're green and everyone I know has also mutually agreed that the name of that particular color is "green". However, my brain might interpret them as, what you would call (if we had identical optic nerves, retinas, and brain circuitry) say ... purplish-gray.

FAX
Repost

[NewChief]

Experience in this field? or a personal experience to share?

I think that WTI works in medical technology in some capacity.

[Rooster]

Wow. Thanks for sharing.

[kepp]

Experience in this field? or a personal experience to share?

My youngest daughter developed a lot of negative pressure in her ears as an infant because of reflux going through her nasal cavity into her inner ears. Think of being in a plane and not being able to "pop" your ears...except probably more pressure than that. Anyway, we didn't catch on for a few months while it gradually worsened. We took her to an ENT doctor when we started to suspect something was up and they scheduled her to get tubes in her ears. When we got home from that procedure and the anesthesia had worn off, I went into the kitchen, opened a new bag of chips, and saw her head dart around toward me...I got emotional just from that. I can't imagine the emotions going through these parents' minds - where their child, who was deaf, begins to hear.

[Buck]

I can watch this video an unlimited amount of times and smile every time.

[Pants]

I think that WTI works in medical technology in some capacity.

So WTI is the resident Manhattan veterinarian-slash-doctor? Cool.

[vailpass]

Alright I misted up a little on that one. Great post.

[teedubya]

That. Was. Awesome.

[vailpass]

Yes, it is much more difficult if you wait.

It's more of a cultural debate, as far as "forcing" a child into the hearing world.... 'disability' is a touchy word in the Deaf community, and implanting a CI into a toddler is, in some people's opinion, wrongly stating the child is disabled and should be 'fixed' without their consent.

That sounds wrong almost to the point of child abuse.
Show me the parent that would let their child remain deaf when they could have given them hearing.
Or the adult who finds out they could have been hearing all their lives and thanks their parents for choosing to deny them the ability to hear.

[The Franchise]

Fucking dust in my office.

[redfan]

That sounds wrong almost to the point of child abuse.
Show me the parent that would let their child remain deaf when they could have given them hearing.
Or the adult who finds out they could have been hearing all their lives and thanks their parents for choosing to deny them the ability to hear.


There is a lesbian couple on the east coast that had a child that was born deaf by choice; in that they chose a donor that had genetic deafness from birth, as was one of the mothers. This was done to maximize the chances of the child being born deaf.

[vailpass]

There is a lesbian couple on the east coast that had a child that was born deaf by choice; in that they chose a donor that had genetic deafness from birth, as was one of the mothers. This was done to maximize the chances of the child being born deaf.

WTF? Why?

[redfan]

WTF? Why?

From the article:

Lesbian couple have deaf baby by choice

David Teather in New York The Guardian, Monday 8 April 2002 02.22 BST

A lesbian couple in the US have attracted fierce criticism by deliberately having a deaf baby.
In an unexpected twist to the pursuit of "designer" offspring, the couple, who are both deaf, said they had wanted a child that would be like themselves. The four-month old boy is profoundly deaf in his left ear and has only residual hearing in his right.

Sharon Duchesneau and Candy McCullough, both in their 30s, turned to a friend with five generations of deafness in his family after being turned away by a sperm bank which told them that donors with disabilities were screened out.

The man had previously fathered a girl for the couple, who live in Bethesda, Maryland, who is now five and also deaf. However their action in choosing to determine their children's hearing ability has only been revealed with the birth of their son, Gauvin.

The couple, who are both mental health specialists and deaf therapists, have been together for nearly 10 years.

In an interview with the Washington Post, the women claimed they would make better parents to a deaf child. They believed they would be able to understand the child's development more thoroughly and offer better guidance, and said the choice was no different from opting for a certain gender.

They also said they were part of a generation that viewed deafness not as a disability but as a cultural identity.

"Some people look at it like, 'Oh my gosh, you shouldn't have a child who has a disability,'" said Ms McCullough, the boy's adoptive mother. "But, you know, black people have harder lives. Why shouldn't parents be able to go ahead and pick a black donor if that's what they want? They should have that option. They can feel related to that culture, bonded with that culture."

While still seven months pregnant, the boy's biological mother, Ms Duchesneau, said: "It would be nice to have a deaf child who is the same as us. I think that would be a wonderful experience. You know, if we can have that chance, why not take it? A hearing baby would be a blessing. A deaf baby would be a special blessing."

But the decision has been roundly condemned.

"I think all of us recognise that deaf children can have perfectly wonderful lives," Alta Charo, a professor of law and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin said. "The question is whether the parents have violated the sacred duty of parenthood, which is to maximise to some reasonable degree the advantages available to their children. I'm loath to say it, but I think it's a shame to set limits on a child's potential."

Nancy Rarus, a staff member at the National Association of the Deaf, said it was not unusual for deaf people to want deaf children but said she regretted the decision.

"I'm a social animal, and it's very difficult for me to talk to my neighbours. I wish I could walk up to somebody and ask for information," she said. "I've had a lot of arguments in the deaf community about that. People talk about, 'the sky's the limit,' but being deaf prevents you from getting there. You don't have as many choices. I can't understand why anybody would want to bring a disabled child into the world."

Ms Duchesneau is no stranger to the debate on designer babies. She is a med ical ethics graduate from the University of Virginia and worked as an intern in the bioethics department at the National Institutes of Health.

But the debate has so far focused on whether technology should be used to eliminate congenital diseases or disabilities. Many disability and gay organisations have felt threatened by the concept of pursuing "perfect" children.

Doctors have warned the couple that Gauvin's vestige of hearing in his right ear is likely to get worse and advised that the boy be fitted with a hearing aid to help him develop a basic understanding of speech. The parents declined, saying they would leave the choice to the boy when he gets older.

They gave the same choice to their daughter Jehanne, who wore a hearing aid for just a week. They also left it to her whether she should attend speech therapy, which she does.

In Britain, the legal barriers preventing a couple from creating a designer baby to help save the life of an existing sick child were recently swept away. The human fertilisation and embryology authority said it would allow it, subject to the merits of each case.

/end snip

That kid is 9. I wonder if he ever got a CI?

[redfan]

Genetic selection for deafness: the views of hearing children of deaf adults

Abstract
The concept of selecting for a disability, and deafness in particular, has triggered a controversial and sometimes acrimonious debate between key stakeholders. Previous studies have concentrated on the views of the deaf and hard of hearing, health professionals and ethicists towards reproductive selection for deafness. This study, however, is the first of its kind examining the views of hearing children of deaf adults towards preimplantation genetic diagnosis and prenatal diagnosis to select for or against deafness. Hearing children of deaf adults (or CODAs, as they call themselves, and are widely known in the deaf community) straddle both the deaf and hearing worlds, and this dual perspective makes them ideally placed to add to the academic discourse concerning the use of genetic selection for or against deafness. The study incorporated two complementary stages, using initial, semistructured interviews with key informants (CODAs and health professionals) as a means to guide the subsequent development of an electronic survey, completed anonymously by 66 individuals. The participants shared many of the same views as deaf individuals in the D/deaf (or “culturally deaf”) community. The similarities extended to their opinions regarding deafness not being a disability (45.5% believed deafness was a distinct culture rather than a disability), their ambivalence towards having hearing or deaf children (72.3% indicated no preference) and their general disapproval of the use of genetic technologies to select either for or against deafness (60% believed that reproductive technologies, when used to select for or against deafness, should not be available to the community).
Accepted 30 July 2009
Journal of Medical Ethics

[Bearcat]

That sounds wrong almost to the point of child abuse.
Show me the parent that would let their child remain deaf when they could have given them hearing.
Or the adult who finds out they could have been hearing all their lives and thanks their parents for choosing to deny them the ability to hear.

If you are born deaf, enjoy your life, marry a deaf person... who are we to say they should do everything in their power to give their deaf child a CI?

It could only be in the eyes of two hearing parents that something is wrong with their deaf child... of course, that's not to say all deaf people see it the other way, and I can't speak for any of them, but I can see it from their point of view.

[Demonpenz]

If I had the choice of having a white baby like me I would rather have that, sure it may not be able to dance or play in the nba, but I want one like me.

[wazu]

If I had the choice of having a white baby like me I would rather have that, sure it may not be able to dance or play in the nba, but I want one like me.

Why would you want your child to have such a low ceiling?

[Donger]

Babies are so cute from a reasonable distance.

[Donger]

There is a lesbian couple on the east coast that had a child that was born deaf by choice; in that they chose a donor that had genetic deafness from birth, as was one of the mothers. This was done to maximize the chances of the child being born deaf.

Homosexuals cannot breed with each other.

[Saul Good]

If you are born deaf, enjoy your life, marry a deaf person... who are we to say they should do everything in their power to give their deaf child a CI?

It could only be in the eyes of two hearing parents that something is wrong with their deaf child... of course, that's not to say all deaf people see it the other way, and I can't speak for any of them, but I can see it from their point of view.

Substitute deafness for blindness or for scoliosis or a cleft palate or crack addiction or having a fork lodged in the brain.

[Saul Good]

Homosexuals cannot breed with each other.

Sure they can.

[Donger]

Sure they can.

No, they can't.

[Pitt Gorilla]

No, they can't.Yes, they can.

[Donger]

Yes, they can.

How?

[Dayze]

..it's dusty in here.


cool post.

[wazu]

How?

What if a gay man and a lesbian woman fought off their physical revulsion to one another and had sex anyway? Gay couple. With kids.

[Donger]

What if a gay man and a lesbian woman fought off their physical revulsion to one another and had sex anyway? Gay couple. With kids.

Then were using their sexual organs as they were designed to be used, e.g., in a two gender way. Or, not homosexual.

[Bearcat]

Substitute deafness for blindness or for scoliosis or a cleft palate or crack addiction or having a fork lodged in the brain.

You know that Submit Reply button that shows up on the screen when you're posting a reply? Next time, don't click that.

[vailpass]

If you are born deaf, enjoy your life, marry a deaf person... who are we to say they should do everything in their power to give their deaf child a CI?

It could only be in the eyes of two hearing parents that something is wrong with their deaf child... of course, that's not to say all deaf people see it the other way, and I can't speak for any of them, but I can see it from their point of view.


The child not knowing any different is not a defense.
Choosing to deny your child the ability to audibly interact is beyond my understanding.

[Groves]

The child not knowing any different is not a defense.
Choosing to deny your child the ability to audibly interact is beyond my understanding.

There are similar discussions among folks that deal in the autism spectrum. Some with autism can see and sense things that neuro-normal people cannot. So making them normal (i.e. without autism) actually takes away an ability and replaces it with another. Many with autism wouldn't want to make the swap.

The deaf person in the movie "Touch the Sound" (a deaf percussionist, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0424509/ ) is also among those who recognize that "giving" her hearing would actually "take away" from her abilities.

I hope you don't think that all of the uproar in the deaf community over CI is simply cultural with no basis in their experience. They have good reasons for deciding not to obtain normal hearing for themselves or their children.

I guess "good reasons" is where the debate lies.

[JD10367]

I think it comes down to deaf people thinking that CIs mean admitting that deaf people have a "defect". By submitting your children to CIs you're admitting that being deaf is "abnormal". Well, I hate to break it to you, but... it is. Sorry you're deaf. Glad you've gotten used to it. But it's abnormal (i.e. not the norm). If I had a young child whose quality of life I could improve and simplify by getting them a CI (or, if they had no legs, prosthetics, or whatever the solution for their issue might be), then they're getting it... especially when it's early enough to help their formative years move along.

[MITCH]

I am one of the hearing impaired members on the board. I wear hearing aids in both ears. I received my hearing aids at age six. That day was first time I ever heard my pee hit the water when going to the bathroom.

[InChiefsHeaven]

I am one of the hearing impaired members on the board. I wear hearing aids in both ears. I received my hearing aids at age six. That day was first time I ever heard my pee hit the water when going to the bathroom.

Have you ever looked into or what do you think of those new Esteem hearing implants? I hear about them on the radio...but I've never met anyone deaf. Just curious what you think of them.

[Dante84]

I am one of the hearing impaired members on the board. I wear hearing aids in both ears. I received my hearing aids at age six. That day was first time I ever heard my pee hit the water when going to the bathroom.

Haha, awesome. That's a funny thing to remember.

And thanks for sharing, man. What's your take on all this?

[vailpass]

There are similar discussions among folks that deal in the autism spectrum. Some with autism can see and sense things that neuro-normal people cannot. So making them normal (i.e. without autism) actually takes away an ability and replaces it with another. Many with autism wouldn't want to make the swap.

The deaf person in the movie "Touch the Sound" (a deaf percussionist, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0424509/ ) is also among those who recognize that "giving" her hearing would actually "take away" from her abilities.

I hope you don't think that all of the uproar in the deaf community over CI is simply cultural with no basis in their experience. They have good reasons for deciding not to obtain normal hearing for themselves or their children.

I guess "good reasons" is where the debate lies.

Thank you for the logical presentation of an arguement that escapes me. Although I can't bring myself around to thinking that wilfully denying hearing to a child is ever the right thing to do I appreciate the points of view you show here.

[vailpass]

I am one of the hearing impaired members on the board. I wear hearing aids in both ears. I received my hearing aids at age six. That day was first time I ever heard my pee hit the water when going to the bathroom.

Ha! Now that's a real-life illlustration. Best wishes to you.

[Donger]

Thank you for the logical presentation of an arguement that escapes me. Although I can't bring myself around to thinking that wilfully denying hearing to a child is ever the right thing to do I appreciate the points of view you show here.

I think it's pretty clear that in that case, the two mommies cared more about their wants than thinking about the child and its future. Intentionally giving a child a handicap just so that it can "be like you" is sick and demented.

[ROYC75]

Awesome video, but some rather disturbing articles within this thread.

[MITCH]

InChiefshell..
I think its great that someone deaf has a chance to hear. At my age (44) I would be poor candidate for any implant. Deaf and hard of hearing children are those that will benefit most from any hearing device. They can learn to hear with the devices. They may not hear the same sound a hearing person hears but they learn the relationship to sounds. Maybe some day technology will be so advanced that everyone will be able to hear music, talk on phone and other normal hearing task. I still live in great time where we have closed caption tv and TDD operators that help me make phone calls. Anytime I think life is not fair I just think of the blind and what they have to overcome.

[BigRedChief]

Awesome video, but some rather disturbing articles within this thread.This.

A lot of judgement being done in this thread without ever having to walk in the same shoes as the people you are judging. :shake:

[HMc]

That was something that we went over in our physics class... how people perceive color.I disagree that your green being someone else's purple would never be found out.

To find out if your purple is someone else's green all you need is a box of crayons. Take 10 people and ask them to pull out green. If 8 people pull out green, and the other 2 pull out purple, then you know their sense of color is different than the others.

facepalm

[Over-Head]

How freaky would it be to suddenly have another sense? I can't even wrap my mind around it. Ask Goatboy to describe it when he finally loses his vigrinity :thumb:

[MIAdragon]

The child not knowing any different is not a defense.
Choosing to deny your child the ability to audibly interact is beyond my understanding.

JFC, THIS!! Id imagine he would feel differently if he were deaf.

[BillSelfsTrophycase]

I've been deaf in one ear for over 7 years and I would give damn near anything to get it back. Denying your child hearing when it could have been corrected is horrible IMO

[Easy 6]

Beautiful, nice find.

[MIAdragon]

Saw this today and it reminded me about this thread, that is all.

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[Dante84]

Damnit I'm a sucker for these videos.

[kysirsoze]

I saw the same video and remembered this thread as well. Pretty amazing.

[lewdog]

Great videos. Seeing a child who is given the chance to hear is simply amazing and a very rewarding experience to see them grow and develop. Cochlear implants are simply amazing.

Thanks for sharing.