I lost my hearing entirely at 62...
Peter Moore - February 2007
Peter lived with just one working ear. Then when he was 62 his other ear failed, leaving him totally deaf. It was challenging just to communicate with his family. This is his story.
mailto: pjmoore@optusnet.com.au
The day in June 2006 when I met Professor Graeme Clarke I just couldn't stop smiling.
Way back in 1950 when I started high school, I was diagnosed, via alarm clock, wrist watch and tuning fork, by a Macquarie Street specialist as having single sided deafness. Who knows how long I had been deaf before that! Some nasty treatment followed achieving nothing.
But life went on. With one good ear I finished high school, university and eventually owned my own business in Sydney. Later I went into a partnership on the Central Coast (good move).
My other interests include my Church and sport. Even with only one good ear I still managed to sing and was involved with musical societies performing in over 30 musical comedies and G&S productions. When I moved to the Central Coast in 1990 I joined choirs and barber shop quartets.
Disaster struck on the 24th February 2001. I went to bed with ringing in my ear and awoke extremely nauseous, dizzy and deaf. Our local doctor thought I'd had a stroke; the ENT specialist in Gosford thought I had a virus and later specialists only surmised.
You find out who your close friends are when disaster strikes.
Deafness brought a complete change to my life and affected not only me but my family. Older family members could adapt but how could I communicate with my little granddaughters? Life definitely seemed to have taken a down turn. My wife and friends went to a lot of trouble writing things down and we used up much paper. On the bright side - we had no arguments because writing was too slow!
I was prescribed prednisone - with no benefit until Professor Gibson injected direct into my cochlea. This gave me a little hearing and I was able to wear a hearing aid. I also attended lip reading classes with Better Hearing Australia (Central Coast) and it is because of the support they gave me during this difficult time that when they asked I chose to repay them by becoming president of the branch.
My hearing aid worked for a while but my restored hearing continued to deteriorate. In July 2002 I was asked to consider Cochlear Implant. Up until now this had not been suggested as option for me. I didn't want to risk what little hearing I had by having the implant in my 'better' ear but there was some doubt whether my deafest ear could hear again after more than 50 years without sound.
After much testing, and really nothing to lose, in September I was implanted in my worst ear. My processor was activated in October and 6 weeks later I could understand someone talking to me behind my back. No lip reading! What a change from a world of silence to being able to communicate again.
Eventually the hearing aid in my 'good' ear was no longer any use. I could only understand men and even then they had to shout into my ear from just 30cm away.
My decision to have a second implant was easy. Having experienced the first operation and being in hospital less than 24 hours with minimum discomfort I had the second implant last March and switched on in April 2006. I was able to understand what I was hearing with the new Freedom much quicker than the earlier implant because I already understood the sounds.
Having binaural hearing is something I haven't had for so long and now 12 months later I'm still getting used to it. Sometimes, not always, because old habits die hard, I can't identify direction of sound but this is improving.
Every few months I visit my audiologist and have mapping sessions. There is always some adjustment to be made for both my processors.
Steadily things are getting better. I can understand even my youngest granddaughter (except when she shouts which is a lot of the time). Hearing in noisy environments such as shopping centres and restaurants is so much better. I have a couple of different programs which allows me get the best out of the speech processors. It's a joy to sit in a restaurant and to talk to someone either side of me, if not always the other side of a large table.
In short, having the second implant has given me a new lease on life. I have more confidence to go about by myself. I talk on the telephone and use a mobile, and can hear with either ear and I am now working on enjoying music again.
The journey from hearing to no hearing, was traumatic. But to be able to hear again is truly wonderful.
Peter's Bi-lateral implant
Early in 2006 Peter found his "good" ear was failing. He had been wearing a hearing aid in that ear to give him a semblance of bi-lateral sound, but he found more and more he had to rely on just his implanted ear for sound. His decision to have a second implant in his other ear was easy to make. As he said, "I had little to lose. I knew the pitfalls but the hope was there and it has proved a good decision."
When asked how he feels now he has bi-lateral cochlear implants Peter responded, "FANTASTIC. It is ever so much better than the hearing aid when it was working at its best before my hearing finally packed it in." He says having two Freedoms, one in each ear, give him much better hearing ability. Recently he attended a meeting at his church and participated easily in a group of about 30 people. "We all sat in a circle. There were fans going windows with the doors open so we could hear traffic in the distance. I caught most of the conversations. And I found when I had difficulty, that the people sitting next to me also had trouble. So I didn't feel out of it."