Deaf organist is to learn if he can hear again . . . on live TV
AN organ player from Stockport was due to find out on LIVE TV last night whether an operation had allowed him to hear again.
Breaking the Silence: Live is a ground-breaking documentary filmed at Manchester Royal Infirmary, featuring the hospital’s Cochlear Implant Team and three patients who had their devices fitted several weeks ago.
During the broadcast, which took place shortly after the Express went to press last night, Charles, 76, Marion, 69, and John, 48, had their implants switched on for the first time, finding out whether they are now able to hear.
Charles still plays the organ at his church every week – despite being classed as profoundly deaf for the last five years.
But he’s worried his organ playing is no longer up to scratch and says it’s frustrating he can’t hear what he’s playing.
He said: “It’s very annoying to me that I can’t hear the sounds I’m making… it’s frustrating and at times heart breaking.”
The reaction to a cochlear implant ‘switch-on’ can be very hard to predict, some patients hear speech clearly, where others may only hear whistles and beeps.
Former W.I president Marion had normal hearing until two years ago, then one morning she woke up and could barely hear a thing.
Her hearing came and went, baffling specialists, until around a year ago when she went completely deaf – and this time it didn’t come back.
Marion’s main form of communication with her husband Ron is via the notebooks piled up in her living room, or an iPad.
Ron said: “Talking is one of the things that we really, really miss now, over dinner or going out with friends, not being able to have that relationship. It’s difficult when you have to write everything down, because to be able to express your true emotions is tough.”
Marion says to get her hearing back would be ‘a gift whose value is beyond words’ and that all she wants is to hear Ron say ‘I love you’ once more.
Cheese-maker John started to gradually become deaf five years ago, and ended up avoiding group social situations because he felt left out of conversations.
He hopes the implant will have a huge impact on his life. He said: “I don’t really want to live the rest of my life being like this, something needs to change. It has to change.”