Film Documents Deaf Man's Journey to Hearing

[Dustbug10]

http://www.hearingreview.com/insider/2010-11-18_03.asp

From Silence To Sound documents the life-changing journey of Justin Garrett, a man profoundly deaf since birth, who undergoes bilateral cochlear implantation in Oklahoma in 2006. Prior to the surgery, Justin had less than 2% hearing in both ears. Today he has nearly 98% hearing delivered via his Nucleus cochlear implants made by Cochlear. Director Chase Matthews follows Garrett as he prepares for, submits to, and recovers from the high-stakes surgery.

The 48-minute film is now available on DVD through the From Sound To Silence Web site, or as a video-on-demand rental or purchase at Amazon.com.

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[cidanu]

I think you would have some interesting conversations if you wanted to have a conversation about this movie at Gallaudet. =)

I think CI's are an amazing development in medicine and that they should definitely be available to Deaf people and of course it's everyone's right to choose what they want for themselves.

Some people at Gallaudet look down on other Deaf people who choose to use hearing aids or get CI's. There is a sign in ASL that means "hearing-minded" and it's a big insult.

There are several arguments against CI's or against the idea that they can "fix" deafness that I think are good points. One example is that you are still Deaf even if you have a CI, and when you go swimming or when you take it off, you can't hear. This is an argument for at a minimum teaching ASL along with spoken English to kids with CI's.

Another is the misconception that CI's restore natural hearing. They don't. They are an alternative form of hearing. Listen to this demo for a simulation: http://www.ent.uci.edu/cochlear implant.htm That article claims that the subject of the movie now has 98% hearing, and I think that's rather misleading. We all know what they mean because we are audiologists, but think of the average reader's interpretation.

The trailer also portrays the CI as integral for this man to have a happy family life. It's well known that the majority of marriages of Deaf people are to other Deaf people, and that marriages between hearing and Deaf have a high rate of divorce. Clear communication is obviously so important to a happy marriage. However marriages between Deaf people and CODAs (children of deaf adults) may not have the same divorce rate because both are fluent in ASL. I can only imagine the stress involved in not being able to communicate effectively with your family, but I know of at least one family here where the Dad has a progressive hearing loss and the whole family is now learning ASL together with much success. My point is, there are alternatives and a happy family life does not hinge on being able to hear alone.

 

[Dustbug10]

I think you would have some interesting conversations if you wanted to have a conversation about this movie at Gallaudet. =)

I think CI's are an amazing development in medicine and that they should definitely be available to Deaf people and of course it's everyone's right to choose what they want for themselves.

Some people at Gallaudet look down on other Deaf people who choose to use hearing aids or get CI's. There is a sign in ASL that means "hearing-minded" and it's a big insult.

There are several arguments against CI's or against the idea that they can "fix" deafness that I think are good points. One example is that you are still Deaf even if you have a CI, and when you go swimming or when you take it off, you can't hear. This is an argument for at a minimum teaching ASL along with spoken English to kids with CI's.

Another is the misconception that CI's restore natural hearing. They don't. They are an alternative form of hearing. Listen to this demo for a simulation: http://www.ent.uci.edu/cochlear%20implant.htm That article claims that the subject of the movie now has 98% hearing, and I think that's rather misleading. We all know what they mean because we are audiologists, but think of the average reader's interpretation.

The trailer also portrays the CI as integral for this man to have a happy family life. It's well known that the majority of marriages of Deaf people are to other Deaf people, and that marriages between hearing and Deaf have a high rate of divorce. Clear communication is obviously so important to a happy marriage. However marriages between Deaf people and CODAs (children of deaf adults) may not have the same divorce rate because both are fluent in ASL. I can only imagine the stress involved in not being able to communicate effectively with your family, but I know of at least one family here where the Dad has a progressive hearing loss and the whole family is now learning ASL together with much success. My point is, there are alternatives and a happy family life does not hinge on being able to hear alone.

Excellent post cidanu. The old manual vs. oral approach debate. I'm sure being at Gallaudet gives you a completely different perspective. I know our professors attended a multiple day conference there at some point, and ask for some sort of speech related accomodation since they didn't know sign. They were told point blank that, "our school does not cater to the hearing". It was blunt, but a dose of our own medicine so to speak.

Considering that the younger someone gets a CI, the higher the success rate with it, it's difficult to make that decision with an infant because they're obviously too young to make the choice for themselves.

My point is, there are alternatives and a happy family life does not hinge on being able to hear alone.

Absolutely true, and it's close minded to think otherwise.