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Rejoicing in their new world of sound, the Bottles, Debbie and Stephen (middle) celebrate with their audiologists, Danielle Dzubak, MS, (far left) and Dawna Mills, AuD (far right). PHOTO/COURTESY DEBBIE BOTTLES | Debbie and Stephen Bottles, of Boise, Idaho, are siblings, born 15 months apart with profound sensorineural hearing loss. With no history of hearing loss on either side of their family, they have used a mixture of sign language, oral interpreters, closed-captioning and real-time captioning to communicate for the past 40 years. Debbie writes via e-mail that she and her brother hoped to gain the ability to hear "soundssuch asbirds singing" with the cochlear implants they received on June 18 at the House Ear Institute, in Los Angeles.
It may not be as melodious as a bird song, but after their first sessions, the Bottles were able to marvel at the sounds of Los Angeles traffic. "There is so much joy in our lives, and now each moment of each day is so precious to hear the many different sounds around us,"wrote Stephenvia e-mail.
Surgery Exceeded Expectations
The Bottles' surgery went extremely well from the beginning. Their audiologists were pleasantly surprised, recalled Debbie.
"Some people adjust very quickly, and in others it takes time. [For some] it takes a while to adjust to the sound," explained William H. Slattery, III, MD, neurotologist and head of the institute's Clinical Studies Department. Dr. Slattery performed the Bottles' surgeries. Both were implanted with Advanced Bionics® Corp.'s Clarion® Hi-Focus CII devices.
To allow maximum healing to occur, the Bottles were scheduled for their device fittings aproximately five weeks following the surgery. The risks associated with the Bottles' implants are similar to any other risks associated with cochlear implant surgery, he remarked, such as device failure, infection or rejection of the implant by the body (though infection and rejection are extremely rare).
Of the first hook-up,Debbie recalled, "we began hearing tones very early in the session. Soon, thereafter, the comfort and threshold were combined and began to work on clarity. We were both able to repeat back the words and then sentences [to] our respective audiologists without reading their lips. All in all, it was the most eventful day in our lives," she reported.
The following morning, on July 30, the Bottles returned to the clinic for their second hook-up, and continued with mapping of the programs. "We were mapped and then compared the volume and quality of the sounds of all the programs from the previous day,"wrote Stephen.For the Bottles, no comparison exists between their perceptions of their new cochlear implants and their past use of hearing aids.
Start of the Implant Journey
For the Bottles, benefits from hearing aids were limited after they had been wearing them for more than 40 years. Nevertheless, "we were highly functional, even with the limited benefits from hearing aids," recalled Stephen.
However, with the improved cochlear implant technology that has developed in the last few years, particularly with the release of the behind-the-ear external speech processor, the Bottles became interested in hearing simple, everyday sounds.
As a result of attending the 2002 Self Help for Hard of Hearing People (SHHH) conference in Seattle, Debbie and Stephen decided to take the cochlear implant journey together. At the conference, the Bottles interacted with all three cochlear implant manufacturers and talked to individuals with backgrounds similar to theirs, to see if cochlear implants worked for those people.
The Bottles siblings wanted to know if they would be able to use the telephone, have improved communications with people, and gain better speech discrimination. Both family and friends welcomed Debbie and Stephen's decision to explore the option of getting cochlear implants.
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