Deaf Woman Weeps On Hearing Her Own Voice For The First Time

Just a few nights ago, I was having dinner with my family and a couple who has migrated to Canada. The couple, back for holiday, brought their along their deaf and dumb niece from Sibu. That was the second time that I have met that young girl. She has grown up into a beautiful young lady, full of life and happiness despite her handicaps. As I watched her communicating with the couple in sign language, I can’t help being inspired.

So when I read this story on dailymail.co.uk a short while ago about a deaf woman who hears her own voice for the first time, I was really moved and I feel that I must share this touching story. It will definitely pull at your heartstrings just as it did to mine.

American Sarah Churman had been wearing hearing aids from the age of two, but had mainly relied on lip-reading, because ‘hearing aids only help so much’.

She was fitted with a state-of-the-art hearing implant nine weeks ago, having spent her whole life in virtual silence.

Her husband decided to film her as nurses turned on the implant and Mrs Churman finally heard the world at full volume.

She posted the video on YouTube and wrote underneath: ‘I was born deaf and 8 weeks ago I received a hearing implant.

‘This is the video of them turning it on and me hearing myself for the first time :)’

The video has gone viral, garnering more than now 2 million views since it was uploaded to YouTube on September 26.

As a nurse switches the device on and asks if she can tell, Mrs Churman nods in amazement and bursts into tears.

She is so overwhelmed she can hardly communicate her feelings, laughing and crying as she covers her face with her hands.

 

Wearing a plain white T-shirt, with her dark hair falling around her face, she nods as the nurse asks if she can hear others and herself, adding: ‘My laughter sounds loud.’

At the end of the video, when asked if she wants to hear her husband’s voice, she can only cry even more, pressing a tissue over her face as her husband is heard chuckling with happiness.

Mrs Churman is now finally able to hear her three-year-old daughter, who appears as a baby in another one of her YouTube videos.

After messages poured in from intrigued viewers, Mrs Churman added: ‘For those of you who have asked, the implant I received was Esteem offered by Envoy Medical.’

The Esteem implant is embedded in the ear and works through ear drum vibrations, unlike most hearing aids, which use microphones and speakers.

One YouTube user wrote: ‘The scientist(s) who invented this device should be sainted, knighted and given a nobel prize.’

Another said: ‘This is one of the most beautiful and moving things I’ve witnessed. We’re all so happy for you.’

In response to viewers who were amazed at her ability to speak clearly, Mrs Churman, who is flying to New York to appear on U.S. news programme the Today Show on Monday, said: ‘My whole life I’ve been complimented on how well I speak.

‘I don’t really have an answer for you other than I have always had a passion for reading, grammar, and English.

‘My hearing loss was/is considered severe to profound. I’ve worked very hard to be able to interact and blend in… only thing I can say is ‘God is good’.’