Persona non grata or pettiness?

It has been several months since I accessed Deaf Echo's website which is a holdover from their old DeafDC site. It has been over a year since Oct 9, 2011 when I realized that I was really persona non grata on participating in their discussion when I discovered I could no longer post comments in the "The YouTube Video You Don't See" article piece written by Chris Heuer, (an associate professor at Gallaudet University who teaches some great courses, btw). His article was about Sarah Churman's video that went viral when her implantable hearing aid was turned on for the first time. The comments are no longer there ever since Deaf Echo upgraded/renovated their website. However, comments can still be seen archived through the Wayback Machine. 

My comment did go through at first as you can see in my screen capture

Well, the video went viral with no fault of Sarah. No one expected it to go viral. She never expected to go on the Today Show and Ellen DeGeneres show, and get featured in CNN with Anderson Cooper. Never expected to get her money reimbursed. Yet, she's taking the brunt only because the video went viral and been interviewed by some of the major networks. Had it been only 200 or 2000 views, this would've been a non-story.
 

My post came approximately 14 minutes after Dianrez's posted comment. Approximately 83 minutes later I checked again only to see that my comment disappeared. That's when I realized and assumed on Oct 9, 2011 that I was persona non grata from participating in any of their discussions on their Deaf Echo website. I first got the boot in February 21, 2011 (see Mod's issuing a ban against me) but I had no idea my ban was permanent until my comment go removed did I suspect the permanency of my ban on Oct 9, 2011. That was the second time my comment was removed. The first time my comment was summarily removed was on April 12, 2011 after only several minutes as you can see in the screen capture. Nice cover-up and no attempt to answer a simple question.

Here's where I made an interesting discovery almost a year later just this week.

I found out I was unable to view/access Deaf Echo's website at home and instead got a DNS error message (i.e. "This page can't be displayed") on my browser. The same thing on my wife's laptop. But I can still view it at home on my laptop through a different channel and noticed that Deaf Echo's website is functioning fine and not simply down. I asked my friends if they could access it and they all said yes. I asked if they could view D.E. through my links on my blog pieces. Not a problem. All that led me to believe in their own pettiness (again, it IS their website, you can be petty all you want) Deaf Echo decided to block my IP address in the effort to prevent me from viewing their public website.

Excuse me?

Prevent me from viewing it? Really go that low?

Deaf Echo is not a private website but certainly a public website open for viewing.

I expected more professionalism from Deaf Echo but I suppose they do have the right to throw essentially a tantrum by putting up a wall because they didn't like what I wrote in my blogs, if that really was the case. I sincerely hope not and I hope I'm quite wrong but it's looking more like the other way.

I believe the owner of Deaf Echo eventually discovered my blog piece I did on March 12, 2011 essentially challenging Deaf Echo on the whole Wisconsin union protest and Gov. Scott Walker.  Or maybe it was this blog piece where I noted them for censoring me in a piece called "AGBell are now officially Deaf people" on Sept 8, 2012 as a reason for the blocking? I am pretty sure I was able to access their website a few more times after Sept 8, 2012 but it was just this week I discovered I was unable to access their website through normal channels on my laptop via my internet provider.  Something happened between Sept 8, 2012 and this week.

I'm fine with the ban on participating in their forum discussion. They have their own justification for doing so, however petty it may seem. But what I find incredulous is their attempt to block me further from viewing their Deaf Echo website. And the reason is....what?  This?  This?
This? This? Or this?

Dunno. Whatever the reason it's a petty thing to witness.


ADDENDUM: Joeseph Pietro Riolo made a good comment on a piece I did on April 12, 2011 about the removal of my comment by a moderator and the sadness of seeing such attitudes.

I saw your comment over there at Deaf Echo and later on, much to my surprise, your comment was gone. I questioned myself whether you removed your comment on your own or the editor or moderator of Deaf Echo deleted your comment.

Now, I know you did not.

This whole thing saddens me. I had high respect for Deaf Echo and I am trying to stay positive about it. But, this is the second time that your comment was removed. But then, as you wrote, the editor or moderator of Deaf Echo has the complete prerogative in controlling the comments and I could not argue against it. Is Deaf Echo becoming another yet platform for bashing cochlear implantation and by extension, people who have cochlear implant? I hope not.

(It seems that there is no end in attempting to make an analogy between cochlear implantation and everything else. I came across an analogy between cochlear implantation and circumcision(!) somewhere many moons or ages ago. I dread to see what will be the next analogy.)

Joseph Pietro Riolo

I, too, had high hopes for DeafDC which has morphed into Deaf Echo because many of their articles written by many different deaf authors (any hh or non-Deaf authors?) were very good, insightful and the kind that make you think. Other articles have allowed us a peak into the author's window of their "extremist" thinking. Not that it's bad but it is an interesting realization. Regardless, DeafDC is still worthy of a read but then again only if some of the people over their learn to take their pettiness out of the way and allow diverse views and thinking be a part of the discussion. I think all of this was precipitated by their own hands when I had my own views about the Wisconsin union/Gov Walker debate that were opposite of theirs did they find or at least they thought they did reason and justification to ban me since I was the only one their with an opposing viewpoint when they really wanted was total and uncompromising support instead. All of this this ended with the total IP block to their Deaf Echo website which was the manifestation of their continuing disagreement over my political stance, my way of questioning things and linking to their articles or people who commented over their since I could not do so because I was PNG. I had an opinion and blogged about. Nothing bad or extraordinary about that.

Sarah Churman's book "Powered On" is Number One on Amazon

How impressive. Sarah Churman's book "Powered On" has hit the number one spot on Amazon's best "mover and shaker."

Sarah and I just wanted to shoot out another e-mail saying THANK YOU to all who participated in yesterday's best seller launch on Amazon. By 8pm last night, 'Powered On' earned the best seller title! Sarah's book started out the day ranked #381,773 out of all books on Amazon. She went all the way to spot #361! She got 'best selling biography/memoir' coming in at #64 out of the top 100 best sellers, and eventually earned #1 'mover and shaker' on Amazon books. We are so excited, but more importantly, so grateful for everyone who helped make this happen. We hope everyone who ordered books will enjoy them and return to Amazon to leave a review.

If you want to order Sarah Churman's book, "Powered On", go to Amazon and get one today.

What are the reviews saying in Amazon?

Sarah Churman does an incredible job of taking us into her world of silence along with the challenges of living in a hearing world, bullying, and simple day to day activities that the hearing community takes for granted. She is transparant in sharing her feelings and her journey. It is a beautiful book not just for those effected by deafness but also those facing other serious challenges in life. Thank you Sarah for sharing such a beautiful story.

And that is just one of 29 reviews for a total 5 stars out of 5. Not bad.

Doubters of Sarah Churman...and the hypocrisy

Oh, I covered this before but it was done in a video format about how so many people, especially some deaf people, doubted Sarah Churman's ability to hear and even speak so well even after getting her implantable Envoy hearing device. What surprised me out of all of the videos I produced this one video I did has netted me with over 8,500 hits since last year in October 2011.Must've been a flurry of video searches going on when Sarah Churman's video went viral.

Neat.

The other video I did in July of 2009 that turned out well netted me over 5,400 hits. A video I produced called, "A positive ASL video of a 1 year old baby." And the next video I produced back in July 2011 was a video for hearing people only called, "When deaf/hh people speak, the hypocrisy from the deaf culture." A video where I discussed the hypocrisy I saw from a certain select group of deaf people in the deaf community when I pointed out to Jeff who did the very same thing producing a video for hearing people only. Just as well I also pointed out Tim Riker who did the very same thing by talking at the AB2072 Senate Health Hearing on June 23, 2010 instead of signing. And when I pointed that out in my blog about the hypocrisy they certainly circled the wagon around Tim Riker in the effort to "protect" him for speaking when they have furiously for years tried to prop up the positive message of ASL. And in the end, that group had to fall back speaking to a group of hearing people at the Senate Health Hearing despite having an ASL interpreters readily available. And this was a deaf guy, fluent in ASl, who was the the chapter president of the California Association of the Deaf (Sacramento chapter). A chapter that represents culturally deaf people who chose to speak over signing.

Now, as I think about it, my "for hearing people only" video for some reason has gotten more attention than Jeff's video even though we both produced a video for hearing people only. Why is that? Interesting.

Oh, and don't forget. Sarah Churman's new book is almost out. Don't forget to buy a copy.

Sarah Churman's new book....Powered On

Remember Sarah Churman with almost 14 million hits to date on YouTube? Yeah, you remember her (and all the hate or lamentations that followed like here,  here, here, here, here, ....ad nauseum) and the Esteem Envoy implantable hearing aid that was turned on for the first time and it turned Sarah Churman into an overnight internet sensation. That sensation is still continuing almost a year later with the ongoing media coverage.  Anyways, she has a new book coming out in October. The book is called "Powered On."  The title certainly does make sense. And if you pre-order now you can save a few bucks before her book comes out officially in October. I already ordered mine! And I'll let you know when I'm done reading it. I'm sure it's much better than buying a blank book under false advertisement and pretenses (oh, I never bought it, fyi) but I still reserve that the Steve Jobs book I got would be the better one to read and enjoy. We'll see. Get yours today!

Lou Ferrigno gets Envoy Esteem hearing implant

I was watching the last episode of Celebrity Apprentice when Lou Ferrigno announced during the live show that he can now hear better with his new Esteem implantable hearing device.

Lou Ferrigno, the actor who played the Hulk on the 1970s TV show "The Incredible Hulk," has begun using an implantable hearing aid from Minnesota's Envoy Medical Corp. Ferrigno, who's had hearing problems since he was young, said last weekend on the finale of Celebrity Apprentice (he was fired in April) that he received the Esteem medical implant, made by White Bear Lake-based Envoy.

In fact, this was successfully kept underwraps until Medical Envoy released a press release yesterday, the day after the show that was aired on Sunday, about Lou and his new implant and successful it was that Lou even cried once it was activated.

Profoundly hard of hearing since two years old, Lou Ferrigno revealed last night on The Celebrity Apprentice that he recently underwent a surgical procedure to restore his hearing, with the Esteem® Device, manufactured by Envoy Medical Corporation. The device is a fully implantable prosthetic cochlea stimulator, designed to do just that. It has no microphones or speakers. It is invisible. Except that Lou knows it was implanted, he has no sense of it being in his body. But he can hear. And according to Lou Ferrigno, it "is a miracle." "Lou's dream has always been to hear like everyone else," said Carla, his wife of 32 years, who encouraged Lou to have the procedure. Now, Lou says he has "natural hearing and can hear things he has never heard before or could have ever hoped to hear." Birds chirping, rain on his roof, his alarm clock in the morning (scares the heck out of him, he says laughing) the tiniest sounds of his fingers moving together, the refrigerator's quiet motor, but most importantly, the ability to hear people in everyday conversation, even in a noisy environment, like a restaurant. "Everything is so loud and so clear," says the actor, who is still trying to figure out certain, never before heard sounds. Ferrigno said he "can't wait to get his second ear done,"

The device was implanted by Dr. Michael Murray of San Jose CA, who has performed hundreds of Esteem® procedures and is booked through September. Lou Ferrigno's surgery was performed in Houston, Texas at Envoy Medical's private ("decadent," according to Murray) surgical center. The entire procedure costs approximately $37,000 for the device and the surgery, and according to Ferrigno, "is worth a lot more." Approved in a 15 to 0 unanimous, independent panel vote by the FDA, the Esteem® is indicated for moderate to severe hearing loss, in people with sensorineural hearing loss (about 85% of all hearing loss sufferers). It replaces conventional hearing aids for those who qualify. The Esteem® Device is also approved by the VA (Veterans Administration) for those who qualify and have it prescribed by their VA audiologist and ENT specialist.

The device works by leveraging the natural anatomy of a person's own body. Sound enters the ear naturally. The natural vibrations of the eardrum are sensed and sent to a microprocessor implanted under the skin behind the ear. The vibrations are intensified and sent to the cochlea via the stapes. The tiny remaining hair cells in the cochlea pick up the vibrations and send them to the brain where they are interpreted as sound. The result, according to the successful recipients, including Lou Ferrigno, is beyond anything a hearing aid can offer. Ferrigno is still amazed at how well it works. "No more hearing aids for me," Lou Ferrigno exclaims with a huge smile on his face. Tears fell from his eyes upon activation. Ferrigno, dumbfounded, said "he was advised by his audiologist not to have the procedure." "Go Figure?" said Ferrigno. Lou said he "hasn't felt this good since he won the Mr. Universe competition."

This is great for Lou. I'm sure he's happy with it as you can see.....just like Sarah Churman.

Hard of hearing person interviews Sarah Churman

Here's an interesting captioned video interview of Sarah Churman by DJ Demers of Sharp Focus. What makes this an interesting interview is that you have two hard of hearing people talking back and forth on a live video feed with DJ Demers out of Toronto, Canada and Sarah Churman out of Burleson, Texas. They're able to understand each other quite perfectly. The only difference between the two is that DJ Demers wears regular hearing aids in both ears while Sarah wears her Envoy implantable hearing aid in one (but soon to have her other implantable hearing aid that was donated to her for free by Envoy Medical will be activated in March).

D.J. DEMERS is a funny dude who wears hearing aids, but he doesn’t talk about them much.

He was recently nominated for a Canadian Comedy Award for best standup newcomer and was also a finalist in the prestigious Cream of Comedy competition. All this despite his hearing impairment. He also showcased for NBC at the Comedy Store in L.A. for their Stand-Up for Diversity initiative. What makes him diverse? Possibly his hearing aids.

D.J. has appeared in two episodes of the extremely intellectual show, ‘Cocktales’, on the Comedy Network. He has been profiled by the Toronto Star and ‘The Morning Show’ on Global. His videos have been featured in Eye Weekly and Bite.ca, and he has written for the Walrus Laughs and Virgin Mobile Canada. Most of the content had nothing to do with hearing aids.

These days, D.J. hosts and produces a monthly comedy show with Chuckle Co. at the Comedy Bar in Toronto. He is also the host of ‘Sharp Focus with D.J. Demers’ on The Accessible Channel. With his mixture of intelligence, playfulness, and not being able to hear-ness, D.J. is always a crowd favourite.

He also wears hearing aids.

Interesting! Be sure to visit DJ Demers in Facebook and support your hard of hearing comedians! But, hey, I did some stand up comedy before. And it wasn't easy but I sure did have some fun doing it. And ya gotta have a passion for doing it if you want to make something out of it. Although I do have a creative side in me like doing my Uncle Bob's House - a Pepsi parody video (you gotta watch the original Pepsi commercial to understand my parody video).



Ahem, anyway, the video interview of Sarah Churman is already captioned so be sure to turn on the CC button on YouTube if you need captioning. Thank you Sharp Focus for including captioning! The 36 million people with hearing loss in the United States thank you! I maintain my own standard to include captioning to my own videos at every opportunity.

Sarah Churman gets 2nd hearing aid implant

It won't be long until Sarah gets to hear the world in stereo instead of mono. Very cool. She underwent surgery on January 13, 2012 for her 2nd implantable hearing aid and will have her implant activated on March 8, 2012. All this was possible because of  Envoy Medical's generous donation presented by Ellen DeGeneres on her show that helped pay for the cost of Sarah's first surgery and gave her a 2nd implant, including the cost of surgery, for free.



Will her response to her 2nd activation be as dramatic as her first one? I'm sure she will be followed a lot more closely with news cameras around her come activation day. I mentioned in my blog about her first activation that was captured on YouTube that became an instant viral video of the year with nearly 10 million visits to date. People continue to learn about the new surgical implant even though she was all the rage in the news late last year. More people will certainly learn about the Envoy implantable once she gets it activated on March 8.

Good luck, Sarah! Couldn't happen to a better person.

Sarah Churman's audiogram

I said previously that in time we'll know more about Sarah's hearing loss and that people need to keep an open mind about her and the YouTube video that went viral with more than 7.9 million views. That helped produce a 150 percent jump in sales inquiries for the hearing aide company Envoy Medical with more to come for Envoy Medical and Sarah Churman as well (note the bold).

Sixteen days ago 29-year-old Sarah Churman posted a video of herself hearing her voice loud and clear for the first time after being implanted with Envoy Medical’s Esteem device. The video went viral, sales have spiked and Churman and Envoy have shared the spotlight on The Today Show, Ellen DeGeneres, Fox and Friends, and CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta, among others. The story was also covered on 150 local television stations, and the media attention keeps coming: MSNBC will be doing a story at Churman’s house.

Envoy already spends around $8 million to $10 million a year on radio advertising with announcers including Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Michael Savage. Company CEO Patrick Spearman said as a result of the video big-name celebrities have approached Envoy about getting the device. Spearman thinks that development could lead to television appearances as well as television advertising.

In short, it was a good deal for Envoy Medical to help re-imburse Sarah the $30,000 she spent on the hearing aid implant and will cover for free for Sarah's second implant for her other ear. The viral video was after all basically free advertising for the company's product.

A few days ago Sarah answered a few questions of her own in her own blog. Today, more questions were answered regarding the many complaints saying the whole video was fixed, for example.

In addition to an increase in media exposure and sales, the video also led to a lot of skepticism. Critical anonymous online commenters accused Envoy of creating the video as a marketing strategy. Envoy has posted around 20 to 25 similar videos themselves in the past, though none of them had the same impact as Churman’s.

Did Envoy have something to do with it?

“Absolutely not,” Spearman said. “It was a surprise to us.”

Churman’s husband posted it to YouTube “thinking his family and friends would watch it and people were so touched by it that all of a sudden it went viral,” Spearman said.

Envoy Medical has since given Churman a free device for her other ear.

“It’s basically a reimbursement for her time,” Spearman said, pointing out that she’s been flying all over the country for television appearances.

That's what I said, too, about how the video was meant for her family and didn't expect it to go viral.

And then you have the doubts that Sarah could not be deaf (well, she is, so get over it) only because she speaks so clearly or how she could hear her own voice for the first time because, darn it, it's an impossibility!

“The definition of deaf is somewhat of a range,” Spearman said. “If you have a severe hearing loss, you’re considered deaf, anything over a 70 decibel loss.

“The skepticism, you’re always going to have people who are skeptical but the reason is because she said I heard my voice for the first time. Well, what she heard was her real voice, the same way you and I hear our own voice. She could hear something [before]. Not a lot, and not very well, but she could hear tones and sounds or she wouldn’t be able to speak. And that’s where this came from, people saying, ‘Well, she’s not deaf.’

“Well, it’s just a matter of semantics and how you define deaf, but she basically has a severe hearing loss because I’ve obviously seen her audiogram. She had a 70 to 75 decibel loss at 1500 to 2000 hertz, and that’s a severe hearing loss.”

Not the full detail of her audiogram but I'm happy with it though I didn't feel the need to question her so harshly or unnecessarily.

There you have it folks. Pretty much all in a nutshell with most questions answered. She's deaf. She can speak really well.  The viral video isn't a fake and was never a ploy set up by Envoy Medical. And she can finally hear very well with the help of her new implantable hearing aid.

Time for people to move on and stop speculating and nitpicking, and be happy for Sarah just for once. Welcome her with open arms.

Deaf Rock Singer - History 4 Sale

Here's a "hearing impaired" rock singer based out of Seattle, Washington that plays in a band called "History for Sale" or H4S for short. They play alternative, indie, and rock genre music.  In a press release this summer (June 2011) it explains that the lead singer is deaf (hearing impaired):

AFTER A TRYING 2010 THE DEAF SINGER LEADS 'HISTORY for SALE' IN RELEASE OF "THE FUTURE":

SEATTLE, WA June 17, 2011 - HISTORY for SALE seems to know the frequency needed to speak their voice in a time of musical chaos. From the land of gray skies and an every evolving music scene that is Seattle, Washington, HISTORY for SALE has placed the task squarely on the shoulders of hearing impaired lead singer Mark Young by pushing him to the front of the mix. His searing vocals and R&B inspired staccato delivery give flight to the sounds, but give no indication to the fact that he is wearing hearing aids while doing so. Though a self titled debut effort from the band has been previously released, it is on this sophomore 8 track effort that HISTORY for SALE (H4S) seem to have become a singular entity. A gelled mass of musical substance that has found that speaking in volumes and taking listeners on a journey of musical exploration and virtuosity is something only life experienced artists who make honest music can do.

It goes on explaining the history and the lead singer's deafness:

Sound is something that is taken for granted every day, but not by the hearing challenged singer. "I was born with a partially flattened stirrup and thus couldn't resonate certain frequencies" Young contends. "Through high school in Yakima it was all about EPMD, Public Enemy, DJ QUIK, and how loud you could play your music. Basically everything your parents tell you not to do" he added. Given his loss, it is hard to imagine that someone with so great a hearing deficiency requiring hearing aids could aspire to lead a rock band into the fray of the current day music scene, and do so effectively, but listening to the tracks on "The Future" it seems that task is but just a small one.

Behind Frans Laulainen's inventive and metronome like drumming, Doug Warren's walking and driving bass lines, and Keefe O'neill's Edge and Gilmour like guitar melodies HISTORY for SALE have created a album that is not small, is not local, and does not suggest something shallow or narrow in space. What they have created is an anthemic crying voice of "HEAR ME NOW". A message that even a deaf man could hear.

Here we have a deaf/hearing impaired/hard of hearing lead singer and let's not get into this whole "he's not really deaf nonsense sort of deal a la Sarah Churman" because it serves no purpose. If he wants to be identified as a deaf singer, let him.  

Despite all that it got me wondering since there are extremely few truly deaf bands such as Beethoven's Nightmare, what are some of deaf/hh people's favorite local rock bands that they like to listen to and not the big name rock bands (i.e. Billy Joel, Madonna, etc)? What's your favorite local rock bands in your area?

As for History for Sale, good luck to them and many successes. The rock band business is a brutal one.  You can listen to their music here and tell me what you think of the music and the lead singer.

Deaf YouVideo

Interesting to see this blog piece pointing to my blog,"When haters gonna still hate....and the clueless ones continue to be clueless," on what it appears to be on assumptions that I was attacking deaf/hh/Deaf people for making those rude comments in YouTube. Quite the contrary. It was people in general I was noting who made those rude comments. No where did I mention Deaf/deaf/hh people as my target in my blog but rather the people who did the commenting in Sarah Churman's YouTube and elsewhere the links I provided where you can find those demeaning, hateful or clueless comments (e.g. deaf people cannot talk clearly). No where in my blog did I imply or say that the majority of degenerating comments came from "hearing impaired" people. Common sense tells you that one cannot tell whether those comments in YouTube came from a hearing person or a deaf/hh person simply by reading them.

Next time, look both ways before crossing a busy road, people.

UPDATE: Name calling such as "Mikey Mouse" is a sign of defensiveness. Not sure what the owner of Deaf YouVideo big deal was and the need to respond. This blog update was a clarification to readers (and not to Deaf YouVideo) who may have assumed that I was attacking deaf/hh/Deaf people in my haters blog piece but that was never the case as you can clearly see.

UPDATE II: The author of DYV removed a section that contained the name calling as you can see in my screen capture below. My story remains. What I see is the continued misapplication and misunderstanding by people who want to read what they want to read in my blog. Reason for this varies. I've made it clear what my blog was about in my first update for those who misread my blog. Secondly, bringing up the issue of rapes, for example, at Gallaudet is not sensationalism nor attacking Gallaudet University but forcing people to confront the issues. If people choose to bury their heads and pretend they never happened, then they choose that action. Name another blog that have covered this serious issue and I can pretty much guarantee you not one ever did in all these years going back in 2006 when I first covered it. Calling it "sensationalism" such as the issue of rape or alcoholism shows a desire to ignore such seriousness. People would prefer to sweep such issues under the carpet and I find that appalling and sad. 

Sarah Churman responds to questions....

It was a matter of time until Sarah found the time to answer some questions pertaining to her ability to speak clearly and how she hears before and after getting her implantable hearing aid. It is really astounding to read comments from people saying how it's an impossibility for one to develop a clear voice with no deaf accent. Here's Sarah Churman's money shot on one of the  most asked question,"How do you know how to talk?":

Anyway, everyone is different. Everyone heals differently, everyone learns differently, and everyone excels at different things. I personally have always LOVED to read and write. English and Grammar have always been something I have enjoyed. I also enjoy talking! (Big shocker to those who know me huh? NOT! Lol.) I have worked very hard to overcome and to speak well. I went to deaf ed school when I was very young, then on to public school where I took speech classes and therapy. I don't think people realize how intently I read lips. When you read lips, you are studying how people move their mouths, where they place their tongue (and for those of you with tongue rings, yes, you trip me up) and their teeth. It's a skill I have had 29 years to hone.

Next question: "How did she know what the doc was saying without looking at her mouth?"

Um. I got my ear turned on :) How do YOU know what people are saying? You HEAR them. I don't mean to be rude, but really? I don't know, I can't explain the brain or how it works. I just know my ear works and I heard her clear as a bell. (which was awesome) I've always been able to hear some noise if it was loud enough with my hearing aids, just not able to make a distinction as to what people were actually saying. If you covered your mouth, I couldn't read your lips. The best way I know to explain it is like this.; if you went to a foreign country and someone spoke to you, you'd know they were talking because you can hear something, but you have no idea what they are actually saying. Hope that helps.

With hearing aids, noise distortion is always an issue which is why sometimes hearing people talk can get muddled. Sounds are electronically amplified but gets distorted. But with the Esteem implantable hearing aid this distortion gets eliminated because it uses the ear's "eardrum as a natural microphone, picking up sounds through the ear canal, thereby using the body’s natural anatomy to reduce the background noise, distortion, and acoustic feedback that people experience with conventional hearing aids."

It's pretty galling to see people dismiss the very notion that deaf people cannot have the ability to speak clearly. I don't think the motto "deaf/hh people can do anything except hear" precludes the ability to speak clearly. Some require more intense speech therapy and training while others not so much. It all depends on amount of hearing loss, types of frequency loss, early intervention, amount of speech therapy and probably the most important of all is the love to talk constantly and not be afraid to find ways to improve speech diction. Although I believe that we can have the ability to hear just not close to the level of a hearing person but that Esteem implantable hearing aid sure comes pretty close.

The Sarah Churman Saga Continues.....

Since I am unable to contribute on Deaf Echo (for their petty reasons that's seven months old) and respond to comments over there I will do so here on my blog regarding what Mishkazena said:

"i'm glad for sarah churman. i wish her the best of luck. however, the title 'hearing her voice for the first time' is misleading. many people deny this, insisting one can develop a clear voice with no deaf accent without hearing one's voice in the past. it's an impossibility. yet our experiences and knowledge are dismissed. we're ridiculed and painted an anti implant group by the adoring and awe-struck hearing audience. this had been reinforced by several deaf people with a chip on their shoulders against culturally deaf people taking this as yet another opportunity to attack these deaf people."

I think it all boils down to the missing context of that YouTube title which says, "29 years old and hearing myself for the 1st time!" which could have been meant to say "29 years old and hearing myself clearly and loudly for the first time."  We don't know who put that title in but it was Sarah's husband who videotaped her. It was her husband who put that video on YouTube which means it was probably most likely her husband who wrote down that title.  But what we don't know is that there could be some truth to that title that Sarah was hearing her own voice for the first time. Unless you have her audiogram and a complete picture of her history, I suggest people withhold judgement until it becomes clear on Sarah's hearing loss.

Having said that, people with high frequency hearing loss can and do have a harder time hearing one's own voice, especially if the person is a female such as in probably the case for Sarah Churman. I don't know. Instead of saying it's an impossibility that she could speak so clearly and say she's deaf consider the option of keeping an open mind. Sarah already explained to Ellen DeGeneres that she cannot explain completely why she can speak so well and gets asked with that question all the time. She told Ellen that she accredited her good speech to deaf ed, speech therapy and her love to talk alot. But somehow people seem to try and paint her as a liar and not telling the truth. 

Next we have Dianrez's blog who continues to misunderstand and even twist on what I've said in the past.

People who have even a slight amount of hearing at some point, or who were born with hearing, are able to make the most of it in many cases and these are the ones most helped by hearing aids or later cochlear implants or the new implantable middle-ear device. Those with excellent auditory memory do the best of all. That the media and some bloggers continue to categorize them as "deaf" is misleading: these people are not, NOT deaf.

There are so many different types of hearing LOSS. I used this word deliberately. They are people with auditory memory going way back, even unconsciously; they have brain pathways in the speech range that worked at one time, and may still work. Then they "suffered" a LOSS. The memory traces are still there, however.

Hard of hearing people have this, too. McConnell, himself hard-of-hearing, acknowledges that there are different types of hearing LOSS, but he makes the mistake of lumping profoundly deaf people into this group. These are people without any auditory memory from birth, and even with early cochlear implants, may not always develop useful hearing as Heuer points out in his article.

A few profoundly deaf people have cochlear implants and are said to be living as hearing people, such as the Chaikof sisters of Cochlearimplantonline.com. Many, as all of us personally know, do not hear as well and as many stash them in drawers as those that use them. (Heuer)

I discussed in my blogs on the key to early intervention in conjunction with using current hearing technology to make it work, even for those who are profoundly deaf using cochlear implant, and make use of the auditory cortex during those crucial 4 years window of opportunity. I made my point about early intervention numerous times in my blogs, especially on cochlear implants, such as here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and many more going back a few years in my blog. The phrase "hard of hearing" does not pertain to db loss nowadays simply because of the advent of cochlear implant technology.  It's the ability to discriminate words, understand environmental sounds and speak intelligibly with the help of current hearing technology along with audio and speech therapies. Cochlear implants make it possible nowadays for those born profoundly deaf get implanted at such a young age and develop the ability to discriminate the spoken words (without looking) and be able to speak extremely well. The key has always been early intervention (rather than "auditory memory") using the existing hearing technology with lots of supports and encouragements. Not every instances are a success for various reasons but successes there are. In fact, Dianrez's own suggestion at the end of her blog supports my argument about profoundly deaf people can be put into the category of "hard of hearing":

Deaf: having little usable hearing for speech. Having little usable hearing for environmental sounds. Having little usable hearing even with devices.

You have profoundly deaf people who were born profoundly deaf whose hearing (what's left of it) is considered still usable only because of the existence of cochlear implant makes it possible to bridge that gap. Young deaf children have usable hearing for listening and speech development if cochlear implant is considered. It still usable hearing when it comes to environmental sounds. In a word, that would fit the definition of hard of hearing for prelingually (profoundly) deaf people who end up benefitting greatly from cochlear implants. Not all would fit into the category as hard of hearing people but many do. Even Jamie Berke of About.com Deafness admitted how the cochlear implant technology changed the meaning of the term "hard of hearing" for profoundly deaf people.

What is the difference between being hard of hearing and being deaf? The answer is not simple, and is getting even harder to define with the growth of cochlear implants.

You have cochlear implant wearers who consider themselves as deaf and hard of hearing just like you have hearing aid users who consider themselves as deaf and hard of hearing, just like me. Turn the device off, you're deaf. Turn it on, you're hard of hearing. Just like Sage in this captioned video below when she was 16 years old who was outfitted with a cochlear implant at age 22 months speaks about her cochlear implant.



There's no doubt that Sage is hard of hearing but then again she's deaf, too.

As for the Chaikof sisters (Rachel Chaikof that runs her own website Cochlear Implant Online) they never made the claims of living as "hearing people" but rather they have the ability to interact and associate with hearing people solely because of the early intervention with cochlear implant and speech therapies made it possible today to interact. Just as I can interact easily with hearing people but I'm certainly not a hearing person. They know they are deaf but see themselves as hard of hearing. Let's not twist words, Dianrez.

Another twist by Dianrez about what I said.

Then we have people who defend the people who are involved in the quest to hear again. Mike McConnell is one. Immediately he jumps on people who point out the flaws in such cures by way of electronic and mechanical devices: "Why is it so hard to congratulate a grown deaf adult seeing the immediate (and emotional) success from her implantable hearing aid in a video?" He has written several consecutive blogs, each insisting that Sarah is deaf four different ways and is still deaf when she turns off the implant. He adds, "Those people need to take their brains out of the gutter and stop with the stereotyping of what deaf people can or cannot do, especially on the ability to speak well. This is especially true coming from deaf people themselves which serves only an ironic and hypocritical reminder. Yet people continue with this conspiracy theory thinking something's afoot. Practically insinuating that she is not deaf because there is no way she can speak that well. No way!! Well, get over it folks, she is deaf."

I've not described nor insisted that Sarah is deaf in four different ways. Please stop with the disingenuous hyperbole and dishonesty, Dianez. I've already explained in the above about the terms "deaf" and "hard of hearing." Secondly, my comment asking why is it so hard to congratulate Sarah Churman's implantable hearing aid success was taken out of a paragraph I wrote while leaving the rest behind that explains my questioning which had nothing to do with about jumping on "people who point out flaws in such cures" (because implantable hearing aids are not a cure). Rather my comment had to do with people lamenting about one's own history struggling with his/her hearing aid wishing his/her story was video-taped and had gone viral, too. Instead of being happy for her you hear lamentations, the whole nine-yards "woe-is-me."

Echoing Sentiments

Chris Heuer produced a piece in Deaf Echo basically lamenting over Sarah Churman's YouTube video that went viral by going over his own little history and hinting that he may just take back his sincerity about Sarah Churman.

Sarah Churman, if you’re reading this, let me start out with a disclaimer. What I’m about to write isn’t about you. If your implanted hearing aid works for you, that’s great. For the moment I say this with all sincerity.

Some of you, including Sarah Churman, might be wondering what I mean by that remark: “…for the moment.” By way of an explanation, let me tell you a story.

The one thing that many, many people continue to forget about the viral YouTube video of Sarah Churman was that the Churmans never expected it to go viral in the first place. In the first 8 days since YouTube aired, she has been on the Today Show with Matt Lauer and the Ellen DeGeneres show, and was featured on CNN with Anderson Cooper. Webwise, she was all over the place as well. Pretty good in just a few days time. Technically it'd been about 5 or 6 days time rather than 8 days because it took a few days before the video went viral and that's when the media caught wind of it, both the web and on TV. It went viral with no fault of Sarah's own. She didn't put the video up, her husband did with the encouragement of his mother so that their families and friends would be able to witness Sarah's reaction to her implant being turned on. The video captured accurately that Sarah was hearing herself for the first time. And now some people are heaping scorn at her for a variety of reasons. 

Strange world indeed.

Why is it so hard to congratulate a grown deaf adult seeing the immediate (and emotional) success from her implantable hearing aid in a video? A result that took Sarah by surprise at the clarity of sound that was coming in. Why reserve such congratulations to her and instead lament about one's own history struggling with his hearing aid wishing his story was video-taped and had gone viral, too? Had Sarah Churman's video received only 2000 views, all of this would've been essentially a "non-story." But instead it churned out some 7.2 million views/hits so far in less than two weeks.

Of course, I don't expect that everybody will share the same sentiments echoing mine when it comes to congratulating Sarah on her successful use of her implantable hearing aid. My approach is to separate myself from Sarah's and leave it at that because I recognize that each of us is different when it comes to our hearing loss, our experience, our upbringing, our preferences to communicate, and whether we successfully used our hearing aids, cochlear implants, other implantable hearing devices (e.g. Baha, Envoy, etc) or none at all (e.g. signing) to our benefits.


Off topic:
I'm disappointed and sad to report this but I am left with no recourse but to report this behavior and continued misunderstanding.

I left a comment at Deaf Echo on a blog piece about Sarah Churman just a few minutes ago. I went back to see if any responses came up (Patti's came up) only to see that my comment was once again removed. I am guessing this has to do with a disagreement and misunderstanding over what I wrote, my opinion several months back (and here) in Febuary 2011.  But I wasn't sure if I was still on the banned list (seven months later) and made a screen copy of my comment submission just in case. Sure enough, I'm persona non grata (the new commenting rules can be seen here while the old seen on Feb 2, 2011 can be seen here) for petty reasons, I suppose.

Before at 9:50 AM PCT (Oct 9, 2011):

Removed at approximately 10:10 AM PCT (Oct 9, 2011):

As you can see my comment was deleted. Nothing demeaning, hateful, derogatory, or abusive about it as you can clearly see from what I wrote seen in the screen capture. No ad-hominem attacks.  No foul language. And certainly not a spam. I think whoever removed my comment needs to have the cojones to look past his/her own petty feelings when it comes to a difference of opinions instead of hiding behind claims of "abusive comments" as reason for the continued blocking. Incredibly, the moderator(s) still refuse to point out exactly which or what comment of mine back in February 2011 was considered as an "abusive comment" which can, frankly, be anything they would want it to be and call it justified.  All of my comments have not been abusive nor disrespectful as Candy pointed out before as a witness to this whole charade. Clearly my recent comment seen in the screen capture above is not abusive nor disrespectful at all.  Folks, let's learn to let go such pettiness since after all Bobby (one of the moderator of Deaf Echo) said:

We love a good discussion that drives things forward, and we act aggressively to maintain a good environment for our readers and writers.

I've always loved having a good discussion that drives things forward in my blog and in other discussion forums, too. Nothing in my responses were shown to breach that "good environment for our readers and writers" as you can see in my latest comment that was conveniently deleted.  But then again, it's their blog and they have every right to do what they feel is right even if it means letting misunderstanding getting the better of them. Yet, I find all this incredulously humorous. And I certainly have a right to blog my opinions on people who simply cannot accept alternative viewpoints and opinions who are unable to simply agree to disagree. Agreeing to disagree is a show of professionalism. Pettiness is not.

Captioned Video: The Doubters of Sarah Churman

Remember the phrase people, deaf people can do anything...even speak really, really well just like Sarah Churman. Even hear pretty good, too! But we still have a hearing loss at the end of the day when we turn off our hearing aids or cochlear implant.

Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Churman

I predicted this would happen a few days ago that Rush Limbaugh would discuss about the YouTube viral sensation of Sarah Churman and the Esteem implantable hearing aid remarkable result and impact on her and to the rest of the viewers. I heard Rush discussed the whole thing over my radio this morning. And his transcript can now be seen on his website.

The video of it on YouTube has gone viral. Millions of people are watching it. They got one thing wrong. She was not deaf. For the Esteem to work, you have to have some hearing. If you're a hundred percent deaf it won't work because it restores your natural hearing using your own eardrum. It's a prosthetic hearing implant, just became available last year, totally invisible. If you were to meet her today you would not see it. The Esteem works with her natural hearing to restore it to near optimum levels. The video I mentioned, you can actually see Sarah, the minute the Esteem is turned on she can hear herself laugh for the first time. She can hear her own voice clearly for the first time. She's so overwhelmed by all of this, something that we all take for granted, that she starts to cry.


Now, the video's only a minute and a half long, but it's a couple-Kleenex video. She's crying and laughing so hard, she goes through several tissues. Her husband, Sloan Churman, videotaped the moment for her, and he posts it for family and friends to see that could not be with her in the doctor's office when they turned the thing on. So one person tells another, the video starts to go viral and a week later six and a half million people have seen it or there have been six and a half million views of the video and what made it all possible was the Esteem from Envoy Medical. Now, you can see the video on YouTube, and we're gonna post it at RushLimbaugh.com, too. You can see the Esteem at EnvoyMedical.com, or call them, 800-518-7320.


But you should see this video. The moment it's turned on for the first time in her life she can hear, and it's an amazing thing. If you've never lost your hearing you have no clue what it's like and it's just an amazing thing to see, and it's a fabulous product, and when I saw the video, I said, "That's it! That's the Esteem, that's our client, that's our sponsor." I was proud as I could be, as we only associate with the best.

One thing Rush got wrong was that, yes, Sarah was born deaf. Maybe Rush was thinking in the context as stone deaf but yes, she's deaf and even hard of hearing, too. And now, she's easily hard of hearing to the point when people would automatically assume her to be hearing the way she would speak so clearly.

Congratulations, Sarah!

The Sarah Churman Effect

It was amazing to watch a YouTube video of Sarah Churman having her implantable hearing aid called the Esteem turned on for the first time and see her reaction to the clarity of sound around her. Her husband, Sloan, video taped the whole thing and was reluctant to put it on YouTube since it was supposed to be a private moment like getting married or having a baby as Sloan said.

There are one of three things I'm seeing in YouTube comments and elsewhere from people who objected to the whole video taping thing:

1) It's fake. The whole thing was acted out in order to help promote the Esteem implantable hearing aid.
2) The title of the YouTube video was "misleading" and that she didn't really hear her voice for the first time.
3) Her voice sounded too "hearing-like" and could be heard clearly raising questions if her hearing loss is really severe.

First off, check out Sarah Churman's first blog soon after her Esteem was activated describing her awareness about the new sound around here.

Anyway, I'm supposed to hold the remote up to the device implanted in my skull to activate it and I kept moving it which delayed it being turned on. Just about fainted, then 'viola!' it was on. For you mothers out there.......it was like that moment where time stands still as your baby slips into this world.......I just started crying, then crying more because I could hear myself crying. Then laughing, then freaking out over my laugh. That lead to the shakes and partial hyperventillating. Sloan's boisterous laugh and the grins from the docs was the icing on the cake. Then the tapping of the keys as the nurse lady did something on the computer, followed by the remote being set down on the counter.......I could HEAR it!!! Felt like quite the idiot as I left the center (OMG, Sloan just sneezed in the shower, too funny!) grinning ear to ear.........worse case of 'perma-grin' I've ever had! Stepped outside while Sloan was telling me I was whispering, and walked to the car taking it all in. Foot steps, car doors, engine starting, already tired of hearing myself swallow. Lol. I kept asking "Is this normal? Do you hear that? Does that always do that? Is there a cup rattling around in the back of the car? (WHOA). Made my first phone calls. Called Lari and immediately heard the girls in the background. *Let me take this time to apologize to anyone I've ever called while the girls were chattering..............how the heck do you 'normal folks' hear anything with them in the background?!? Lol. She had Oli tell me "I love you Mommy", then Elise said "I ove you".......I started bawling and had to hand the phone off to Sloan. THAT was an awesome moment. Called my Mom and she was like "Are you talking to me now with the new ear?!?" Called my Dad and if I'm not mistaken I think I heard him get a little choked up. Got to Outback to eat with Alexis and was blindsided by the road noise upon stepping out of the car. The place was on a service road and WOW the highway is NOISY! Hurried up and got inside to get relief from the noise. Could actually hear the servers speaking instead of doing my usual routine of smiling politely and praying to God that they haven't said something I've ignored or not answered. When the waitress brought our drinks on the table I asked Sloan "Do you think she'd find it funny if I asked her to stop slamming the cups and plates on the table?" (I of course knew she wasn't actually slamming anything, I just found it amusing) Real shocker was when she brought my salad and I started to eat. WOW was that loud..........eating a crouton is like fireworks going off. I was certain people 5 tables over were thinking 'you hear that cow chewing?' Sloan and Alexis assured me that no one could hear me chew. Sloan got much satisfaction out of the fact that I promptly started eating with my mouth closed. I've been an avid 'smacker' my whole life.........

Her blog description of sound around her and her reaction on YouTube video doesn't strike me as a fake video or that Sarah is faking it. What's interesting is that those noise she's hearing are in the higher frequency range.

Secondly, about people who objected to the title of Sarah's YouTube video need to chill since her hearing loss precluded her from hearing anything of clarity and loudness, especially her own voice, despite wearing a regular hearing aid. We don't even know exactly the kind of frequency loss she has (one guy is asking for the whole nine yard requesting more hearing loss details from her). She could have a higher frequency hearing loss which may prevent her from hearing her own voice and would hear better at a lower frequency such as a male's voice, hence her picking up a Texan accent. I don't know but this is not really a case worth arguing over the title of her YouTube video. Some people are just plain picky and overly demanding.

Thirdly, her voice sounded too much like a "hearing person"? So what? She obtained her hearing aid at age two enabling her an early start on acquiring sound around her. Her speech training must've gone extremely well and with family support. Until more details come forth I'm not overly concerned on how well she speaks. What's surprising is to hear from people who are basically saying that it's impossible for a deaf person to speak to clearly and well that one wouldn't tell if the person is deaf. Those people need to take their brains out of the gutter and stop with the stereotyping of what deaf people can or cannot do, especially on the ability to speak well. This is especially true coming from deaf people themselves which serves only an ironic and hypocritical reminder.  Yet people continue with this conspiracy theory thinking something's afoot. Practically insinuating that she is not deaf because there is no way she can speak that well. No way!! Well, get over it folks, she is deaf. She speaks very well. And she has a slight Texan accent. And she wears a $30,000 implantable hearing aid. Her life has improved dramatically with the Envoy Esteem implantable hearing aid allowing her to her the sound around her with increased clarity for the first time in her 29 years of her life.


Congratulations, Sarah!