imagine yourself out with friends or family and being deeply engaged in a
conversation when all of a sudden you get a loud ringing in your ears or maybe
a sudden pop then nothing absolute silence this is actually a similar story
to someone that I recently had the pleasure of interviewing named Richard
which wouldn't have been possible without today's video sponsor cochlear
cochlear and I have teamed up to not only share Richards story but also shed
some light on the new cochlear nucleus 7 before we get into the nucleus 7 though
let me introduce you to Richard and let him tell you a little bit more about his
hearing history my name is Richard and I was totally deaf for 35 years I had
scarlet fever when I was 5 I wore hearing aids till I was 30 and then one
day I was riding the bus up Madison Avenue and my left ear went to no longer
use a hearing aid two months later I'm in the movies and my right ear when and
I could no longer wear a hearing aid on that side and I went totally silent for
35 years Richard told me off-camera that he didn't know if it was a direct result
of the scarlet fever for his hearing loss or if it was complications for the
medication he had to take during that time regardless though I couldn't
imagine one minute being able to hear just completely fine and the next being
deaf for the next 35 years I started to think about it and it brought me to my
next question which was what were some of the hardest things he had to deal
with not being able to hear for that long period of time and his answer
surprised me the worst part of losing your hearing is the isolation you feel
from your friends your family you can be sitting in the group of
people you don't know what's going on you're afraid to open your mouth because
somebody will say oh we just spoke about that 10 minutes ago and it's very very
it's discouraging it's discouraging when people say when you ask what do they say
they say never mind it's not important it's probably one of the most hurtful
rejections you can ever feel Richard then went on to explain how he
heard about cochlear and also what he was initially waiting on to fix his
hearing four years ago I discovered a cochlear implants they had been around
when I lost my hearing but they were very primitive then I was waiting for
science to find a cure for my deafness and then I had misconceptions about
cochlear implants and four years ago I ran into a gentleman who was wearing
them and I started asking more about them and I investigated in December of
2015 I had received bilateral cochlear implant surgery I was activated in
January of 2016 with two cochlear nucleus 6 and they
restored my hearing before we continue let me quickly explain what Richard
meant when he said he was activated after a patient receives implant surgery
they have to undergo a two to four week healing process before the implant can
be turned on and tuned during the initial activation session the goal is
to find a comfortable volume level across the frequency spectrum that way a
sound plan can be mapped out if the patient is able to determine a soft
sound from a loud sound during the first appointment then this session was
successful the first activation session is always very emotional given the fact
that most of these people obtaining this procedure have not been able to hear for
years and hearing something as simple as a soft beep is a ray of sunshine beaming
through stormy clouds and in Richards case he not only was able to hear
something he regained all of his hearing it was not a magic bullet it did require
rehabilitation which in fact was very pleasurable reading audio books and
listening to audio books and listening to lectures listening to music and my
hearing did come back a fully restored hearing isn't it crazy
Richard was able to go from being deaf for 35 years to regaining all of his
hearing using the cochlear nucleus 6 and the nucleus 7 is even more powerful but
get into the nucleus seven I asked Richard what is the difference between a
cochlear implant and a hearing aid given that most people myself included
probably think these two are very similar a cochlear implant is not a
hearing aid hearing aids basically amplified the sound and some point the
amplification may be there but you can't comprehend what's going on and people
give up amplification does not increase comprehension in many many cases because
what happens inside the inner ear of the cochlea there are about 30,000 hair
cells and when those hair cells start to die comprehension disappears the
cochlear implant basically replaces the electrical impulses and it sends a
signal to the brain which the brain interprets as hearing it sounds
perfectly natural absolutely the way I remembered it from 35 years ago I was
curious if the nucleus 6 was just so good why did Richard want to upgrade to
the nucleus 7 in fact why does anybody want to upgrade or why should they
upgrade to the nucleus 7 from the nucleus 6 if they've already regained
complete functionality well Richards gonna tell us and in July of 2017 call
Cochlear introduced the nucleus 7 and it was lightyears ahead of anything else it
was working with the cooperation of Apple it tied in with the iPhone so if
you guys are unaware towards the end of 2017 cochlear announced the nucleus 7
which was pretty much a nucleus 6 with a couple key differences that really take
hearing implants to the next level cochlear partnered with Apple in order
to create the nucleus 7 which can connect to an iPhone 5 or later through
Bluetooth low-energy audio sound familiar it should because Apple's air
pods use similar technology and in fact were unveiled right around the same time
the nucleus 7 was announced pretty mind-blowing using this iPhone
connection patients can stream audio from music and movies that are playing
their phone they can control the device they can make and take phone calls and
presumably anything that a standard Bluetooth connection is capable of more
so within the cochlear nucleus 7 app you can adjust profiles tweak audio
frequencies and monitor the nucleus 7 let's go ahead and go back to Richard
and let's hear what he thinks of the nucleus 7 is the best thing that ever
happened to me I enjoy it so much and this is one of the reasons why I keep
trying to talk to people and spread the awareness about what a cochlear implant
is very few people have it Americans have 50 million people with hearing loss
a large number of them cannot be helped with a hearing aid anymore and the
awareness of what a cochlear implant is about is basically what my goal is reach
out to people and say look at this you don't have to live in deafness you don't
have to live in isolation and I've been doing that now for three years but
what's so wonderful about the cochlear nucleus 7 is the direct streaming the
phone call comes I can just hit a button and I can talk on the phone streams
right to my head and just to demonstrate what a cochlear implant is it's
basically a processor and a coil and the coil goes right to the magnet that's
inside my head and an internal processor and a small wire that leads into the
cochlea with 22 electrons those 22 electrodes are interpreted sound finally
before saying goodbye to Richard who was just an amazing guest he had a few words
of encouragement to share as well as some helpful tips I urge you this is not
a joke this is something you really need to be careful about now as much as I
appreciate what I have I would never wish it on anybody the
need one so please just be careful and be careful
of your hearing make sure to check out the link down below in the description
if you want to know more about the Cochlear Nucleus 7 it will take you
over directly to Cochlear's websites and you can find all the information you may
need this project was something new and different and by far one of the most
heartwarming and eye-opening videos I have ever had a chance to work on I just
want to give a huge shout out to cochlear again for making this video
possible and bringing awareness to the nucleus 7
and letting people know you don't have to go on living anymore without hearing
it is possible to regain your hearing you just have to do a little bit of the
legwork if you guys have any questions feel free to leave them down below in
the comments if you guys enjoyed this video do be sure to like it and share it
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stick around by subscribing and I will talk to you guys in the next video