Cochlear Implant

Doctors who performed cochlear implant surgery on conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh said Thursday that the operation was successful. A doctor from the House Ear Clinic and Institute in Los Angeles said Limbaugh, 50, could regain "as much as 30% to 50% of his hearing in the implanted ear." "This cochlear implant will reconnect Mr. Limbaugh to his environment, and that is an important benefit to his quality of life," said Dr.

Dr. Antonio De la Cruz, a renowned neurotologist at the House Ear Clinic in Los Angeles who performed cochlear implant surgery on conservative radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh, has died. He was 65. De la Cruz, who also was the director of education at the House Ear Institute, died July 31 of complications of lymphoma at St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles, an institute spokeswoman said. An associate of the House Ear Clinic since 1975, De la Cruz was in the news in 2001 when he successfully performed cochlear implant surgery on Limbaugh.

Tyler de Lara, 2, thrashes on a gurney, tangled in his sheet, hospital gown and IV tubing. A white bandage encircles his head and, loosened by his squirming, slips down and covers his eyes. All that shows is a tuft of black hair and his mouth, set in an angry pout. Dr. Akira Ishiyama notes Tyler's grimace and says he's pleased. It means there is no facial nerve damage. Tyler was diagnosed as deaf six months earlier.

Tyler de Lara, 2, thrashes on a gurney, tangled in his sheet, hospital gown and IV tubing. A white bandage encircles his head and, loosened by his squirming, slips down and covers his eyes. All that shows is a tuft of black hair and his mouth, set in an angry pout. Dr. Akira Ishiyama notes Tyler's grimace and says he's pleased. It means there is no facial nerve damage. Tyler was diagnosed as deaf six months earlier.

JEANNE YEOMAN had been dealing with her hearing loss for a couple of decades, but listening still exhausted her. And technology wasn't really helping her patience. She remembers driving down the road one day and coming close to just hurling her hearing aids out the window. "Hearing aids made everything louder, not clearer," she says. "I didn't need amplification. I needed clarification." Yeoman wasn't deaf.

The clash between the deaf community and those who would help restore hearing to the deaf has been unnecessarily polarized in recent years, and Michael D'Antonio's article ("Sound and Fury," Nov. 21) did little to soothe the acrimony. Cochlear implant technology is not primitive. Rather it is the most sophisticated and technologically advanced medical device ever applied, and its benefit has been repeatedly demonstrated for more than 20 years. When the sound from the implant is combined with lip reading, even the least successful cochlear implant user experiences significant improvement in the ability to communicate.

MICHAEL CHOROST'S "Rebuilt" (Book Review, July 31) is a most interesting book about a highly sophisticated technical means of helping the deaf. There were two points in Alex Soojung-Kim Pang's review that bothered me. The review makes it seem that the cochlear implant is broadly accepted by the deaf community, but this is not true. Many are against it, especially for children. Also omitted was the fact that the conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh now uses cochlear implants.

Dr. Antonio De la Cruz, a renowned neurotologist at the House Ear Clinic in Los Angeles who performed cochlear implant surgery on conservative radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh, has died. He was 65. De la Cruz, who also was the director of education at the House Ear Institute, died July 31 of complications of lymphoma at St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles, an institute spokeswoman said. An associate of the House Ear Clinic since 1975, De la Cruz was in the news in 2001 when he successfully performed cochlear implant surgery on Limbaugh.

John Meier can hear again. "I walk outside, and if there are birds around I hear them sing," he says. "I can hear the wind. I can hear the rain. I can hear kids laugh." Six years ago, Meier contracted spinal meningitis. He thought at first that it might have been a case of the flu, but soon realized that it was something much worse. On the way to the emergency room he went deaf. Meier spent his 19th birthday in the hospital. It was his first birthday without sound. "It was very lonely.

Casey Correia was 5 when he lost his hearing as a complication of meningitis, an inflammation of the membranes surrounding the spinal cord or brain. Hearing aids were of no use to the Yorba Linda boy. Within weeks of becoming deaf, his speech deteriorated. Frankie and Jack Correia seized upon the only remaining alternative for their son: a cochlear implant.

JEANNE YEOMAN had been dealing with her hearing loss for a couple of decades, but listening still exhausted her. And technology wasn't really helping her patience. She remembers driving down the road one day and coming close to just hurling her hearing aids out the window. "Hearing aids made everything louder, not clearer," she says. "I didn't need amplification. I needed clarification." Yeoman wasn't deaf.

MICHAEL CHOROST'S "Rebuilt" (Book Review, July 31) is a most interesting book about a highly sophisticated technical means of helping the deaf. There were two points in Alex Soojung-Kim Pang's review that bothered me. The review makes it seem that the cochlear implant is broadly accepted by the deaf community, but this is not true. Many are against it, especially for children. Also omitted was the fact that the conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh now uses cochlear implants.

The young couple sat in the small room, waiting for a click on the computer that would transform their lives. An audiologist adjusted the sound levels, then said, "Go live," activating a microphone on a device hooked on the man's left ear. On cue, the man's wife spoke. "I love you," she said softly, her face glowing with an encouraging smile. "Wow," he exclaimed as he heard a flood of muffled, yet magical sounds. In six years together, Jenni and Russ Ewald had never communicated this way.

Angie and Mark King knew life would be a struggle when disease stole the last of their 3-year-old daughter's limited hearing. But the Celina, Ohio, couple never imagined that their insurance provider would deny coverage for a cochlear implant. As they saw it, the titanium device designed to improve speech recognition was their daughter's only shot at a normal life in a hearing world. Benicorp Insurance Co.

If ever there were an aptly titled film, it's "Sound and Fury" (with apologies to William Faulkner). Seldom have audiences been treated to such a raw demonstration of invective between family members as in this film. And it has the added benefit of being true. "You have a new relationship with the hair on the back of your head," says the film's director, Josh Aronson.

Doctors who performed cochlear implant surgery on conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh said Thursday that the operation was successful. A doctor from the House Ear Clinic and Institute in Los Angeles said Limbaugh, 50, could regain "as much as 30% to 50% of his hearing in the implanted ear." "This cochlear implant will reconnect Mr. Limbaugh to his environment, and that is an important benefit to his quality of life," said Dr.

Angie and Mark King knew life would be a struggle when disease stole the last of their 3-year-old daughter's limited hearing. But the Celina, Ohio, couple never imagined that their insurance provider would deny coverage for a cochlear implant. As they saw it, the titanium device designed to improve speech recognition was their daughter's only shot at a normal life in a hearing world. Benicorp Insurance Co.

The young couple sat in the small room, waiting for a click on the computer that would transform their lives. An audiologist adjusted the sound levels, then said, "Go live," activating a microphone on a device hooked on the man's left ear. On cue, the man's wife spoke. "I love you," she said softly, her face glowing with an encouraging smile. "Wow," he exclaimed as he heard a flood of muffled, yet magical sounds. In six years together, Jenni and Russ Ewald had never communicated this way.

Fifteen years after going deaf, Denise Neel remembered the simplest sounds best--rain, songbirds, crickets. She never knew the voice of her youngest son, now 13, and music was a muffled memory. But with a series of electronic beeps, the walls of silence have come tumbling down for Neel. A computerized device implanted in her right ear last month sends impulses of sound past her damaged auditory nerves, letting her hear once again.

The clash between the deaf community and those who would help restore hearing to the deaf has been unnecessarily polarized in recent years, and Michael D'Antonio's article ("Sound and Fury," Nov. 21) did little to soothe the acrimony. Cochlear implant technology is not primitive. Rather it is the most sophisticated and technologically advanced medical device ever applied, and its benefit has been repeatedly demonstrated for more than 20 years. When the sound from the implant is combined with lip reading, even the least successful cochlear implant user experiences significant improvement in the ability to communicate.