"You See It in the Eyes" - Helping Deaf Children Learn to Speak
August 29, 1999 - 0:0
HANOVER Three-year-old Sarah's eyes wander restlessly, but suddenly they stop and an expression of utter astonishment fill her face. For the first time in her life she has heard a sound. That was one year ago. Now Sarah, who was born deaf, can distinguish between her mother's and father's voices and can speak her first words. "It is a small miracle," said her father Wolf Splettstoesser. Sarah gained her hearing with the help of a cochlear implant, a micro-electronic device implanted in her middle ear.
Professor Thomas Lenarz of the Medical University of Hanover implanted the receiver in the bone behind her right ear and connected it to the hearing nerves in her inner ear with electrodes the size of a strand of hair. It picks up language signals and sounds by a microphone, processes them in a language processor - which Sarah wears like a walkman - and then transmits them as electrical impulses to the implant via a transmission spool.
``Today such an operation is routine, it only lasts two hours," said professor Ernst Lehnhardt, who in 1988 implanted the first electronic inner ear prosthesis in a child. Bodo Bertram, head of teaching at the Wilhem Hirte Cochlear Implant Center in Hanover, says "you can see in their eyes" the decisive moment when a child hears for the first time. The world's leading center has been helping children with cochlear implants learn to speak since 1990. It will be one of the 750 worldwide projects open to visitors next year for the expo 2000 world exhibition in Hanover. "Slowly and carefully, children have to learn not just to register hearing impressions, but also to understand them." The training process lasts between two-and-a-half and three years, during which time the children visit the implant center 12 times, for a week each time.
In the early days after his operation Frederik, 4, always ran to the door when the telephone rang, said his mother, Veronika Schleimer from Ahrensburg, in northern Germany. It took some time before the little boy learned to differentiate between the two sounds. "It is like an adult having to distinguish between the individual instruments of an orchestra," she said. At first, Mrs. Schleimer, aged 35, enjoyed Frederik's every reaction.
"But it is still a big step until the children learn to speak." She has not yet thought about whether Frederik will be able to go to a normal school. "The most important thing is that he is happy," she said. "The possibilities and boundaries depend on each child," said Bertram. Some develop their speech like normal children, others find it more difficult to learn.
"A lot depends on parental support," he said. The older the children are, the more difficult the learning process. But today even babies can be operated on successfully. (DPA)
Professor Thomas Lenarz of the Medical University of Hanover implanted the receiver in the bone behind her right ear and connected it to the hearing nerves in her inner ear with electrodes the size of a strand of hair. It picks up language signals and sounds by a microphone, processes them in a language processor - which Sarah wears like a walkman - and then transmits them as electrical impulses to the implant via a transmission spool.
``Today such an operation is routine, it only lasts two hours," said professor Ernst Lehnhardt, who in 1988 implanted the first electronic inner ear prosthesis in a child. Bodo Bertram, head of teaching at the Wilhem Hirte Cochlear Implant Center in Hanover, says "you can see in their eyes" the decisive moment when a child hears for the first time. The world's leading center has been helping children with cochlear implants learn to speak since 1990. It will be one of the 750 worldwide projects open to visitors next year for the expo 2000 world exhibition in Hanover. "Slowly and carefully, children have to learn not just to register hearing impressions, but also to understand them." The training process lasts between two-and-a-half and three years, during which time the children visit the implant center 12 times, for a week each time.
In the early days after his operation Frederik, 4, always ran to the door when the telephone rang, said his mother, Veronika Schleimer from Ahrensburg, in northern Germany. It took some time before the little boy learned to differentiate between the two sounds. "It is like an adult having to distinguish between the individual instruments of an orchestra," she said. At first, Mrs. Schleimer, aged 35, enjoyed Frederik's every reaction.
"But it is still a big step until the children learn to speak." She has not yet thought about whether Frederik will be able to go to a normal school. "The most important thing is that he is happy," she said. "The possibilities and boundaries depend on each child," said Bertram. Some develop their speech like normal children, others find it more difficult to learn.
"A lot depends on parental support," he said. The older the children are, the more difficult the learning process. But today even babies can be operated on successfully. (DPA)