If you have access to the Internet, or live within shouting distance of someone who does, then few past weeks you probably watched the wildly popular YouTube of Sarah Churman, a 29-year-old Deaf woman who, after receiving cochlear implants, was able to hear for the first time as 29 Year Old Deaf Woman Hears Herself For The First Time.
There have been quite a few detractors on the internet stating that seems to indicate this video may be a fake/hoax..., because she is able to speak almost immediately after it is turned on. The video takes place in a doctor's office and shows Ms. Churman's reaction at the precise moment a lab technician turns on the implant device Envoy Medical, the maker of the Esteem.
Some people viewed this video at least a half-dozen times, and they can unequivocally state that it is the most inspiring 90-second video you will ever see that consists almost entirely of a woman crying (Presumably, she is crying because of the emotion of the moment, and not because the technician decided that Sarah's first audible sound should be a recording of, say, Fran Drescher's voice.)
The story is grossly distorted or simply fake (to sell the product?). It is possbile to convince people to buy the product perhaps, which Sarah Churman got paid off the debt as Envoy Medical Corporation, the maker of the Esteem give her $30,000 to pay her back that Sarah's video fakery been successfully, Sarah Churman first appearance on The Ellen Degeneres Show: Sarah Churman With A Device Called Esteem.
Sloan Churman's video is advertising for the money as the dirty business? The Envoy Medical Corporation, the maker of the Esteem is dirty business to convinced people to buy the product?..is that right?... because there is too many in the negative comments as seen on: #comments mostly involve accusations that the scene was staged, that Churman is not really DEAF, that there is no such thing as "hearing," etc. Therefore, Sloan Churman's inspiring video where Sarah Churman hears her own voice for the first time after a lifetime of being Deaf as a person.
One frequently cited piece of evidence supporting the hoax claim is that Sarah speaks pretty clearly which, according to many commenters, is impossible for someone who is actually Deaf. This evaluation is usually backed up with an explanation like, "My nephew went to summer camp with a guy who said his neighbor's aunt was completely Deaf, and she couldn't talk that well, so this must be a fake." It is possbile that Churman's video is a hoax, for instance Yes, they "hear" now, but they're still not "Hearing"!
These people clearly do not understand that proper speech requires hearing in order for the speaker to properly modulate their voice. For the same reason that people listening to loud music on headphones may either shout or speak too quietly, Deaf people typically have a difficult time vocalizing normally. One of the reasons that they are able to vocalize in the manner that they do is because their brain is using the vibration caused by their vocal chords to help modulate. Now that I’ve cleared that up let’s all get misty eyed for as we watch a truly transcendent moment of science and humanity.
However, the first sentence of that article proves the point. She was not Deaf. She had severe hearing loss. It is amazing what they did but it should not be title DEAF girl hearing herself for the first time. She has heard herself before, just not clearly. Maybe there's a line drawn between using the term 'Deaf', because there are 'legally blind' people that can still see. Maybe there is 'legally Deaf'.
Some people responses has reacted to a Sarah Churman's video:
The Sarah Churman Effect - First off, check out Sarah Churman's first blog soon after her Esteem was activated describing her awareness about the new sound around here.
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.
Check this out on Sarah's blog:
"Q and A..."
"In The Turning Of An Ear"
Media Reporter interview with Sarah Churman on the show "TODAY"
By Michael Inbar: TODAY.com contributor updated 10/3/2011 9:58:26 AM ET.
Severely hearing impaired since birth, Sarah Churman had long managed to cope in a world where sounds came as if they were under water. But now, a surgical implant lets her hear her own voice, the sounds of birds singing, her two daughters chattering and her husband snoring.
“Yeah, that I didn’t listen to very long!” Churman told Matt Lauer on TODAY Monday as she recounted her first full week in the world of the hearing.
The pretty, 29-year-old Texan has became an internet sensation, thanks to a video taken by her husband, Sloan, as she heard her voice for the very first time last week. In the video, Sarah becomes overwhelmed with emotion, covering her mouth and bursting into tears, as she first hears herself talking. “I don’t want to hear myself cry,” she says and then laughs as she turns to her husband.
Sloan Churman posted the video on YouTube so friends and family could also witness the medical miracle, but a whole lot of others also looked in 8 million at last count. Appearing with his wife, Sloan told Lauer he almost didn’t tape the groundbreaking family event at all.
“I nearly didn’t videotape it, if it wasn’t for my mother saying, ‘You’re going to video this, we need to see this,” he said. “I wouldn’t have done it, because this was intimate for us; this was like getting married or having a child. I mean, seriously.”
Sarah was born with a rare genetic deformity that means she's missing the hair in her inner ear that transmits sound to the brain. She was fitted with her first hearing aid at age 2, but even with that technology she could only hear some vibrations and loud noises. She compensated throughout her life by becoming adept at reading people’s lips.
But earlier this year, Sloan Churman heard a radio ad for the Esteem Inner Ear Stimulator, billed as the only full implantable hearing aid for what his wife suffered from sensorineural hearing loss.
The $30,000 implant was pricey for the working class family. But they saved and borrowed Sloan’s mother helped out greatly and in July, Sarah had the procedure.
She told Lauer “millions of things” went through her mind as she prepared to hear her own voice for the first time last week.
“Half of me was just scared to death, that it was going to come on and I wasn’t going to like it, just because…this is all I’ve ever known for 29 years,” she said. “So the fear of the unknown, not knowing what it was going to sound like can be overwhelming. And it was just nervousness, (but) then the other half of me, ‘Oh hurry up and turn it on!’"
Sarah learned despite not being able to hear, she has a distinct Texas accent. “The funny thing is…the first time we traveled outside the country, everyone kept talking about our accents, so I was kind of surprised I didn’t think I had an accent,” she told Lauer.
But perhaps the biggest blessing was being able to hear the voices of her daughters, ages 4 and 20 months.
“That was pretty amazing,” she said. “My oldest (is) quite the little talker; she sounds so grown up and very articulate. And my youngest, I can hear the Texas accent in her voice.”
According to TODAY medical correspondent Dr. Nancy Snyderman, the fact that Sarah has an accent and can enunciate words fairly clearly shows she has had some hearing ability, but the still-new procedure is a distinct improvement on what a regular hearing aid can do.
“The cool thing about this is it uses the normal anatomy of the ear, so it takes the little bones in the middle ear, sends them to a processor, then sends them to the nerve that goes into the brain, and all this garbled stuff is turned into sound, so she can really hear it,” Snyderman said.
“Hearing aids normally have a lot of background noise and distortion; this makes it much better. It’s a surgical implantation approved by the FDA, but only a couple of hundred people have them.”
Sarah Churman's "Hears" for the first time is fake... you decide...
Related: Hears For The Fist Time:
Deaf For 29 Years & Hearing Herself For The First Time!
Deaf Girl HEARS For The First Time
Deaf Toddler Hears Parents' Voices For First Time
Deaf Woman Hears Son's Voice For First Time
Adopted Chinese Deaf Girl Hears For The First Time
Related Sarah Churman:
Deaf For 29 Years & Hearing Herself For The First Time!
Sarah Churman On The Ellen Degeneres Show
Sarah Churman Book Excerpt: Deaf Woman Describes Hearing for First Time
'Deaf' Viral Video Star Sarah Churman Talks Her New Book and The Joy of Hearing Rain
When Haters Gonna Still Hate, Stop The Deaf Bullies
HEARS For The First Time Video Is FAKE
Sloan Churman Video is a Hoax
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