Individual results may vary.

Jeff's Story

Amy's Story

Dr. Glasscock's Story

Andrea's Story

Dr. Bishop's Story

Mandy's Story

Marcia's Story

Jeff's Story

My name is Jeff. I’m 50 years old and have been hearing impaired since birth. My hearing loss is hereditary and I have several family members who suffer also including 2 daughters and one granddaughter.

I bought my first and only hearing aid in my 20’s and didn’t like it from day one. The sound quality was terrible, like hearing through a tin can. Feedback was a big problem and the discomfort of having to wear something in my ear, that alone was enough to make me want to stop wearing my aid. And so I did stop. And my quality of life suffered greatly because of it. I became less and less social and more introverted.

And then I found the Envoy Esteem. My daughter was researching hearing loss on the internet one day and found out about a clinical trial for an implantable hearing device in which the makers were looking for candidates to participate. We both applied online and were accepted. My daughter Jennifer and I had our surgery done at the same time in May of 2005. Jennifer was so excited she insisted on going first. The surgery itself could not have been easier. When I woke from the surgery there was some discomfort behind my ear but no pain at all and I did not need or use the pain medication that was given to me.

A few weeks later the Esteem was turned on for the first time and it was more than I had hoped for. The sound quality was like nothing I had ever heard before and I thought to myself this must be what normal people hear. Great sound – no discomfort - no batteries to change, impossible to lose or misplace and I have not experienced feedback, not even once. I normally keep my volume setting at 2 but one day I was experimenting and set the volume to 5. I was eating dinner at the time and sprinkling salt on my food and I could actually hear the grains of salt hitting my plate. I still laugh and shake my head in wonder when I think about that. Everyday sounds normal people take for granted are all new to me and I continually find new sounds I’ve never heard before.

I also want to say I feel a common bond and kinship with all people who have hearing loss. I would love to be an advocate for the hearing impaired because I understand the difficulties and misperceptions we all live with. It angers me that hearing impairment is the only disability that is socially acceptable to laugh at and people with hearing loss will know exactly what I’m talking about. Now, with the Esteem I don’t have to suffer that anymore. I’m more out-going and have a greater self-confidence. I am now living a much more satisfying life and it is my wish that all people with hearing loss could hear as well as I do now.

Regards,
Jeff

Amy's Story

(Public testimony before the Center for Device and Radiological Health Medical Devices Advisory Committee: Ear, Nose and Throat Devices Panel. December 18, 2009.)

I am from St. Paul, Minnesota, where we have a lot of snow right now. I'm 35 years old, and I have two children, both boys, ages five and eight, so it's another reason I'm excited to get away for a little bit. I wanted to tell you a little bit about my history of my hearing loss and then share with you some of the struggles I've had in the years leading up to this day, I guess.

At the age of eight, I was diagnosed with sensorineural hearing loss in both ears, relatively the same level, so both of my ears -- I don't really have a good ear, per se. As a child, I didn't remember struggling so much when I was eight, nine, ten years old. It was kind of looking to the classmate next to me to see what they were doing as opposed to looking at the teacher. But as I got older, I experienced great difficulty trying to live with and manage living with a severe -- moderate to severe is what, you know, I'm labeled -- hearing loss.

And the ages where it really started to affect me were in my pre-teen years, in my high school years, in college, and then as I began to see what kind of an impact this loss was going to have on my career and ultimately my whole life. It was a constant struggle. I always was on the edge of my seat while I was in classes, leaning forward, trying desperately to try and, you know, get the right information. I went so far as to change my major in college because the professor that was leading the class that I was taking, which was advertising -- was a small school -- and that professor spoke all about his experiences. He was not one of those professors that just read from the textbook and that I could study really hard and do well. And I changed my major because it was so difficult.

And I started to see kind of a pattern of that happening in my life, you know, accommodating my life to my hearing loss. I had my first hearing aids when I was in college. I was very vain and probably didn't get an adequate hearing aid. I had a completely in the canal one, which I used at times. It squealed sometimes when I was close to someone, and I eventually quit wearing it altogether.

About nine years ago, when I realized I was pregnant with my first child is when I decided, okay, I've really got to take care of this, give hearing aids a good try, and $6,000 later, I was a hearing aid wearer. They helped me, you know, a great deal, especially at first. In a situation where I was in a very quiet room in a controlled setting, they were wonderful.

As far as a day-to-day basis, you know, when you have a career and you're trying to answer the phone and you're trying to hear all these dates and listen at a meeting, it was not a good situation for me. Every time I was on the phone, I would have to pull my hearing aid out and try and struggle to hear what was said. Voicemail was also hard to understand.

You know, so the struggle began. And what started to happen is I started to, you know, react to the anxiety of every situation. My life became very, very small. And I realized I was in a career that wasn't me at all, but, you know, it was what I had to do to accommodate to this hearing loss.

As far as my own productivity, when I was at home, I was an educated woman with two young children at home, and there were times when I was not even able to make my own doctor's appointment because I couldn't hear the person on the other end of the phone. So I would have to call my husband at work or text -- we did a lot online -- and have him make that appointment for me. So it became kind of a depressing situation.

My children, it was more of a safety and a danger situation. We spend a lot of time in the pool, at the beach, you know, sledding right now, skiing, and it was always a situation where I was absolutely honed in on them because I couldn't, you know, I couldn't hear. I couldn't understand if my child was in the water -- I couldn't look at him and say, "Are you okay?" I wouldn't hear him. So I couldn't pay attention to anything going on around me.

I was lucky enough to find out about this study by accident. I was online and found a website for people with hearing loss, and everyone was talking about their different hearing aids they've tried, and I thought, well, maybe a better hearing aid is going to make my situation better. And I was on that website when I heard about this study.

You know, when I first found out about the study, I was very, very excited about the possibility. It was something I dreamed about. I'd always talked to my surgeons, my doctors, saying why isn't there something that they can just put in my head? Why isn't there something out there? So when this came along, I was very excited.

I had my surgery in January of 2006, so I've been an Esteem patient for four years now. I've also gone through a battery replacement. My surgery was uneventful, you know? It was successful, although I was a little bit sore at the end. I was a little bit sore at the end. I did come out of the surgery okay.

About four days after the surgery, I was standing in front of the mirror, and I noticed kind of -- that my lip wasn't moving in the left side. And, you know, I thought it was kind of funny at first. And throughout the day and kind of into the next day, it became kind of the whole left side of my face. So I am one of the patients that experienced some paresis, and that was very challenging after that happened. You know, I called the surgeon, and they had -- you know, were very interested in what was going on, and went to see him. He put me on steroids, so I was on kind of a medication regiment for about, I think it was, like, 13 days. My paresis lasted about two and a half to three months, so it was challenging. Even when I was turned on, I still had a little bit of it. What they determined was it was, you know, that a couple days after surgery, my facial nerve had been just kind of irritated and that it was just part of the healing process.

And the way that I recovered was that it, you know, it was a slow recovery. It got a little better over time, such that, you know, a month and a half I was turned on, it was gone. And you can look at me very closely now and see that it isn't something that I've dealt with at all.

I want to talk a little bit -- I don't want to take up too much time -- but I do want to talk about the significance of being turned on and how that affected my life. I had been a hearing aid user, and when I went into the room the day it was time to, you know, turn me on, the very first thing that I noticed was -- when they, you know, clicked it on -- was the ventilation system in the room. And the reason that was kind of significant to me was because it sounded like a ventilation system. It was a clarity that I had never heard before. It was amazing.

That day, my family was with me. They were out in the car. And I got back in the car after being turned on. The turn-on appointment lasted about an hour. And I got back in the car. And my three-year-old, you know, said, "Mommy, is your ear fixed?" And that was such a big deal to me because in the car I always had to turn around and say, "Look at Mommy when you talk." And I was sitting in the passenger's seat, and I could hear. I could hear.

My husband was talking to me and, you know, putting his hand in front of his face and, "Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now?" And I mean, it was just absolutely the most amazing thing I've ever experienced. We turned on the radio and there were songs, I mean, songs that I never liked before that I was loving because I was hearing layers of bass and all these other different, you know, parts of it.

My biggest thing as we rode along was I could hear my two-year-old -- this makes me cry -- singing to himself. He was in the, you know, seat kind of directly behind me, and he was singing to himself a little song that he learned at school or something. And I never knew that that was something that he did. And my husband said, "Oh, haven't you heard? He does that all the time."

So it's these moments in life that, despite wearing a hearing aid, I was never able to be a part of. If I go back into other parts of my life that I talked about before, the struggle I had with my career, shortly after the implant, I went back to work, and I was able to, you know, participate in things fully now. I attend meetings, and I make comments at them. And I am more of a leader at work. In my family, I am much more of a role model to my children, and I'm able to lead a much more productive life than I ever imagined.

I am so behind this device. I've been through a battery replacement, something that I did have some concern about just because of my surgery, you know, experience, and it was -- I was in the room for 30 minutes, and within 15 minutes of that, I was out, dressed, sitting, having a Coke and some crackers, and, you know, about 45 minutes after that, left, you know, to return in the afternoon to be turned on.

When I look at the maintenance that I've had with hearing aids, the times where you bring them in and it ends up being some awful expense or you have to get new ones or wait for two months, in four years, the only maintenance I've had on this device is a battery replacement. And that speaks volumes to someone who really had to worry about a hearing aid.

I have had a fabulous experience with this, and I hope that there -- you know, I want to remind you that there's millions of other people my age going through the same struggles that I went through. And we need an option out there. Hearing aids aren't doing it. We need an option. So I thank you for letting me have the time to share my experience with you.

Dr. Glasscock's Story

(Public testimony before the Center for Device and Radiological Health Medical Devices Advisory Committee: Ear, Nose and Throat Devices Panel. December 18, 2009.)

My name is Mike Glasscock. I'm an otologist, and I'm an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. I am the chairman of the Medical Advisory Board for Envoy Medical. … I apologize. I am having a little allergic reaction, and I can't keep from sniffling. I'm probably going to need to call on a rhinologist. I'm sure there is one in the room. … Okay. I have actually been involved with this device since about 1986. I've been waiting about 23 years for this moment. And I'd like to talk a little bit about my personal experience with sensorineural hearing loss. You know, I was an otologist. I took care of numerous patients with sensorineural hearing loss and, as a physician and human being, always had empathy for them. But until I developed a hearing loss myself, I had no real concept of what these people went through. And it's just something that until it happens to you, you really can't know what it's like.

Now, I've worn hearing aids for several years in both ears, and I've been an otologist. I've been able to get them wholesale. And I will say that hearing aids help a lot of people. And in a quiet situation, they help me. But if I was to go into a noisy restaurant, I'd either take them out or I'd turn them off, and I'd smile and nod my head a lot, and God only knows what I agreed to. And talking on the telephone, I'd say, "I'm sorry, but would you repeat that, please? I'm sorry. I have a hearing loss. Could you say that again and could you talk a little bit slower?"

And I've got a couple of really young grandchildren with those high, squeaky voices. And, you know, I just have to sit and look at them and try to decide what in the world is it they're trying to talk to me about. Talking on one-on-one, unless I could look directly at the individual, even in a quiet setting, I really had trouble.

And I could never tell I had the hearing aid in my left ear, but the right ear, I could always tell it was there. It drove me crazy. And the battery would go out. You know, I'd be doing something where I really couldn't stop. The battery would go beep, beep, beep, and then it'd go dead, and I had to replace the battery.

And I like to swim. I like to kayak. I obviously couldn't swim with my hearing aids, but I would have liked to have been able to kayak. My problem is I fall over a lot. And so I end up in the water. So I couldn't wear the hearing aids in the water. And I got to the point where it was so difficult for me that I really kind of cut back on my schedule. And I'm one of these high-energy people who really like to be going and doing things and going to the meetings. And so that was a problem.

So I had to make a decision. And as an otologist, I was obviously keenly aware of the risk of any kind of mastoid surgery. You know, I could get a facial injury. I knew I'd have to be disarticulated. And I knew that, you know, worst case scenario, I could get a dead ear. And I figured that I might actually have a taste disturbance.

Now, my chorda was taken, and, luckily, I've had no taste disturbance. But when I thought back -- and I did several thousand middle ear and mastoid procedures -- and some of those patients had taste disturbance. And I studied my cases very carefully every year. And most of those patients, the taste disturbance went away within three to six months. I only had one patient out of all of those thousands that it lasted over a year.

And I realized that this was an investigational device. I mean, I've been investigating it since 1986, and I believed in it so strongly, and I thought that using the eardrum as a microphone was so elegant that I was willing to take whatever risk there was. And I can assure you that it's been well worth the risk.

Now, I'd like to share with you my audiogram, and I happen to be one of those patients that is listed as a mild. And in the low frequencies, I am pretty good. But you can see the blue -- I drop off pretty badly. And this is the kind of hearing loss -- I got it in both ears -- if you go into a noisy restaurant, it drives you crazy.

Now, when I go in a noisy restaurant now, I can go to my B setting, which cuts out the low frequencies, pushes them down, click like that, and it's like a noise canceling headset. All of that background noise goes away. And I can sit and talk to somebody clear across the table. It's an incredible experience. And I don't know if you can see that on that slide, but unaided, my word discrimination at 50 dBs was 36%. At 70, it was 66. At ten months, with the Esteem, at 50, I was at 94% discrim, and at 55, I was 98. So it came up absolutely tremendously.

So with the Esteem, I can communicate in noisy restaurants. I can hear on the telephone without any problem. I can hear my grandchildren. I hear better on one-on-one. I don't have any maintenance, battery problems to deal with. I have no lifestyle restrictions. I swim with this device, take a shower in the morning, and I lead a much more active life.

Now, the thing that when I've talked to patients, the one overriding thing they all tell me is, "I feel normal again." I personally feel normal again. And I can assure you once this device is approved, I'm having my left ear implanted with an Esteem.

Thank you very much.

Andrea's Story

(Public testimony before the Center for Device and Radiological Health Medical Devices Advisory Committee: Ear, Nose and Throat Devices Panel. December 18, 2009.)

I am 29 years old, and I'm from Omaha, Nebraska, and I received the Esteem implant in September of 2005 by Dr. Shohet, and my brother, my older brother, also received the implant in October of 2005. I have had a battery change, which took place in January of 2009, and like Amy said earlier, that was a breeze. The next day I was feeling fine, and so that was really no big deal.

After hearing loss, the Esteem is the closest I have experienced to having a normal ear. And I have worn hearing aids, top-of-the-line. Based on my audiogram, the Esteem is significantly superior to the gain I received from a hearing aid. And you're welcome to pass my audiogram around if you would like to see it.

The Esteem is much more natural sounding than a hearing aid. And if you think about it, this really makes sense because it just takes advantage of the natural anatomy of the ear, and it uses the eardrum as the microphone.

A big thing, a big advantage about the Esteem is that I get to enjoy activities like exercising, swimming, showering, water skiing, all while being able to hear. I have two small children. And one experience I love to describe is when I take them to the beach now, I can hear and feel safe and secure with them. I can hear the crispness of the waves. I can hear them walking in the sand, the birds chirping, and the breeze.

I feel like I'm a better mother now with the Esteem. As Amy mentioned earlier, a big thing was my little ones in the back seat, I couldn't hear them before, and I'm a safer driver because I had to turn around and try to hear what they were saying, and now I can hear from behind me. And that's something my mom mentioned as well. She said, "I can't believe it. In the car, I can be having a conversation with you and you can hear me," whereas before, even with hearing aids, I really struggled with that.

I feel safe and secure at night. I can hear through the night. And my three-year-old or my five-year-old wake up, I'm going to hear them. And that's a big deal to me.

One point I'd like to make is since I received my implant, I got pregnant and had my second child. So it's really neat to see that life can just go on. I had a cesarean section, had my implant on the whole time, and it just really didn't affect that experience at all.

Since I received my implant, I decided to run for Mrs. Nebraska. And my final question was, "How do you think we can help people with hearing loss?" And I talked about my family. We have a genetic form of hearing loss in my family. I talked about how it goes back six generations, and my ancestors met at a deaf school, and up until now, nobody really asked why or what we can do to treat it instead of a hearing aid. And so I decided to take a big risk and become a part of this clinical trial for other people who have hearing loss as well. And I'm very, very happy that I did it. It was wonderful to be able to hear my friends and family cheering for me that night. And I went on and won fourth runner up at Mrs. America. And I think it's safe to say if you knew me before I received this implant and after, that there is no way I would have had the confidence or self-esteem to do that. So I completely support this device, and I hope that we can share this with the millions of other Americans who have hearing loss.

Dr. Bishop's Story

(Public testimony before the Center for Device and Radiological Health Medical Devices Advisory Committee: Ear, Nose and Throat Devices Panel. December 18, 2009.)

First, I want to tell you that I have had a hearing aid for eight years, and then I found out about the implant. And I read about it, knew all the risks about what I would be doing to my ear if, you know, it didn't work or did work, and I decided it was worth it to me because of the different roles that I have in my life.

One, I'm a mother also, and it's nice to be able to go to sleep hearing and to wake up hearing. It's nice to be able to know that if the alarm goes off, that I'm going to hear it and be able to get my children out safely. I had lights put in my bedroom so in case the alarm went off, I would be able to see the lights hopefully, and I never really slept very well because of that. But now with my implant, I can go to sleep, and I have a nice sleep, and everything is great, and I can hear what's going on because you can't wear a hearing aid when you're sleeping. There is just no way you can do that and have a good night's sleep.

And also, I am very athletic. I do triathlons that included swimming, running, biking. You cannot wear a hearing aid with a helmet on. You cannot swim with a hearing aid on. You know, you can't hear when a bike is passing you or coming on your left. You can't hear that because you have a helmet on and your hearing aid does not fit under that.

With my implant, I can swim, I can ride, I can run, play tennis, everything. You don't have to worry about your hearing aid. But most importantly, I can hear better. When I did have the hearing aid on, when I put it in my helmet, I couldn't hear anything. It wasn't clear. And with my implant, I can hear anything that's going on.

But most importantly is I am a dentist, and my profession is very important to me. And now with an implant, I can hear my patients talking to me. Before, I would have to depend on my staff, my assistants, to tell me what the patients were saying to me because my hearing aid could not hear the drilling, me talking, the patients talking. Everything was muffled with the hearing aid. I'd have to pull the hearing aid out of my ear when I was drilling because I couldn't hear anything but the noise. It was just static, and it was not comfortable for me. I did not feel comfortable working on the patient when I couldn't hear. I'd end up pulling my hearing aid out. Then I'd have to put it back in my ear so that I could communicate with my patients. My assistants were writing notes behind me, letting me know what the patients were saying to me because I could not concentrate. The hearing aid would just be muffled.

And then when I got the implant, I would have -- you have different profiles. I have one for my home, one for my office, and one when I go out. And I just change it to the different profile. And I could drill, talk to my patients, talk to my staff, and do everything that you're supposed to be doing with a normal hearing aid, you know, with your normal ear without a hearing aid.

And also, I would have troubles with when I had -- I wear glasses, and that helps me see. So I like my glasses. A hearing aid would help me hear, but not the quality that I wanted to hear and that I needed to hear, just as a person, not even as a dentist or as a mother or anything, just as a human being. You want to be able to enjoy and hear things clearly as everyone else does around you. But I would take my mask off. My hearing aid would go flying across the room. I'd have to run and pick it up. And, I mean, I have expensive hearing aids, the best you can buy. I went through a hundred of them trying to figure out which one would work for me before I found out about the implant.

And once I found out about this implant, it has changed my life just dramatically. I mean, I feel so blessed to be part of this. And, you know, I just want to say that I'm hoping that you will approve this because it is the best thing out there, and I'm hoping it'll be approved because I'm ready to have my left ear done because I'm having to still sometimes -- I mean, I wear -- I usually go – the implant has done such a great job for me that I don't really have to wear my left one except when I go to a dental conference, or things like that, and I want to make sure I hear. But the quality that I get from my implant is incredible.

I can go to a movie and talk to someone beside me and hear the movie and enjoy it. I quit watching television because I could not enjoy television. I could not hear what was going on. But now I can sit back and relax and watch television. And it's just a different -- and you don't know it until you've worn a hearing aid, until you've experienced the difference.

You know, yes, like I said before, glasses do help you see and they help you see just like you did before pretty much. A hearing aid does not do that. And I see even my patients are frustrated, the ones that have hearing aids. They can't hear what I'm saying to them. And it's just frustrating to wear one and not be able to hear. And with this implant, I can hear everything just so nice and clearly, and the quality is incredible.

So I do hope that you approve this, and thank you for your time.

Mandy's Story

(Public testimony before the Center for Device and Radiological Health Medical Devices Advisory Committee: Ear, Nose and Throat Devices Panel. December 18, 2009.)

Good afternoon. My name is Mandy. I am 31 years old, and I'm from Ann Arbor, North Carolina. I have a severe hearing loss, and at 50 dB, I scored almost 0% with my hearing aids. I was implanted by Dr. Kraus of Greensboro, and it has been an absolute wonderful experience, a very positive experience in my life.

I discovered the Envoy Esteem trials while researching alternatives to the conventional hearing aid because I never did like hearing aids very much. I hated the feeling of occlusion, the sweatiness and tenderness that I felt when I took my hearing aids out. I had really bad acne in the ear canal, and my doctor -- often had to prescribe medication to clear this up. It's very painful with the hearing aids in the ear.

My constant need to turn the volume up on my hearing aid has caused a lot of feedback issues. I've always tried to push the volume to the very max. My hearing aids were always being sent out for repair. It was normal wear and tear, and as a pre-teen, using a lot of hairspray obviously clogged up the hearing aids.

So I was extremely self-conscious about my hearing aids as a teenager. From about the ages of 13 to 25, I refused to wear my hearing aids. My mother tried to make sure I wore them. I would go to school, and just as soon as I was out of her sight, it went in my pocket. So it began to have a very negative impact on my social life and my school work. I ended up dropping out, and I became very withdrawn, very quiet. I didn't have a whole lot of friends.

And this past year, it has been a very -- just a very wonderful experience after I got the implant. So I've gained so much more confidence in myself. I am so much more active. I've joined the fire department full-time and the ladies auxiliary. I went back to school. I started subbing and being a peer tutor for kindergartners, and you know how difficult it is to understand four and five and six-year-olds. I had a lot of trouble with that before, but I have no issues with it now.

I really prefer my Esteem over my hearing aids because I just hear so much more clearly, and I don't have that feeling of a blocked ear canal. I no longer have maintenance issues, no routine cleaning of the ear wax. I love being able to do water-related activities and not having to worry about getting my hearing aids wet because there was a couple of times when I was a child I would jump into a pool, get my hearing aids wet, and of course, my parents had to take care of that problem.

I just prefer the quality of sound from my implant over the hearing aids, and that's very difficult to explain, but the Esteem just seems more natural. It sounds more natural than a hearing aid. My hearing aids have always sounded really artificial and tinny.

Another big plus for me is my daughter has a medical condition. She has chronic migraines, and they make her vomit all through the night, every 10, 15, 20 minutes. My implant, being able to keep it on at night and being able to hear when I'm sleeping enables me to be there to help her because she obviously needs help through the night. If I were wearing my hearing aids, I wouldn't have them at night. I wouldn't be able to hear her and help her. So I'm very glad that I'm able to hear her and help her during the night.

By the way, she has a severe hearing loss as well. I have three daughters. I have one that doesn't have any hearing loss, I have one that has a mild hearing loss, and one that has a mild to profound hearing loss. She just got hearing aids. And she's actually the reason why I had started wearing my hearing aids again. It was about the age of 25 that I finally started wearing my hearing aids because she was born, and I knew that if she had a hearing loss, I had to set the right example for her.

My family, friends, and peers have often remarked that they've noticed a huge improvement in my hearing since I've had the implant. They've noticed that I no longer rely heavily on speech reading. They don't have to repeat themselves as often now. And they've noticed a big difference in my speech.

And it's very difficult to explain the impact that the Esteem has had on my life in such a short period of time. I'm truly grateful to have been given the opportunity to have the implant. I wouldn't hesitate to do it all over again, and I'm really, really anxious about getting the second one done. I have a hearing aid in the unimplanted ear. I still don't like it, and I would love to be able to have that second implant done. And I'm also very, very hopeful that one day, my daughter, who is also hard-of-hearing, will benefit from these advances in hearing technology.

Marcia's Story

(Public testimony before the Center for Device and Radiological Health Medical Devices Advisory Committee: Ear, Nose and Throat Devices Panel. December 18, 2009.)

I was implanted in 2006 by Dr. Jack Shohet in beautiful Newport Beach. I live about 30 miles from him, and it's a pleasant drive, and I enjoy going there.

When Envoy called me and invited me to this group to speak to you, I had to think about it for a while. What was I going to say? Where do I begin? (Singing) Where do I begin to tell the story of how great the Envoy miracle is, the real story of how Esteem gave back my life. Where do I start?

Being diagnosed with progressive nerve damage in my 30s was devastating. I was a mother of five children, a preschool teacher, classroom volunteer, and a wedding and funeral singer. Professionally coached from age ten, I sang in many choirs and competed in local talent shows. I met my husband auditioning for a professional vocal jazz group, and we've been performing together for various paid gigs and charity events ever since.

Eventually, my hearing loss progressed to the point that double hearing aids didn't work well. So I isolated myself from public situations. Unable to hear conversations correctly, I became withdrawn, developed very low self-esteem and depression. Phone conversations were frustrating, and I felt embarrassed asking people to repeat themselves and thought they viewed me as special needs.

In 2002, filling in at my husband's business as secretary, I lasted a total of one day because I couldn't interact correctly with the clients or on the phone. My husband and I had to stop performing because I couldn't hear the pitch, key changes, or harmonies. I stayed home and found I could communicate better on computer, and I learned computer techniques. It afforded me a chance to learn a skill, but I was interacting silently with others.

Then we saw this ad for the Envoy clinical trial, and my life changed. My husband cut out the ad, placed it in front of me, and said, "Call now." Well, I did. I was implanted in February of 2006, and the first time I heard from the implant, it just astounded me. I could hear sounds I hadn't heard in a very long time, birds chirping, rain on the roof, traffic, babies cooing, all sounds taken for granted by normal hearing people. The sound quality and clarity is as close to normal as one can get. Hearing aids don't come close.

Now I could start living a normal life. I started singing again, rehearsing with my husband to see if we could go back to performing. After an adjustment setting or two, we did. And it was so wonderful to be singing together again.

Then I decided it was time for me to help others. I went to my local community senior center to volunteer my services in any capacity to do with computers. Now I am teaching various levels of computer classes in their computer lab.

One day a student asked me if I could come to her home and help her on her home computer. Well, that was the start of my new business. It was born. I started Puter Tutor Lady, going to seniors' homes, tutoring one-on-one with their own computers. I love the interaction and so enjoy hearing their life stories that they generously share with me, sometimes for hours on end.

I joined some business networking groups and interact with other professionals trying to generate more business in this current economic climate. I even hear well enough to be a secretary of one group. I have once again connected with family and friends and share many social events through business and singing. Many have noticed the change in me. I am more outgoing, eager to join in, and confident that I can hear and interact with all life has to offer.

As of last month, I had the sound processor and battery change. And it affords even better hearing quality. I thank God I was chosen to receive the implant. I only hope you will approve the Envoy device and allow all qualifying Americans the chance to experience what I have, a life-changing miracle.

And now it's time to pay forward. I would love to be an ambassador of hope and share this miracle life-changing story with others in the hope that they, too, will come to experience the joys and blessings of hearing the incredible sounds of life taken for granted by the hearing world.

Thank you so much.