Dr Joseph Chen was the surgeon that did my Implant operation in July/07-- however. he was the last in line. First in line-Feb/07 was Amy Ng the audiologist who discussed the reasons why I wanted an Implant plus reviewed by entire Hearing history-St Michaels-ENT over 35 years. Also included was the Canadian Hearing Society/Toronto files on my many Hearing Help classes there-over 15 years. Speech Reading/coping etc. Yeah even took Speech Reading while waiting for Dr Chen. It seems to me having gone through all of this- before Dr Chen and still being ambivalent on whether one still wants an Implant-interesting to say the least. I am highly familiar with the term "cultural deaf" re Harlan Lane's theory-Journey to a deaf world. I am aware of the ASL classes at CHS which is next door to SpeechLanguage class-2nd floor Spadina Avenue. Toronto Ontario The current head of the department was my first teacher back in 1992.
Still in the end it is one's choice re Cochlear Implant. You are not forced! One footnote: Sunnybrook/Toronto rejects for one reason or other over 60% of persons reviewed over the last 18 years. As of a few months only 850 person were implanted in the same time frame. In Ontario- OHIP picks up the entire costs-$55,000 CDN- if approved.
Further: from class discussions at CHS- "deaf " means one can't hear EVEN WITH a with Hearing Aid. If one can hear a "Bit" with a Hearing Aid- you are Hearing Impaired-that was my classification-Profound - 85% loss.
Advanced Bionics-Harmony activated Aug/07
