With implant, Sean 'hears everything'

From: Oneida Dispatch, NY - 08 Mar 2003

By DANIELLE ELLIOTT, Dispatch Staff Writer March 08, 2003

SHERRILL - When doctors told first-time parents Joe and Eileen Bleaking of Sherrill that their son, Sean, was born deaf in both ears, Mrs. Bleaking had a hard time swallowing the news.

She was afraid she might never hear him say 'Mommy.'

When Sean was three months old, he received his first set of hearing aids. He worked with an auditory-verbal therapist to learn how to use his hearing aids to talk and listen.

But the Bleakings wanted more for their son.

They wanted him to be as independent. They wanted him to hear better.

On Aug. 5, Sean received a cochlear implant at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City. He went in for surgery at 7 a.m. and was back at the hotel with his parents by 1 p.m.

"It was scary. A lot scarier than I thought it would be," Mrs. Bleaking confessed.

"But he didn't really have much pain."

After about six weeks of healing, the implant was turned on - and the sounds scared Sean at first. He was fussy and cried for two days, but eventually became more tolerant to sound.

He has been back to the hospital nine times to have the implant tuned and is scheduled to return in April.

Unaided, Sean can hear sounds as loud as a food blender and train; with hearing aids, he can hear a typewriter; and with the implant, he can hear breathing and whispers.

"You can see him turning to all the sounds. He wants to know what it is he hears," Mrs. Bleaking said.

"He hears everything," her husband said.

One of the Bleakings' goals is to have Sean, now 18 months old, mainstreamed when he starts school.

He continues twice per week with hour-long-sessions of auditory-verbal therapy. Sean learns things such as hearing, sound awareness, imitation skills and sound and object association. He learns through playing, listening and focusing. His parents are learning how to teach him at home.

Right now, Sean is at a six-month-old hearing age.

He has learned to put his hand to his ear when he hears a sound. If he is not hearing something, his parents cue him to listen.

"He's Mr. Serious when he's trying to find the sound," his mom said.

Sean is not learning sign language. Arlene Balestra-Marko, audiologist and certified auditory verbal therapist, said he is giving no indication that he needs it.

"He's doing absolutely fabulous," Balestra-Marko said. "His understanding is wonderful."

She stressed that early intervention is the key - the earlier the better. She expects that Sean will continue therapy anywhere between three and five more years, but it varies with the child.

"It takes a lot of work," Balestra-Marko said. "It's a commitment."

She said there is no need to change the implant as Sean gets older and grows. She said it's better to get an implant when a person is younger. The implant comes with varying degrees of success, she said.

The implant has an outside microphone worn behind the ear that catches sounds and sends them to a speech processor, or small computer. A transmitter then sends sound waves to the internal cochlear pieces, the decoder and electrodes.

The decoder catches sound waves that go into the electrodes that are located in the cochlea. The sound is given to the hearing nerve and the message goes to the brain, allowing the ear to hear.

The implant is only in one ear. A magnet inside of the head keeps the outside piece attached to the skin.

It might sound like a lot for a little guy to handle, but Bleaking said Sean sometimes forgets it's even there.

Sean's even learning to speak. He can say 'Up,' 'Uh-oh' and 'Bye bye.'

But Mrs. Bleaking will never forget when he said 'Mommy.'

"That felt great," she said with a smile.

Her husband said Sean is still working on saying 'Daddy.'

©The Oneida Daily Dispatch 2003