Deaf woman hears for first time.

[vescaegg]

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-26779079

Quite an astounding thing. Imagine going your whole life and then suddenly being able to hear. Having no previous frame of reference must be insane.

I bet she's going round now just 'making noises'

Science is just brilliant sometimes.

[andrew_huxtable]

I have seen this scenario with my own eyes, my sister was born profoundly deaf and received a cochlear implant when she was nine. Quite outstanding

Edited by andrew_huxtable on Friday 28th March 14:13

[jonah35]

Lovely story, the news should be full of this type of thing.

[Rollin]

Wonderful!

How come she has a geordie accent?

[Fort Jefferson]

[897sma]

How did she know that the nurse was speaking words and what she was saying? Surely it would be just random noise until she learned the sounds?

[vescaegg]

That's what I wondered! How the fk can she have an accent?!

[andrew_huxtable]

Deaf people not only use sign language to communicate but they also lip read, it isn't the brain that is broken, its the cochlea. She will be lip reading by 2nd nature and the brain fills in the rest.

I am a bit pished, the best way I can explain it is you can walk about your house in the dark but you need to use your hands to guide you.

My sister said she didn't need to learn how the language sounds as she all ready knew it

[vescaegg]

Yeah but can you lip read an accent?

[Fort Jefferson]

897sma said:

How did she know that the nurse was speaking words and what she was saying? Surely it would be just random noise until she learned the sounds?

vescaegg said:

Yeah but can you lip read an accent?

FFS!!

Are you suggesting there is some sort of conspiracy behind the story?

[TheEnd]

You don't think that an accent is unusual?

It could be scientifically important.

[vescaegg]

Fort Jefferson said:

FFS!!

Are you suggesting there is some sort of conspiracy behind the story?

No I'm not saying there is a conspiracy. Just fking confused as to how someone who has never heard actual sounds can have one straight away! Do you know then? Go on, enlighten us.

[TheEnd]

OK, Daily Mail to the rescue, and pointed out by someone in the comments-

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2590509/Wa...

Zip down the the photos of her as a kid, and note the hearing aid around her neck. It's not actually hearing for the first time, that's just the spin the media put on it.

[897sma]

Fort Jefferson said:

897sma said:

How did she know that the nurse was speaking words and what she was saying? Surely it would be just random noise until she learned the sounds?

vescaegg said:

Yeah but can you lip read an accent?

FFS!!

Are you suggesting there is some sort of conspiracy behind the story?

No I genuinely wondered. Why assume because someone asks a pertinent question they have an agenda?


Edit: QED

TheEnd said:

It's not actually hearing for the first time, that's just the spin the media put on it.

Edited by 897sma on Saturday 29th March 07:45

[motco]

I did a bit of Googling and found that 'profoundly' is not 'totally'. Pre-lingual deafness - i.e. hearing totally lost or absent before speech develops leads to a mute patient. She may well have had a measure of hearing sufficient to learn language. It is a conundrum, though.