Julie Husting began losing her hearing when she was a teenager in high
school. For thirty years she wore hearing aids. During that time, her
hearing loss deteriorated from moderate to profound until she was
relying on lip reading the majority of the time. Hearing aids made
sounds louder, but they did not make speech clear. When it was dark or
she couldn't see a person's lips, she could not understand what they
were saying. She was "hearing" with her eyes and not her ears. She never
dreamed her hearing would ever get better until her audiologist
suggested she get a cochlear implant. It was after that day that she
faced all of the things she could no longer do and dared to dream . . .
Julie had her first cochlear implant surgery in 2012. Electrodes were
inserted into her cochlea. They bypassed the damaged areas and directly
stimulated the auditory nerve. This surgery allowed her to eventually
hear speech clearly and enjoy music again. This book spans the first six
years of Julie's life with cochlear implants and is written in
chronological order. It details the wide-ranging activities that Julie
experienced during those years, and shows that good hearing with a
cochlear implant is not instantaneous, but rather, a journey. Also
included are inspirational presentations Julie has given on "Success
Comes When Expectations Are Realistic" and "How Long Does It Take?" as
well as tips on cochlear implant surgery and activation.
