Cochlear Implant Allows Mother To Hear Children's Voices

From: NewsNet5.com, OH - Nov 26, 2003

Mother Of Five Hears Again With Nerve-Stimulating Implant

FAIRVIEW PARK, Ohio -- This Thanksgiving, a mother from Fairview Park has a lot to be thankful for, including the gift of hearing.

NewsChannel5's Alicia Booth reported how this woman will be able to hear her children's voices again, thanks to a cochlear implant.

In a big family, there's a lot of noise. So much of it, it can sometimes drive you crazy.

But Barbara Wolansky couldn't hear any of the noise. The mother of five was inexplicably almost deaf.

Wolansky's children were told their mother would someday not hear at all, and this frightened them.

"If she was deaf, people would just tend to ignore her and they wouldn't pay attention to her, so it was scary," said Wolansky's daughter, Megan.

But Wolansky's life changed with a cochlear implant, a surgically implanted hearing device that electrically stimulates her nerves. The implant has allowed Wolansky to hear again.

Now, Wolansky says she loves the noise, but it's the children's quiet sounds that mean the most.

"To have someone come up and whisper in your ear is so awesome, I just can't explain it," said Wolansky.

Wolansky said hearing again makes her a better, more attentive mom.

She can talk on the phone with ease, and she even has that parental "bionic" hearing that's gotten all kids in trouble at one time.

"They say things to each other, 'You little brat,' and I'll say, 'Don't say that,' and they say, 'You heard me say that?'" said Wolansky.

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