Deaf YouTube star hears sounds of her future
by Kara Tsuboi
Sarah Churman is the unlikeliest Internet star. The Texas stay-at-home mom
of two little girls has somewhat ordinary interests–she loves to read,
watch movies, and attend concerts with her husband of almost 10 years,
Sloan.
But on September 26 of this year, Churman was catapulted to YouTube fame due
to an intimate, home movie that went viral. She was born deaf. But on that
day, she heard her own voice for the very first time. The 91-second video
clip brought this viewer goosebumps, tears, and an empathy for this
remarkable woman.
When I interviewed Sarah and Sloan Churman at medical offices in San Jose,
Calif., she explained to me that the deaf community tends to be divided into
two categories: those who want to use technology to restore their hearing
and those who try to make the most of life without it. She is very firmly
rooted in the first camp and has spent a good deal of her adult life
researching the latest hearing devices to come onto the market. In May 2011,
Churman heard a radio ad for Envoy Medical’s Esteem implant. That set the
balls in motion for a summer of hope, frustration, high emotion, and
ultimately, success.
Esteem implants are FDA-approved and cost $30,000 per ear. Thus far,
insurance companies won’t cover the device or the surgery since they view it
as more of a cosmetic procedure. But Churman and her husband could not be
deterred and even considered selling organs on the black market to raise the
money for the device. That’s when Sloan Churman’s mother stepped in and
decided to cash out a retirement fund so Sarah could have the procedure done
on one ear. In August, surgeons implanted an Esteem hearing device into her
skull. Seven weeks later, it was activated and she heard her voice for the
first time.
Since the YouTube video went viral and garnered more than eight million
views, the Churmans have appeared on the “Today Show,” “The Doctors,” and
“The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” They’re happy to be a part of the media circus
to bring attention to the success of the Esteem in hopes insurance companies
will some day pay for them. It was while Sarah Churman was a guest on
“Ellen” that she learned that Envoy Medical is reimbursing her mother-in-law
for the first $30,000 and will now cover the cost for her second Esteem
device, which she is planning on having implanted this spring.
Despite the recent media attention, Churman is a low-key, sweet, and humble
woman who describes her voice as sounding like a “hick’s.” Unlike a lot of
deaf people, her speech is nearly impeccable despite never clearly hearing
herself while growing up. It’s something she attributes to deaf school and
her love for the English language and grammar.
Now that she’s fully able to engage in life, for her, the simplest of sounds
have brought her the most joy: her daughters’ squeaky voices, the sound of
rain on the roof, and the chirping of birds in her front yard. When she goes
to a movie, she no longer has to nudge her husband to catch up on the
dialog. At concerts she can truly move her body to a beat. Small things that
she never did and never will take for granted.
Source:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-20124953-76/deaf-youtube-star-hears-sounds-of-her-future/