{"id":16818,"date":"2011-11-29T01:28:30","date_gmt":"2011-11-29T06:28:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/?p=16818"},"modified":"2011-11-29T03:28:30","modified_gmt":"2011-11-29T08:28:30","slug":"deaf-youtube-star-hears-sounds-of-her-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2011\/11\/29\/deaf-youtube-star-hears-sounds-of-her-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Deaf YouTube star hears sounds of her future"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deaf YouTube star hears sounds of her future<\/strong><\/p>\n

by Kara Tsuboi<\/p>\n

Sarah Churman is the unlikeliest Internet star. The Texas stay-at-home mom
\nof two little girls has somewhat ordinary interests–she loves to read,
\nwatch movies, and attend concerts with her husband of almost 10 years,
\nSloan.<\/p>\n

But on September 26 of this year, Churman was catapulted to YouTube fame due
\nto an intimate, home movie that went viral. She was born deaf. But on that
\nday, she heard her own voice for the very first time. The 91-second video
\nclip brought this viewer goosebumps, tears, and an empathy for this
\nremarkable woman.<\/p>\n

When I interviewed Sarah and Sloan Churman at medical offices in San Jose,
\nCalif., she explained to me that the deaf community tends to be divided into
\ntwo categories: those who want to use technology to restore their hearing
\nand those who try to make the most of life without it. She is very firmly
\nrooted in the first camp and has spent a good deal of her adult life
\nresearching the latest hearing devices to come onto the market. In May 2011,
\nChurman heard a radio ad for Envoy Medical’s Esteem implant. That set the
\nballs in motion for a summer of hope, frustration, high emotion, and
\nultimately, success.<\/p>\n

Esteem implants are FDA-approved and cost $30,000 per ear. Thus far,
\ninsurance companies won’t cover the device or the surgery since they view it
\nas more of a cosmetic procedure. But Churman and her husband could not be
\ndeterred and even considered selling organs on the black market to raise the
\nmoney for the device. That’s when Sloan Churman’s mother stepped in and
\ndecided to cash out a retirement fund so Sarah could have the procedure done
\non one ear. In August, surgeons implanted an Esteem hearing device into her
\nskull. Seven weeks later, it was activated and she heard her voice for the
\nfirst time.<\/p>\n

Since the YouTube video went viral and garnered more than eight million
\nviews, the Churmans have appeared on the “Today Show,” “The Doctors,” and
\n“The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” They’re happy to be a part of the media circus
\nto bring attention to the success of the Esteem in hopes insurance companies
\nwill some day pay for them. It was while Sarah Churman was a guest on
\n“Ellen” that she learned that Envoy Medical is reimbursing her mother-in-law
\nfor the first $30,000 and will now cover the cost for her second Esteem
\ndevice, which she is planning on having implanted this spring.<\/p>\n

Despite the recent media attention, Churman is a low-key, sweet, and humble
\nwoman who describes her voice as sounding like a “hick’s.” Unlike a lot of
\ndeaf people, her speech is nearly impeccable despite never clearly hearing
\nherself while growing up. It’s something she attributes to deaf school and
\nher love for the English language and grammar.<\/p>\n

Now that she’s fully able to engage in life, for her, the simplest of sounds
\nhave brought her the most joy: her daughters’ squeaky voices, the sound of
\nrain on the roof, and the chirping of birds in her front yard. When she goes
\nto a movie, she no longer has to nudge her husband to catch up on the
\ndialog. At concerts she can truly move her body to a beat. Small things that
\nshe never did and never will take for granted.<\/p>\n

Source:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/news.cnet.com\/8301-11386_3-20124953-76\/deaf-youtube-star-hears-sounds-of-her-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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…<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[4621,24,11085,11722,4663,1570,11082,11723,17,11726,11724,11725,2071],"class_list":["post-16818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deaf-news","tag-article","tag-deaf","tag-envoy-medical","tag-esteem-implant","tag-fda","tag-hearing","tag-sarah-churman","tag-surgery","tag-texas","tag-the-doctors","tag-the-ellen-degeneres-show","tag-today-show","tag-youtube"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p752R-4ng","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16062,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2011\/10\/03\/deaf-woman-hearing-her-voice-for-first-time-after-houston-surgery-is-internet-sensation\/","url_meta":{"origin":16818,"position":0},"title":"Deaf woman hearing her voice for first time after Houston surgery is Internet sensation","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"October 3, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Video of deaf woman hearing her voice for first time after Houston surgery is Internet sensation BY CLIFFORD PUGH October 2, 2011 With all the depressing news going around nowadays, it's nice to hear something uplifting. 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