Lecture 17 - The Cochlear War

Question 1

The Deaf-Cultural balance

Answer 1

• Deaf-Cultural view is: the other side of things, that you don’t need a cochlear implants.
• Other point of view comes from: promoting implants, representing the medical/audiological/implant-industry view and providing networking opportunities for cochlear-implant advocates and users.

Question 2

Cochlear implants

Answer 2

• How are they different from a hearing aid? A hearing aid doesn’t destroy any existing hearing, intense surgery.
• Implant is permanent.
• Cost: 2 billion dollar annual budget, 50-80k per ear.
• Health insurance: required to pay for CI surgery but not afterwards for therapy.
• 219,000 implanted as of 2012: 46,000 in adults and 28,000 in children in US
• Internal components: implanted receiver and electrode system
• External components: transmitter system, sound processor, and microphone.

Question 3

Side effects of C.I.

Answer 3

• Spinal meningitis: 17 deaths in 2002
• Paralyzed: facial nerves and muscles on one side.
• Other: tinnitus, headache, seizure, and surgical risks
• invasive and residual hearing is completely lost
• Hardware: is permanent and how long will it last?
• Limitations: no MRI, rough sports like wrestling or football etc.
• Chances: 99% chance of being successful

Question 4

C.I. success?

Answer 4

• Questions about patient’s ability to: succeed is highly variable
• Applies to majority of children? -CI failure children are excluded from the oral program and research.
• C.I. is not equal to the human ear. C.I. has up to 24 channels. Human ear has 6,000 channels
• Military: has interests in CI… will we have superpower CI?

Question 5

Non-medical side effects

Answer 5

• Language deprivation: a significant number of these children (CI) do not communicate with ease in a speech-only environment even after years of rehabilitative training
• cognitive and psychological growth delays lead to social and cultural developmental delays
• Negative attitude toward: Deaf identity, ASL and Deaf community
• Surdophobia: on the part of parents, medical professionals that will be picked up by the child, eventually isolation
• Depression: effects of CI failure label, psychological impact of CI and loss of hope.

Question 6

Perspectives on C.I.

Answer 6

Depends on:

• background of d/Deaf people, education, values of being able to hear, hearing abilities, individual progress in Deafhood and attitudes.
• many deaf/hard of hearing people with hearing cultural identity are receiving CI. Most of them are happy with it.
• more and more cultural Deaf people are receptive of an idea of having a CI. They are generally more welcome to Deaf community now.
• however, the Deaf community are wary of the propaganda for CI on deaf children and babies who cannot speak for themselves. A violation of child’s rights?

Question 7

Resistance:

Answer 7

• “My Son is Deaf Finally” by James Kittel
• “Mcimplant”
• CI users at Gallaudet after they took Deaf Studies
• Religion. Exodus 4:11 “The Lord said to him,” “… Who made the deaf or the mute? … Is it not I, the Lord?”

Question 8

Exploration:

Answer 8

• CI ASL Community.
• Both ASL with CI for all Deaf people? “Faces of ASL”
• Indifference or neutrality
• NAD’s position
• Language use for “C.I.”: V-bent (negative bc it’s related to poison, blind, vampire, etc.), U (one of the most popular signs used by ASL CI people), “C.I.” (deemed as most neutral)

Question 9

why the cochlear war?

Answer 9

• The dilemma: is that CI technology is improving and to make money worth, focus on oralism is emphasized while ASL is recognized as a best solution for deaf education and beneficial to all children even hearing ones.
• Focus now: is now on sign language rights for deaf children because CI tends to come with the rejection of ASL.

Question 10

Doctors and professionals:

Answer 10

fail to give parents full and balanced information and professionals with hearing privileges don’t see the battle.

Question 11

Deaf people’s fear:

Answer 11

that accepting CI will lead to cultural genocide, disappearance of sign language and Deaf identity. Is a loss of human variation good for our world?

Question 12

Why resistance? Learning from history

Answer 12

• Jean Marc Gaspard Itard (1775-1938): many experiments, some deadly.
• Hearing devices invented by A.G Bell “ask the value of speech… is like asking the value of life”
• CI in 1990’s: Deaf people were excluded from the decision making.
• CI for children: (genocide?/violation of children rights?) CI reinforces disability construction and oralism.
• Results: not always successful, one success doesn’t guarantee success for everyone.

Question 13

Misrepresentations in the media

Answer 13

• Successful cases: spectacular successes have been reported, but they do not represent the majority of deaf children
• Unsuccessful cases: often those successful individuals still demonstrate some cognitive difficulties.
• Controlling the discourse debate: science; the stories that need to reach the general population and those making policy decisions will not be reached if controlled by science
• Most authoritative voices: are those of hearing professionals

Question 14

Quotations from the Deaf community

Answer 14

• Marlee Martin: “If I were offered a cochlear implant today, I would prefer not to have one. But that’s not a statement about hearing aids or cochlear implants. It’s about who you are.” “The handicap of deafness is not the ear; it is in the mind”
• Gilbert Eastman: “Hearing and pseaking does not make you smart. Learning and understanding does.”
• Victor Hugo: “What matters deafness of the ear when the mind hers? The one true deafness, the incurable deafness, is that of the mind”