Technology developed at The Richard Ramsden Centre for Hearing Implants at Manchester’s Royal Infirmary will be used in the Channel 4 documentary Breaking the Silence: Live tonight.
The programme features the center’s Cochlear Implant team and patients who will have their devices switched on, live on air, for the first time.
The implant, an electronic device that stimulates the inner ear, can replace hearing that has been lost and gives access to sounds that users were previously unaware of. The programme will show this life-altering moment, as it happens.
Each person, some of whom have been profoundly deaf since birth, and some of whom have lost their hearing as recently as six months ago, underwent surgery several weeks ago to have their cochlear implant fitted.
Tonight will show the moment when each person’s implant is switched on broadcast live from The Richard Ramsden Centre for Hearing Implants when viewers at home and patient’s families will discover if and what they can hear.
According to the center, the amount of hearing each person can hear with the implant is unique to each individual.
Upon switching on the implant, some patients report hearing speech clearly, while others may only hear whistles and beeps, which in time will develop into more meaningful hearing.
The programme will be broadcast from the Richard Ramsden Centre for Hearing Implants on Channel 4, at Manchester Royal Infirmary tonight at 8.00pm.
Image courtesy of Steve Johnson via Flickr, with thanks.
