Lending an Ear for Future Generations When Michelle Tjelmeland began college at Eastern Illinois University in 1991, she had no idea that her life was about to change drastically. Growing up, Michelle had some trouble hearing, but it was never bad enough to compel her to ask her doctors about it. However, during Michelle’s first year in college, she realized she was struggling to hear her professors in the large lecture halls. When she went to the doctor at age 20, she learned the frightening truth: she was gradually losing her hearing. What she did not know then was that a medical technology would one day restore her hearing.
Michelle is just one of 28 million Americans who have experienced some degree of hearing loss.1 An estimated 500,000 - 700,000 people in the United States have severe or complete hearing loss. In fact, hearing loss is the No. 1 birth defect in America. Every day, approximately one in 1,000 babies is born completely deaf, with two to three of every 1,000 infants born with partial hearing impairment.2
Despite a challenging time in college, Michelle successfully graduated and married a few years later. At 22, she and her husband, Joel, were expecting their first child. Unfortunately, a difficult pregnancy may have accelerated her hearing loss, and within just a few months, Michelle was completely deaf — unable to hear anyone in her life.
While Michelle adjusted to being newly hearing impaired, she and her husband welcomed daughter Ellie into the world — two months premature. Ellie spent the first two weeks of her life in the special care nursery, but unfortunately was not tested for hearing impairment.
It was agonizing for Michelle that she could not hear the cries of her newborn, especially when she suspected that Ellie might be deaf as well. Nine months later and after numerous visits to doctors all over the United States, Michelle’s fear was confirmed — Ellie had been born completely deaf.
While testing babies shortly after birth is becoming routine in most hospitals, nearly one-third of all infants still leave the hospital without having the test. Because only half of the 12,000 babies born annually with some type of hearing impairment display a risk factor, newborn screening is crucial to early identification of hearing impairment. Undetected hearing impairment can have serious long-term consequences on a child’s cognitive development.
When Ellie turned 1, Michelle discovered that her daughter was a candidate for cochlear implants. Approximately 22,000 children and 24,000 adults in the United States have cochlear implants. A cochlear implant is very different from a hearing aid. Hearing aids amplify sound, while cochlear implants bypass damaged or non-working parts of the inner ear. When the ear is functioning normally, intricate parts of the inner ear convert sound waves into electrical impulses. These impulses are then sent to the brain, where a hearing person recognizes them as sound. A cochlear implant works in a similar manner, electronically capturing useful sounds and sending them to the brain. Hearing through an implant may sound different from normal hearing, but it allows many people to communicate orally, both in person and over the phone.3
Ellie received a cochlear implant when she was 17 months old; at the time she was one of the youngest children to undergo the implant surgery. Ellie had been learning sign language since she was one, and after receiving her cochlear implants, she began speech therapy to learn how to interpret the sounds created by the implants.
The cost of deafness in the United States, including education and special services, for a person born with hearing impairment is more than $1 million, compared with an estimated $70,000 for a person who has a cochlear implant — an impressive return on investment. For older adults who become deaf, a recent study found that cochlear implants were associated with statistically significant improvement in quality of life, especially concerning communication, feelings of being a burden, isolation and relations to family and friends.4
Lifetime Costs of Deafness without Cochlear Implants by Age of Onset (Cost of Cochlear Implant Procedure = $70,000)
Source:Project Hope 2000 In 2001, Michelle received her own cochlear implant. Although her hearing is not completely restored, the technology "has given me my life back,” said Michelle, referring to her active life that includes running her own successful Web development consulting firm. Ellie’s implant has been a success as well, and even though she did not speak her first complete sentence until she was 5 years old, now at age 8, her reading comprehension is higher than many of her hearing peers. In addition to Ellie’s academic success, she loves all types of music and is learning to play the guitar.
Convinced that every deaf person should have the opportunity to hear through the technology of cochlear implants, Michelle started the Cochlear Implant Awareness Foundation (CIAF). CIAF assists families with implant-related costs that are not traditionally covered by insurance, including hotel, travel and childcare expenses during hospital stays or expenses that exceed the limits of an individual’s health care coverage.
“When you are unable to hear, the world becomes scary,” Michelle said. However, the determination to overcome the challenges of her and Ellie’s hearing loss has given Michelle the passion to do all she can to help others who face the same struggles.
Thousands of People Could Benefit from Cochlear Implants| U.S. population with severe or complete hearing loss | 500,000–750,0003 |
| U.S. population with cochlear implants | 22,000 children5
24,000 adults |
Michelle and Ellie recently received their second cochlear implants. They recovered quickly from their surgeries with the help of family and friends.