Angelica Lopez, 3, smiles during a therapy session at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Angelica was born deaf and received an auditory brainstem implant to allow her to hear some sounds in a research study at USC. U.S. researchers are implanting a device on the brain stems of a small number of deaf children to see if it will help them learn to hear.
SUMMARY: Angelica Lopez is one of the first U.S. children who are testing what's called an auditory brainstem implant, or ABI. Many children who are born deaf are usually given cochlear implants, which send impulses to the auditory nerve, where they're relayed to the brain and recognized as sound. But the small fraction born without a working hearing nerve, like Angelica, can't make that brain connection. The ABI attempts to fill that gap by delivering electrical stimulation directly to the neurons on the brainstem. The person wears a microphone on the ear to detect sound, and a processer changes it to electrical signals. Those are beamed to a stimulator under the skin, which sends the signals the brainstem. When the ABI is turned on the children will hear like a newborn child. They will have to learn and make sense of all of the sounds they can now here. So far, with the help of her family, Angelica Lopez has begun to understand sounds and work of her oral speech skills.
ANALYSIS: I feel that this is a great new invention. The ability to send sounds as electric signals has existed for a long time, but the ability to relay that sound directly to the brainstem and have the brain be able to recognize it is a great step for humanity. In fact, this shows how much technology has evolved and how we can combine technology and the human factor to make this world a better place.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. Taking into consideration how dangerous this surgery is, do you think that this will be a common procedure in the future?
2. There are people in the deaf community that believe that the deaf should remain deaf. What is your opinion on this matter?
LINK TO ARTICLE:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/15/hearing-device_n_6687484.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592
With all the negative things in the news, reading something like this was very uplifting. It's amazing that we have the knowledge and technology to basically allow a deaf person to hear. This is very exciting, and I hope that these auditory brainstem implants are successful for many people. Although it is a dangerous procedure, I hope that in time scientists and doctors make the surgery safer.
ReplyDelete