If you're feeling a little sad 2
 

You can watch this and feel better.

29-year-old woman, born deaf, is given hearing implants and hears herself for the first time.

That is so sweet.

I cried too, a little.

Thank you. :)

very emotional.

being deaf is really tough. it's a "hidden" "handicap". it's hard to imagine how much of the world you participate by way of your ears. Did you wake up to an alarm clock this morning? etc.

Nice video UT, thanks.

Its a heart-warming video and her emotion seems genuine, but I am bothered a bit by her enunciation...it doesn't sound like a deaf person's. And she could understand the woman perfectly when she wasn't looking at her. Maybe she already had some hearing?

Either way, that these implants enable the deaf to hear is truly wonderful.

That's what I was wondering Pie.

If you've never heard English spoken you aren't going to be able to speak or understand speech, even if you can read and write fluently.

Someone noted in the YouTube comments that she probably had hearing aids before, which allow you to hear a certain amount of (somewhat warped) sounds around you, but cannot catch your own voice because it's always pointed in the wrong direction. Hence the distinction of it being the emotion over hearing her own voice.

Ah. Makes sense.

That might be the first useful YouTube comment ever.

I heard only a few months back about an old couple who had both been deaf for their whole lives receiving surgery (I'm sorry, I couldn't guess if it was the same or similar to this woman) and hearing for the first time. The old guy adapted well but his wife struggled after the initial joy and became near traumatised and unable to sleep by the constant noise that she had lived her life without - traffic, neighbours, birds, the occasional aeroplane flying overhead, etc. - until eventually the surgery had to be reversed rendering deaf, but happy, once more.

I must admit I had my concerns as well. Not as simple as the other "feeling sad" thread.

I remember reading Sheila Hocken's book, Emma and I, primarily about her relationship with her Guide Dog, Emma. She grew up blind but was eventually able to attain at least partial sight through surgery.

She was horrified at first by the HUGE growths she saw on people's faces. It took her a long time to adjust to noses.

I bet it was her husband's snoring that tipped her over the edge.