Randy Adams and his 16-month-old son, Max, both have genetic defects of the inner ear, leaving Randy nearly deaf and his toddler son completely deaf.
They now share something else in common — both father and son received cochlear implants to improve hearing. And they both recently heard each other for the first time.
Newborn screening identified Max’s hearing loss early, but Randy was not immediately on board with the idea of his son getting a cochlear implant.
Michelle Adams said her husband was initially “totally against” the idea of cochlear implants for their child.
“He was adamant: He said we are not doing surgery and we are not going to change him,” recalled Michelle Adams of Canton.
Michelle said it took time to agree on what to do. But as the couple did more research, Randy eventually gave the OK albeit reluctantly, and Max underwent surgery for a cochlear implant (an electronic device that replaces the function of the damaged inner ear) late last year.
The change in Max was dramatic.
“Before the cochlear, Max would just kind of sit there. You can read to him and he didn’t care,” Michelle said. “And with the cochlear, Max wakes up and he would start laughing and giggling whenever we turned on his cochlear. He is more engaged and playful.”
As Randy saw the change in his son, he decided to look into getting the procedure for himself. He was directed to Dr. Esther Vivas, assistant professor of otolaryngology (head and neck surgery) at Emory University Hospital Midtown, who has begun seeing more adults who are turning to cochlear implants as an option to improve their hearing.
“Randy was very motivated for his son to do well, and the thought of being able to experience what his son was going through motivated his decision to also try the cochlear implant,” Vivas said in an Emory press release.
In early March, Randy underwent the same procedure as Max. Both Randy and his son had the procedure for their right ears. Max will undergo the procedure for his left ear soon, and Randy, while having very limited hearing in his left ear, has not yet made a final decision for his left ear. The procedure involves an otolaryngologist, or ENT surgeon, surgically placing electrodes into the inner ear, called the cochlea. An audio processor is worn on the head above the ear to pick up sound from the environment.
“The electrodes actually send electrical signals to the cells in the inner ear, and those signals are then transmitted through the cochlear nerve to the brain and it’s like hearing,” Vivas said.
After a month of wearing the device, it is activated. An Emory video shows the moment when Randy could hear some sounds and feel vibrations through the ear.
Sitting beside her husband, Michelle asks, “Can you hear me?”
“A little bit, but you have a low voice,” Randy says through an interpreter. “So good to hear your voice,” Randy tells his wife. Michelle tears up.
Michelle and Randy met five years ago at a restaurant. Randy was the first deaf person she had ever met, and when he tapped on his phone, “I am deaf,” Michelle initially thought he was joking. They exchanged numbers and have been inseparable ever since. At first, they communicated by writing back and forth to each other in notebooks. But over time, she learned sign language from him; he learned how to read her lips.
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Randy will spend the next few months adjusting to the new device and experiencing different sounds. He is able to control the levels of sounds he hears with a remote at home. He will also begin speech therapy once a week, just like Max, and return for follow-up programming to fine-tune the processor.
According to Vivas, because Max’s cochlear implant was received before 12 months of age, he should have near normal speech development. Dad Randy will likely have more difficulty with speech, since it wasn’t developed early in life.
But Michelle said there have already been big moments.
“He is constantly asking me what the sound is,” she said. “The other day when it rained, he was commenting he was hearing rain for the first time. … And with Max, he loves listening to him laugh. Before, he could see him laughing, and it was great, but now he can hear him laugh, and it’s really awesome.”
Michelle and Randy plan to teach Max sign language.
