Dr Tom McCaul was introduced to about 50 implant users and staff at Southampton University by Julie Brinton the joint head of the SOECIC. She met Tom during her recent secondment to Australia, where she worked at the Brisbane CIC who currently carry out about 20 implants a year, mostly on adults. She very much enjoyed her stay in Queensland, made many friends and described how interesting and vast the area still is and how people often take a flight into the wilds for weekend.

 

It was immediately apparent how confident and friendly Tom was, even before he began his presentation. His life story from being born deaf with a 70/75 Db hearing loss and his efforts to progress in the hearing world, go through university, gain a Bsc and subsequently a Phd showed how much faith and determination he had to succeed. It must have taken an unbelievable amount of courage and effort which many of us don't have. We would have been content to just sink back into our own quiet world.

 

He was born in London where initially his hearing loss wasn't recognised by his parents as he always copied his 10 month older brother. When his brother looked up at an aircraft flying overhead or went to the door when he heard a noise, Tom always did the same. From the photographs he showed us his brother looked like his twin, who obviously gave him such a lot of help and who is still very close to him. They see one another several times a week.

 

At about 15 months his parents began to realise he was profoundly deaf and was fitted with an early body worn hearing aid held in a harness held to his chest, I recall my own mother wearing a similar aid which she said picked up noise from the rustling of her clothes. He showed us some interesting and amusing 1940/50 pictures of his brother, family, early days at school and during this time he gradually progressed to behind the ear hearing aids. After graduation he took a post in America and worked there for several years before settling in Australia about 20 years ago.

 

Whilst attending a meeting some years ago he suddenly noticed his hearing had become worse. He could hardly understand what was being said and thought it was the battery or the aid that was the problem. It quickly became apparent that he had lost almost all the hearing he had. Now with a loss of 85/90 Db he decided to be referred for assessed for a cochlear implant.

 

He related some of his first experiences after "switch on", which reminded many of us vividly of our own similar experiences, hearing Donald Duck like sounds. He also recalled the first time he heard the sound of a safety razor pulled across his face, yes he thought he had scraped off most of his skin.

 

The second implant was in August 2009 and he is obviously very pleased with it. I was particularly impressed with the quality of his speech. There was just a trace of Oz accent, but very easy for me to understand. He proves the exception to the rule as many people born deaf who have implants later in life struggle to get sufficient understanding of speech sounds and still rely on lip reading.

 

Health care and age related pensions, he explained, are very different in Australia. Most people have private health insurance which helped with the cost of his implants, but he still had extra money to pay. Pensions are basically means tested when you retire. I guess we constantly complain, but don't appreciate how lucky we are.

 

Tom knows the Australian Graham Clark, who developed the cochlear implant after studying the shape of shells on the sea shore which are similar to our cochlear. He explained that Graham's father was a profoundly deaf pharmacist, who often had embarrassing moments when he repeated what he thought was his customers requests in a loud voice to make sure he had got it right. You can imagine what some customers asked.

 

Cochlear Australia have a "Cochlear Awareness Network" similar to our "Cochlear Advocates", who help people contemplating an implant or to adapt to their new implant with it's different sounds etc. Tom is an active member of this group and can aptly demonstrate from his life story how much it has meant to him.

 

Following Tom's talk we heard a short presentation by Richard Byrnes, the Editor of the National Cochlear Implant Users Association Newsletter. He explained the work of the NCIUA, how much it benefited it's members by providing up to date information and how the association liaised with the professional and government bodies. They also promote awareness of the benefits of cochlear implants for the profoundly deaf. Lastly he made us aware of the numbers of implants carried out throughout the world and illustrated how the UK lagged behind several countries like Sweden and Germany.

 

 

 

It all proved a very enlightening and interesting presentation which I enjoyed very much.

 

Rob Garnett, Volunteer Advocate.