Amanprit Johal

Amanprit has been profoundly deaf since birth and until 15 months ago, she relied on hearing aids and lip-reading for all communication. Amanprit joined Mary Hare School from the age of 11 and after a gap year travelling around the world, she began studying for her degree.

She says that in lectures at university, she always had to sit at the front to make sure she could see the lecturer's face. She felt exhausted trying to keep up with the studies and social life.

Amanprit found out about cochlear implants from a friend who had one at 18 years old and decided that an implant would be the best option for her too. She admits that, "My parents weren't sure about me having an implant as they thought I was managing life with my hearing aids, and the idea of surgery was quite scary for us all."

However, the surgery went well and Amanprit says that she remembers being very emotional on the day it was switched on and she cried for a long time because it felt so powerful. "It wasn't all easy though," she explains. "It was exhausting to start with because it's not really what you expect. You have to work so hard with it to begin with, and it's frustrating at times."

Amanprit says that her cochlear implant feels ten times better than the hearing aids. "I don't have to concentrate so hard now to keep up and I'm so much less tired at the end of the day. Since the implant I can follow a conversation in small groups and can even take notes during lectures without looking at the lecturer at the same time."