Video: Amazing moment deaf woman hears sound for first time after implants
Deaf since birth and having never heard a sound, the moment a woman hears for the first time, following a life-changing procedure at a Midlands hospital, has been captured on film.
Joanne Milne, 40, from Gateshead, was born deaf, and during her 20s also began to lose her vision due to the rare medical condition Usher Syndrome. But last month she was fitted with cochlear implants and after 40 years of silence she is now able to hear.
The incredible moment when she hears a nurse going through the days of the week was filmed by her mother and shows her bursting into tears in shock.
"The switch-on was the most emotional and overwhelming experience of my life and I'm still in shock now. The first day everybody sounded robotic and I have to learn to recognise what these sounds are as I build a sound library in my brain," she said.
"Hearing things for the first time is so, so emotional, from the ping of a light switch to running water. I can't stop crying."
She thanked the team at the Midlands Implant Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, for the procedure and their support.
