40 yo Woman Hears for the First Time
 

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Jo Milne has been deaf since birth due to Usher syndrome, a rare and incurable genetic disorder that can cause hearing loss and visual impairment. Now, at age 40, her new cochlear implants are allowing her to hear for the first time.

Milne, from Gateshead, U.K., was actually fitted with the implants in February, and had to wait more than a month for the emotional moment when they could finally be switched on.

"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," Milne told The Journal.

Milne is also able to listen to music for the first time. Her friend Tremayne Crossley, who posted this video to YouTube, put together an "Introduction to Music" playlist—including Prince, Bruce Springsteen, The Smiths, and Nirvana—which was played out for Milne on BBC6 Music earlier this week.

The first song she heard? John Lennon's "Imagine."

The sound isn't working for me

Pretty awesome stuff.

Reminds us all how we can sometimes undervalue the little things in life.

A woman hearing for the first time is pretty damn cool.
Now I'd like to see a video of a woman listening for the first time.

Cool

7/10. Would do.

That, my friends, is a video of pure JOY. A thing to behold. Truly Awesome.

I can't hear the clip! I can't hear the - oh, wait. I had the sound turned down.

:D I laughed.

It's hard to pick up, but I'm trying to figure out if she has a bit of an English accent even though she's never heard an English accent. That's fun to think about. I guess if you learn to talk by watching mouth movements, you pick up the local accent.

I guess that makes sense, because I suspect that deaf people in the U.S. speak with an American accent. It would be cool if American deaf people spoke with a British accent, though.

I can't imagine not ever being able to hear....one of my greatest joys is listening to my daughter sing.

I feel like this might be a stupid question, and I'm missing something obvious, but how can she understand the woman talking to her? Having never heard anyone speak, she wouldn't be able to understand conversational speech, right? Doesn't seem like she's reading lips the whole time...

It'd be easier to catch a video of Bigfoot.

Probably a combination of the two. Good point.