# hearing for the first time video: fake? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 30, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-for-the-first-time-video-fake/598191 "2011-09-30T19:07:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-for-the-first-time-video-fake/598191/1 "2011-09-30T19:07:10Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/LsOo3jzkhYA/maxresdefault.jpg "29 years old and hearing myself for the 1st time!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsOo3jzkhYA) I actually used to know a decent amount of sign language because I had a deaf friend, so I am not entirely unfamiliar with deaf culture. I hate to be an internet person who cries “fake!” at everything, but I don’t understand how she could understand “Can you hear me?” to nod when she is covering her eyes at the 56s mark if she has never heard before. I understand there are different levels of deafness as well, but if she heard enough to understand speach before her implant, I don’t think most people unfamiliar with deaf people would consider her “deaf”. So, fake, real, comments? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-for-the-first-time-video-fake/598191/2 "2011-09-30T20:36:56Z")
There’s just something a little “off” about this video. First of all, she has only a barely detectable deaf voice, indicating that either she has a considerable amount of residual hearing, or that she has had a monumental amount (like hundreds of thousands of dollars worth) of oral training. Note that she is not activating a cochlear implant. If she were, her response to the audiologist would have been impossible. You can’t just flip the switch on a CI and have instant speech recognition where none existed before. The device she had implanted is a new type of hearing aid. It relies on a functioning eardrum and the presence of _at least some_ functioning auditory villi, just as a standard HA does. There’s no doubt that she heard the audi’s question, and that’s she’s having a very good response to her new device. I think her affirmation of the audi’s question really means that “this is the first time I’ve been able to understand speech without relying on visual cues.” But her claims that she has never heard her voice before are highly suspect. If I were forced to hazard a guess, I would say that she was born with a 20 – 50 percent hearing loss on both sides of her head, and has used bilateral hearing aids her entire life. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-for-the-first-time-video-fake/598191/3 "2011-09-30T20:45:00Z")
**at :55** When the girl covers her face/eyes, the women asks her if she can hear her and she nods yes (yet she can’t be reading lips). I say: WHA?! That is not a completely deaf person getting hearing for the first time. It’s something else. Some lesser degree of hearing impairment being restored at best. . ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-for-the-first-time-video-fake/598191/4 "2011-09-30T20:57:26Z")
Exhibit A: The lady is talking to her before turning the device on. I doubt someone used to working with the deaf is going to be talking to them and giving instructions when they know the patient can’t hear. Exhibit B: The device’s website: > [@](#): > > How does the Esteem® differ from a Cochlear Implant? Are they the same? > > A cochlear implant is an inner ear implant and the Esteem® is a middle ear implant. They address different degrees of hearing loss. A cochlear implant is for the profoundly deaf (greater than 90+ dB of loss). \*\*The Esteem® is indicated for moderate to severe hearing loss (40dB to 90dB). \*\* So yeah. It’s nothing more than an implantable hearing aid. Presumably, the women in question had a reasonable level of hearing before the surgery. Obviously, an implanted hearing aid is a huge improvement in terms of convenience, but I don’t see a reason to get all weepy. Oh, and yes, I am cynical enough to think that this was a fake viral video. Not fake to the extent that she didn’t have the implant. Fake enough for them to give her some cash to play up her reaction, tape it, and post it on Youtube. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-for-the-first-time-video-fake/598191/5 "2011-09-30T20:59:51Z")
[Read this](http://www.alldeaf.com/hearing-aids-cochlear-implants/52920-envoy-esteem-middle-ear-implant.html), particularly posts numbers 15 and 16. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2011, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-for-the-first-time-video-fake/598191/6 "2011-10-01T22:10:45Z")
What is up with this freakin’ video? When this thread was started yesterday, it was at about a quarter of a million views. That in and of itself is completely insane for something as obscure and relatively uninteresting as home video shot in an audiologist’s office. Now the damn thing is at _two and a half million_ views—WTF? 😕 OK—I guess this has something to do with it: > **[29-Year-Old Deaf Woman Hears Her Voice for the First Time \[VIRAL VIDEO\]](https://mashable.com/archive/sloan-churman-deaf-hears-voice)** > > 29-Year-Old Deaf Woman Hears Her Voice for the First Time \[VIRAL VIDEO\] ---
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2011, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-for-the-first-time-video-fake/598191/7 "2011-10-01T22:54:00Z")
I think it’s going viral because it’s touching, but I have a hard time believing the video as posted is completely honest unless there is something I am missing. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-for-the-first-time-video-fake/598191/8 "2011-10-02T04:17:20Z")
Yeah, but it’s nothing really remarkable. I’ve seen at least a dozen videos just like it. Just poke around on a Deaf message board and you’ll find a bunch of them. There’s a classic one where mom is at the audi’s office when they are turning on an infant’s CI for the first time and the baby turns it’s pwecious little head in mom’s direction when she says it’s name. Of course, mom starts blubbering like an idiot. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-for-the-first-time-video-fake/598191/9 "2011-10-02T06:11:50Z")
She said she was born “deaf”, but what constitutes _legally_ deaf? Surely it’s possible to have a very limited amount of hearing and still classify as deaf? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-for-the-first-time-video-fake/598191/10 "2011-10-02T06:14:52Z")
One problem here is that you don’t know if the woman is responding to the question, or just reacting to hearing anything. It’s only a presumption, cued by the story, that she’s nodding yes to answer a question, when she may just be indicating that she heard sound. The video may be real, and the description is the fiction. ---
**Author:** ![AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-for-the-first-time-video-fake/598191/11 "2011-10-02T06:17:22Z")
> [@treis](#): > > Exhibit A: The lady is talking to her before turning the device on. I doubt someone used to working with the deaf is going to be talking to them and giving instructions when they know the patient can’t hear. > > Exhibit B: The device’s website: > > So yeah. It’s nothing more than an implantable hearing aid. Presumably, the women in question had a reasonable level of hearing before the surgery. Obviously, an implanted hearing aid is a huge improvement in terms of convenience, but I don’t see a reason to get all weepy. > > Oh, and yes, I am cynical enough to think that this was a fake viral video. Not fake to the extent that she didn’t have the implant. Fake enough for them to give her some cash to play up her reaction, tape it, and post it on Youtube. No Washoe, you’re not. It’s about marketing. They have been really pushing the Esteem at HLAA. It’s about pushing a new product. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-for-the-first-time-video-fake/598191/12 "2011-10-03T16:50:08Z")
[It’s all over the mainstream news today.](http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44756127/ns/today-good_news/) ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-for-the-first-time-video-fake/598191/13 "2011-10-03T16:55:15Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > [It’s all over the mainstream news today.](http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44756127/ns/today-good_news/) And the first sentence of that link says: “Severely hearing impaired since birth, Sarah Churman had long managed to cope in a world where sounds came as if they were under water.” So there you go. She had some hearing before but just a slight trace. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-for-the-first-time-video-fake/598191/14 "2011-10-03T18:01:38Z")
Ditto what **Washoe** said. I’m happy for her improved hearing, but it is hard for me to believe that anyone could be totally deaf and speak so well. She had some degree of partial hearing, and now it is vastly improved. ---
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-for-the-first-time-video-fake/598191/15 "2011-10-03T18:49:13Z")
I think “hearing for the first time” is so dishonest as to go over to “lie” territory, and since it is more sensational makes me think she’s a paid shill, even if the reaction to hearing better was real… ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-for-the-first-time-video-fake/598191/16 "2011-10-03T18:56:32Z")
I will say this though; several years ago I dated a girl who was completely deaf from an accident at the age of 12. She had mastered reading lips and talking and it was _extremely_ difficult for me to notice any difference in her speech. It really was quite remarkable. Now after I had gotten to know her a little better I began to pick up on certain aspects of her speech patterns that were a bit odd and different sounding, but as a whole I had never heard a deaf person speak with such ease and fluidity. Now I am not saying this is what is going on in this video here but I’m just saying that some deaf people _can_ speak remarkably well. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-for-the-first-time-video-fake/598191/17 "2011-10-03T19:17:41Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > I will say this though; several years ago I dated a girl who was completely deaf from an accident at the age of 12. She had mastered reading lips and talking and it was _extremely_ difficult for me to notice any difference in her speech. It really was quite remarkable. > > Now after I had gotten to know her a little better I began to pick up on certain aspects of her speech patterns that were a bit odd and different sounding, but as a whole I had never heard a deaf person speak with such ease and fluidity. Now I am not saying this is what is going on in this video here but I’m just saying that some deaf people _can_ speak remarkably well. But she went deaf at 12, presumably after she’d already learned the bulk of how to speak. The claim in the video was that the woman had _never_ heard before. ---
**Author:** ![StarsApart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecc23a/32.png) [@StarsApart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarsApart)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-for-the-first-time-video-fake/598191/18 "2011-10-03T19:42:05Z")
I have a hearing loss worse than this woman’s, if she does have a severe loss. Mine is severe to profound in one ear and profound in the other. Very close to total deafness. It is a progressive loss, but it went “bad” pretty quickly. However, I have no “deaf accent,” and I’ve certainly heard my own voice, because hearing aids work really well for me. I’ve worn them since I was four years old and most people I meet don’t even realize I’m deaf. However, many other deaf people I’ve met haven’t adapted as well to aids, or their loss doesn’t work well with aids/cochlear implants, or aids help them only a slight bit. If this video is legitimate I think it really highlights the way each person experiences deafness differently. It doesn’t ring 100% true for me, personally. I remember when I first got my digital hearing aids, when I was 12. Prior to that I had somewhat limited/cheap analog hearing aids. I couldn’t understand the audiologist at first because I was focused on something else, a very strange, loud sound I had no memory of. Turned out to be the air conditioning. 🙂