Meet Michael Anderson

Between the ages of 40 and 55 I lost my hearing, my job, my confidence and a lot of friends. I became isolated, at times moody and depressed and looked to the future with dread. This is my story of how receiving a cochlear implant saved me and gave me back my life.

No one in my family had major hearing problems so it was a surprise to me when shortly after I turned 40 I started to notice a hearing loss. The sound from TV was too soft, people mumbled, backgrounds were too noisy. Eventually, I accepted the truth, fronted up to an audiologist and soon found myself the owner of a single, in the ear hearing aid. I was shocked and embarrassed and wore it only with close friends and family, never at work.

Predictably, over the years my hearing got worse and soon my job as a teacher of English at a High School was in jeopardy. Two behind the ear hearing aids still didn’t help. I was becoming remote, reclusive. Not only was it too hard to teach, I couldn’t participate in meetings, enjoy staff room banter with colleagues, ring parents or do any of the hundreds of tasks that require good ears. Inevitably, I had to leave the classroom and carry on in education, at a greatly reduced salary, doing other tasks such as the school magazine and newspaper.

Away from work, I avoided social situations and could no longer go to films or plays or enjoy music. A meal out at a restaurant with my wife meant communicating by way of a note book she always carried with her. I was becoming a hermit – a grumpy hermit.

Then my life changed. After 14 years of progressive hearing loss I was asked if I’d like to be assessed for a cochlear implant. I had little idea what this meant but, in 2006, I went through the assessment getting more and more excited by the minute. When I was accepted for an implant behind my right ear, I was over the moon. The date for surgery couldn’t come quickly enough. My waiting time was barely a year and I eagerly checked into the hospital, looking forward to the operation, recovery and switch-on. It was a breeze. I was so excited that any pain or discomfort barely registered.

‘Can you hear me, Michael?’ were the first words of what I now see as the second half of my life. Could I hear? You bet! Progress was exciting and quick. Within a short time conversations were back to normal, I could use the telephone and watch TV without captions. Eating out was now a real pleasure. I was sociable again.

I travelled overseas within 2 weeks of switch-on having a ball on long haul flights listening to music, watching films and chatting. Previously, this would have been one long bore for me.

Now, I feel I have my life back thanks to my cochlear implant. In many ways, losing my hearing and regaining it has been the best thing that’s happened to me and I will always be eternally grateful to Cochlear, my surgeon and everyone at SCIPA in New Zealand.