Mr. Salisu, 53-year-old chartered accountant from Nigeria, developed bilateral profound sudden sensorineural hearing loss in February of 2017. This deafness was following an illness and probably due to an ototoxic medication. He was initially fitted with hearing aids which were of no benefit for his severe hearing loss. This hearing disability put his lucrative career at stake and his family started looking for other options to regain his hearing.
Their search for possible treatment option led them to Dr Sheelu Srinivas at Columbia Asia Hospital, Sarjapur Road. Dr Sheelu runs a successful adult and pediatric cochlear implant program in Bangalore. The family met her and initial work up for cochlear implantation candidacy was done with the audiology and radiology team at the hospital. Mr Salisu and his wife were given realistic expectations following cochlear implantation surgery and the outcomes. They were also explained about the time needed to learn to listen with this technology. He underwent cochlear implantation at Columbia Asia Hospital, Sarjapur Road and started his training to listen with the device within 2 weeks of the operation.
As an adult implantee- he could give us his real feeling and difficulty in listening with the cochlear implant-in the initial days. He also met other adult implantees from our program who could share their experiences and progress with him. His wife took an active role in his therapy and finally after rigorous training, he started listening and understanding speech without gestures. He got the confidence of going back home to Nigeria and to work with his “new ear”. He will keep getting the benefit of this technology in the coming years with regular use of the implant.Lastly but most importantly- he continues to be a part of the hearing and listening world.
“We are glad that cochlear implantation not only gave him back his hearing but his professional life back to him”said his cochlear implant surgeon- Dr Sheelu Srinivas.
