Is all of this really loud right now?
Yes! Amazingly!
I would imagine that all of a sudden, in everything,
the smallest thing must be really loud.
Yes.
So, first of all, it was the most moving thing that I had ever seen.
To experience that,
and this is just a week old, right?
Yes, ma'am.
Eight days.
Explain to me what it is- you were born with-
what is it exactly?
My parents' DNA together caused the
hairs in my ear not to form.
Those hairs are what transmit the sound waves
to your brain.
Wow!
It's just that simple-
just not having the hairs in your ear-
that's incredible.
Yes!
I don't understand how clearly you're speaking.
I mean, you sound like-
usually there's a little bit of a speech impediment
because you don't hear clearly, how words are pronounced.
How are you speaking so clearly?
I get asked that all the time.
Honestly I just accredit it to deaf education school,
speech therapy.
I'm a big talker and just like to talk a lot.
I love to read.
I just read anything I can get my hands on.
I have a passion for English and grammar.
I excelled in those subjects oddly enough.
When you-
by the way if you want to read a book this is a good one-
I started [reading it] in the green room!
So, other than obviously your children-
you have- how old are your children?
My oldest will be four next month
and my youngest is twenty months old.
So you're hearing them for the first time.
Hearing them, yes.
Their voices.
And that must have been obviously something you
would be waiting to hear what that sounds like.
Your husband, of course, Sloan.
What other sounds did you imagine?
What sounds did you think about hearing?
Like music, even.
Hearing music clearly.
The rain, thunder, birds.
Things that normal people wouldn't think about hearing-
my husband snoring.
*Audience laughter*
Yourself laughing, you know.
Things like that.
Speaking of your husband, Sloan- hi!
This is incredible.
And now she knows you snore.
You got away with it for years!
But you snore.
Yeah, but I think she only experienced it one time
and then click turned it off!
I see, I see.
She's not going to be subject to that anymore.
Well, you probably love hearing him snore.
That's probably- it's going to wear off.
Oh it already wore off.
It wore off the first night.
I see, I see!
This is Sloan's mother- your mother-in-law, Larry.
And Larry, I think has to be the best mother-in-law
that I've ever heard of.
The procedure costs thirty thousand dollars.
Per ear.
So you've had one.
And you couldn't afford it, and you gave them
the money.
Yes, I did.
When the girls came along-
*Audience applause*
Sarah is the best daughter-in-law in the world.
When this device became available-
I'm not wealthy at all.
We should say you cashed in your retirement to do this.
I did. I cashed in a small retirement fund
that I had.
It's not covered- your insurance does not cover this either.
That's why you had to borrow the money.
Yes.
I don't think that a family should struggle like this,
financially.
With something this important.
So we have a little gift for you.
Our friends at Envoy Medical Corporation,
the company that actually supplied you with
the original implant,
will not only give you the next one for free,
but they are going to give you thirty thousand dollars
to pay you back.
*Audience applause*
Thank you!
Come on down!
I'm so happy to have helped!