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Is all of this really loud right now?
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Yes! Amazingly!
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I would imagine that all of a sudden, in everything,
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the smallest thing must be really loud.
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Yes.
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So, first of all, it was the most moving thing that I had ever seen.
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To experience that,
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and this is just a week old, right?
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Yes, ma'am.
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Eight days.
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Explain to me what it is- you were born with-
-
what is it exactly?
-
My parents' DNA together caused the
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hairs in my ear not to form.
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Those hairs are what transmit the sound waves
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to your brain.
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Wow!
-
It's just that simple-
-
just not having the hairs in your ear-
-
that's incredible.
-
Yes!
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I don't understand how clearly you're speaking.
-
I mean, you sound like-
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usually there's a little bit of a speech impediment
-
because you don't hear clearly, how words are pronounced.
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How are you speaking so clearly?
-
I get asked that all the time.
-
Honestly I just accredit it to deaf education school,
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speech therapy.
-
I'm a big talker and just like to talk a lot.
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I love to read.
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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.
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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.
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And Larry, I think has to be the best mother-in-law
-
that I've ever heard of.
-
The procedure costs thirty thousand dollars.
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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-
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*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,
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will not only give you the next one for free,
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but they are going to give you thirty thousand dollars
-
to pay you back.
-
*Audience applause*
-
Thank you!
-
Come on down!
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I'm so happy to have helped!
