Couple Speak To Each Other For the First Time In 20 Years After Successful Operation

A husband has had a conversation with his wife for the first time in 20 years after undergoing a pioneering ear operation to fix his damaged ear.

The Mirror reports:

Great-grandfather Peter Chatterton, who tied the knot to his devoted partner Joyce 54 years ago, suffered severe nerve damage in his ears during his time in combat in the 1960s.

The pensioner’s hearing gradually deteriorated until he was effectively deaf, making it impossible to speak to his wife, family and friends.

But now the 76-year-old’s life has been completely transformed after doctors placed a cochlear implant into his ear.

The keen golfer said: “When it was switched on it was amazing. I could hear voices clearly. I could hear water running, the kettle boiling, a chair scraping on the floor. All of a sudden I was hearing these things. All these sounds that people take for granted were coming back to me.

I can hear what people are saying to me. It’s life-changing, when I go to the shop or to the post office to collect my pension I can hear what people are saying to me and hold a conversation with them.

He said: “Health and safety wasn’t a thing in those days. There were no ear protectors, because of the sound of the guns I suffered nerve damage and my hearing progressively worsened over the years. By the time I was 60 I had very little hearing in both ears and relied on lip reading. I had hearing aids but even so I couldn’t hear much at all.

I couldn’t go to the golf club meetings because I couldn’t hear anything. I wasn’t getting involved in conversations. I wasn’t getting involved in any social activity whatsoever. I was in a lonely life. I was excluded. The grandchildren couldn’t understand why I didn’t answer when they said something to me.”

Three years ago, Peter’s audiologist told him he might qualify for a cochlear implant. It is placed under the skin behind the ear and uses a small electrode to connect it to the cochlea, the part of the ear which hears. When it picks up a sound, it uses an electrical impulse to stimulate the cochlear.

Following extensive assessment by consultant surgeons, hearing therapists, audiologists and speech and language therapists, he was accepted to undergo the major surgery.

He had the implant surgery at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend in February and his external speech processor was activated four weeks later.

I’m involved with the golf club more than I ever was in the last 15 to 20 years. I can answer the grandchildren now, everyone was unbelievably kind. They were amazing, wonderful. It was a brilliant example of team working. he added.