Best-selling Fiction Author Has Cochlear Implant to Restore Hearing

Two years ago, best-selling fiction author Connie Briscoe had a cochlear implant to restore her hearing, and she says it has radically changed her life for the better.

"This little gadget is amazing," said Briscoe. "My hearing is still improving even now, months after getting the implant."

Connie Briscoe says she was born with a mild hearing loss that deteriorated rapidly when she became an adult until she was nearly deaf. After years of buying more and more powerful hearing aids as her hearing loss accelerated, two years ago she decided to have a cochlear implant.

Today Briscoe says she is once again hearing many sounds that she hadn't heard in years—birds singing, phones ringing, the keyboard as she types her novels. She's also able to use the telephone again and to attend movies.

"The most exciting thing for me is being able to use the telephone again. I was able to park my TTYs in a corner of the garage. That was a champagne toast day for me."

TTYs are small computer like devices that allow deaf and hard of hearing people to use the telephone.

A cochlear implant is a small electronic device that is surgically placed under the skin behind the ear. A cochlear implant is very different from a hearing aid. Whereas hearing aids amplify sound, cochlear implants compensate for damaged or non-working parts of the inner ear.

Connie Briscoe has had five novels published to date and is currently working on a photo-essay book to be published in 2007 by Bulfinch Press, a division of Time Warner Books. Her work has hit several best-seller lists, including the New York Times.

On a new website designed to help others cope with hearing loss, Briscoe talks freely about her own struggle with losing her hearing and how she learned to deal with it (http://www.hearinginformer.com/Hearing_Loss_-_Coping_With.html). The website also includes articles from others who have thrived despite having a hearing loss as well as information about hearing loss.