Cochlear Implant Opens New World for Michael
Michael Conger and his mother, Laurina, take a selfie during a visit to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Michael received a cochlear implant, restoring his hearing after losing it due to cancer treatment.
While Michael Conger ate with his family at a restaurant in Louisiana in 2021, he heard a whispering sound, but he couldn’t quite place it.
It sounded like hissing.
Hisssssss. Then pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat. Woosh and swoosh.
It was the sound of rain and wind.
Michael listened to the wind and the raindrops as they struck the restaurant's windows and roof.
“I could actually hear the raindrops hitting the roof, hitting the ground,” he remembers. “I could hear the wind. I could hear subtle little changes. I had not heard those sounds in the longest time.”
A cochlear implant made this possible. The path to this point in his life had many twists and turns, kind of like the cochlea, the spiral-shaped tube in the inner ear needed for hearing.
Treatment for leukemia
Michael was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in 2005 when he was 5 years old. He and his family traveled from Louisiana to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for treatment. Michael joined a clinical trial called TOT15 to study treatments for ALL, the most common form of pediatric cancer.
His case was challenging. After about 14 months of chemotherapy, his leukemia relapsed (came back). It spread to his central nervous system and required stronger treatments, including radiation to his spine.
A rare and severe brain complication called acute toxic leukoencephalopathy caused him to go into a coma. Afterward, he had to learn to walk and talk again.
Michael had many problems communicating. His mother, Laurina, was concerned about his hearing.
Michael (right) and his audiologist, Johnnie Bass, AuD, PhD.
Hearing loss
A hearing test confirmed he had hearing loss in both ears, so he wore hearing aids for several years. But over time, he lost more hearing in his right ear, said Johnnie Bass, AuD, PhD, a St. Jude research audiologist who worked with Michael.
“Each time I saw him, his hearing was a little bit worse,” Bass says. “I would prescribe him a more powerful hearing aid. We continued to go up in power to the point that we ran out of options. So, we looked for other ways to help him.”
The Congers considered a cochlear implant. This electronic device helps people with severe hearing loss regain some of their hearing. It sends electrical signals to the cochlea and the hearing nerve. The brain interprets these signals as sound. This process is different than natural hearing, so therapy is needed to train the brain to recognize the electrical signals as sound.
At first, neither Michael nor his parents wanted him to get a cochlear implant. At that time, getting an implant involved destroying the cochlea. He and his mom were worried an implant would not work and that he would have no hearing in his right ear.
Getting a cochlear implant
In 2019, St. Jude started a cochlear implant program. By this time, the technology had improved. Getting a cochlear implant did not involve completely damaging the cochlea.
After careful thought and testing, Michael, who was an adult by this time, decided to get an implant. In December 2021, he returned to St. Jude to have the surgery.
When the implant was first turned on, Michael heard beeping sounds. His mom remembers him saying it sounded like R2-D2, the robot from the Star Wars movie series.
The year after getting the implant, Michael went back to St. Jude a few times for adjustments, Bass says. He also had therapy to help build his speech and hearing skills.
“When the hearing loss started, the thing that hurt me most was that I couldn’t whisper ‘I love you’ in his ear anymore. After the implant, I remember being able to hold him and say, ‘I love you’ quietly in his ear, and he could hear me again.”
“We activated and modified different electrodes until the implant was the best fit for him,” Bass says. “The cool thing about cochlear implants is that they can improve hearing to a point that hearing aids are not able to for people with severe to profound hearing loss. Michael's hearing loss in that right ear had become so profound that hearing aids could not make sounds loud enough for him.”
The cochlear implant meant Michael no longer had to sit up front in lecture halls at Louisiana State University (LSU) to hear his professors. He learned to drive. He could hear his friends even in loud places. He was included in conversations he missed before.
Michael’s cochlear implant made it possible for his mom to do things with him that she could not do before.
For instance, she can whisper in her son’s ear, and he can hear her.
“When the hearing loss started, the thing that hurt me most was that I couldn’t whisper ‘I love you’ in his ear anymore,” Laurina says. “After the implant, I remember being able to hold him and say, ‘I love you’ quietly in his ear, and he could hear me again.”
Michael plans to become an archaeologist.
Looking towards the future
Michael’s dream is to become an archaeologist. He has wanted to be one ever since he saw his first Indiana Jones movie while a patient at St. Jude.
Michael recently went on his first dig near Alexandria, Louisiana, at the site of the original LSU campus. The 26-year-old plans to begin graduate school soon. Being able to hear during the dig made a big difference. He is not sure he could have contributed as much to the job if he could not hear his coworkers.
“I was scared about getting a cochlear implant because I didn't know what to expect,” Michael says. “I have regained about 80% of my hearing that I didn't have before. It has definitely improved my quality of life. Getting an implant has been a game-changer.”
