Whenever I walk through the hallways in school to get to class, I tend to notice that people always look at the left side of my head. Sometimes they ask and I tell them that it’s called a cochlear implant.

But of course, they don’t have the slightest idea what it is.

I was diagnosed with profound hearing loss when I was born, and my parents decided they wanted to fix that in the best way they could. The cochlear implant was the solution.

The cochlear implant is a device that transmits sound into your ear, like a hearing aid, but more complicated and for people with profound hearing loss. It requires a magnet implanted in your head to keep the device on your ear.

On Nov. 12, 1999, I travelled to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland to receive my cochlear implant. They implanted a magnet on the left side of my head, and we waited to receive the device that would give me the gift of sound.

I don’t remember the first time they turned on my cochlear and I was introduced to a world of sound, but my mom thinks it was the best moment of my life. As I watched the video of my first moment hearing, it was incredible.

I looked around the room and the moment I first heard sound was when my mom greeted me, saying “Hi”, I was struck in awe, according to the look on my face in the video. It was a great moment and I cherish it greatly.

The cochlear implant is a wonderful device that gives you the gift of hearing, but it has some negative impact on the deaf community. They think it takes away our culture and we should be proud of being deaf.

They believe that they should embrace their deafness- be proud of it. Many deaf people will cope with their loss of hearing and learn ways to embrace it. I do too, by trying to learn sign language and my ability to lip read people when my cochlear implant is off.

The cochlear implant may have some disadvantages, due to the fact that I have to take it off when I go swimming or when I play sports it tends to fall off.

Members of the deaf culture consider the device insulting and disrespectful to their culture, but I believe that it will open them into a world they will enjoy so much more with the gift of hearing.

Hasn’t a deaf person ever wanted to know what music sounded like? What it’s like to hear someone call your name? They need to realize they are missing out on a great opportunity in life.

I do agree that it may affect their culture, but if they try to realize that this device is not to insult their culture, but to help them gain a better understanding of the world around them.

So what is a cochlear implant people ask? It’s a gift that I cherish and never want to lose.