Joanne Milne, 39, has been deaf since birth. She suffers from Usher Syndrome, which is not nearly as YEAH! as it sounds. It’s very rare and very bad, and it even robbed Milne of her eyesight in her 20s. Doctors haven’t been able to do anything about her vision yet, but Milne was recently implanted with cochlear implants so that she’d at least be able to hear. The moment the implants were turned on for the first time at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in the U.K. was recorded, and now Milne could hear your tears.
Ms. Milne was fitted with the implants last month and faced an agonizing wait after the operation before the device could be switched on and tested.
“The switch-on was the most emotional and overwhelming experience of my life and I’m still in shock now. The first day everybody sounded robotic and I have to learn to recognise what these sounds are as I build a sound library in my brain,” she said. “Hearing things for the first time is so, so emotional, from the ping of a light switch to running water. I can’t stop crying,” she added. (Via)
And then she heard Nickelback, and ripped out the implants. Better to be deaf than in pain.