Deaf couple hear each other's voice for the first time

Neil and Helen Robinson can hear each other for the first time after having cochlear implants fitted. Credit: University of Southampton

A deaf couple have heard each other's voice for the first time after having cochlear implants fitted.

Neil and Helen Robinson have been deaf since birth and so communicated through sign language and lip reading before opting for the implants.

Helen, 54, tried for two years to persuade Neil to have an implant after other hearing aids were found to be unsuccessful.

It is thought they are the first couple in the UK to have implants fitted together.

The devices were fitted at the University of Southampton Audiology Implant Service (USAIS), where they underwent surgery to have tiny electrodes implanted into their skulls.

The moment the devices were first switched on was captured on video with Neil, 50, at first joking that he didn't like the sound of his wife's voice.

But he added: "I am getting used to it now. It felt incredible, in a happy way. It felt really emotional."

Mary Grasmeder, Clinical Scientist demonstrates to Helen and Neil how to work the implants. Credit: University of Southampton

The couple from Wiltshire were both born deaf due to their mothers contracting rubella during pregnancy.

The implant consists of two parts which sit on the inside and outside of the skull just above the ear and are joined by a magnet.

Information from the processor on the outside of the skull is sent to 16 electrodes on the inside, which then send electrical pulses to the brain.

The devices were switched on at the centre in January and they were tested with sounds such as a beating drum and a musical triangle.

In the video below, Neil can be seen fighting back tears as he hears sound for the first time in his life.

The implants will now have to be fine-tuned, it is not clear how much hearing the couple will eventually recover.

Cochlear implants were originally only thought to only benefit people who had recent lost their hearing and already had speech and language skills.

But Dr Mary Grasmeder said the devices are increasingly being used to treat people who have been death since birth.

"People who have been deaf for some time don't have the same expectation of sound will be like, compared with someone who has just lost their hearing," she said.

"Because their auditory system is not so well developed it will be more difficult for them to process the information and to understand it."