I Can Hear You Whisper (38 page)

EVA
:
http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/pages/eva.aspx.

CHAPTER 8: THE HUB

This chapter is based on author interviews with Bill House, John House, David House, Michael Merzenich, Don Eddington, Marc Eisen, John Niparko, Simon Parisier, Mario Svirsky, Michael Dorman, and Paulette Fiedor.

roundly criticized
:
William F.
House and J. Urban, “Long Term Results of Electrode Implantation and Electronic Stimulation of the Cochlea in Man,”
The
Annals of Otology, Rhinology, and Laryngology
82 no. 4 (1973): 504–517.

“
Otology needs a new surgery”
:
William F. House,
The Struggles of a Medical Innovator: Cochlear Implants and Other Ear Surgeries
, (CreateSpace, 2011), 77–78; Richard T. Miyamoto, Marion Downs Lecture in Pediatric Audiology, AudiologyNOW, Dallas, April 2009.

“
If I tell you”
:
William F. House,
Cochlear Implants: My Perspective
, (Newport Beach, CA: AllHear, 1995), 5.

Luigi Galvani
and Alessandro
Volta
:
Saurabh B. Shah, Jeannie H. Chung, and Robert K. Jackler, “Lodestones, Quackery, and Science: Electrical Stimulation of the Ear Before Cochlear Implants,”
American Journal of Otology
18 no. 5 (1997): 665–670.

“
I received a shock in the head”
:
Ibid., 666; “Luigi Galvani,”
Encyclopaedia Britannica
, at http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/224653/Luigi-Galvani; “Conte Alessandro Volta,”
Encyclopaedia Britannica
, at http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/632433/Conte-Alessandro-Volta.

André Djourno and Charles Eyriès
:
Marc D. Eisen, “Djourno, Eyries, and the First Implanted Electrical Neural Stimulator to Restore Hearing,”
Otology and Neurology
24 no. 3 (2003): 500–506; Phillip R. Seitz, “French Origins of the Cochlear Implant,”
Cochlear Implants International
3 no. 2 (2002), 77–86;
Stuart Blume,
The Artificial Ear: Cochlear Implants and the Culture of Deafness
(Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2010), 30–32;
expressed the desire

When acoustic energy is naturally translated . . . No one was sure
:
“Sound from Silence”; Donald K. Eddington and Michael L. Pierschalla, “Cochlear Implants: Restoring Hearing to the Deaf,”
On the Brain
(Harvard Mahoney Neuroscience Institute
Newsletter
) 3 no. 4 (1994); Donald K. Eddington, “Speech Recognition in Deaf Subjects with Multichannel Intracochlear Electrodes,”
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
405 no. 1 (1983): 241–258; F. Blair Simmons, “Cochlear Implants,”
Archives of Otolaryngology
89 no. 1 (1969): 61–69.

“
The more a researcher knew”
:
Blake S. Wilson and Michael F. Dorman,
Better Hearing with Cochlear Implants: Studies at the Research Triangle Institute
(San Diego, CA: Plural Publishing, 2012), 1.

Bill House
:
Author interview and House,
Struggles of a Medical Innovator
(
I could feel the joy
;
from 40 percent to less than 1 percent
;
Alan Shepard
;
Jim Doyle
.

“
Electronic Firm Restores Hearing with Transistorized System in Ear”
:
Space Age News
3 no. 21 (1961).

Blair Simmons
:
Blume,
Artificial Ear
, 32–38 (“
irresponsible claims” . . . “We were amazingly lucky
,
”
). W. E. Fee Jr. and Richard L. Goode, “F. Blair Simmons MD (1930–1998),”
Archives of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery
124 no. 8 (1998): 843–844; and W. E. Fee Jr. and Richard L. Goode, “Memorial Resolution: F. Blair Simmons (1930–1988),” online at http://histsoc.stanford.edu/pdfmem/SimmonsFB.pdf.

An eighteen-year-old cancer patient
:
F. Blair Simmons et al., “Electrical Stimulation of Acoustical Nerve and Inferior Colliculus,”
Archives of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery
79 (1964): 559–567.

Anthony Vierra of San Jose
:
F. Blair Simmons et al., “Auditory Nerve: Electrical Stimulation in Man,”
Science
148 no. 3666 (April 2, 1965): 104–106; F. Blair Simmons, “A History of Cochlear Implants in the United States: A Personal Perspective,” in R. A. Schindler and M. M. Merzenich, eds.,
Cochlear Implants
, (San Diego, CA: Raven, 1985), 1–7.

TELL US WHEN
:
Michael Dorman showed me a photograph of this sign.

I am glad this meeting is a workshop . . . just
might
be possible
:
Simmons, “Cochlear Implants” (“
unabashed admiration . . . auto horns
,” [transcript] is in “Discussion” section).

Charles “Chuck” Graser
:
Mara Mills, “Do Signals Have Politics? Inscribing Abilities in Cochlear Implants,” in Trevor Pinch and Karin Bijsterveld,
eds.,
The Oxford Handbook of Sound Studies
, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 320–346 (
writing to House
; “
You would probably describe
,”). The Electronic Ear, film by Karen House (sent to me by Paulette Fiedor).

Parts of the movie
:
House,
Struggles of a Medical Innovator,
79. The National Geographic special aired in 1975. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incredible_Machine_(film).

“
Enthusiastic testimonials”
:
Pinch and Bijsterveld, eds.,
Oxford Handbook of Sound Studies
, 331.

Wright brothers' flight
:
House,
Struggles of a Medical Innovator
,
81.

Bilger report
:
R. C. Bilger et al., “Evaluation of Subjects Presently Fitted with Implanted Auditory Prostheses,”
Annals of Otology, Rhinology, and Laryngology
86 Supplement 38 (1977): 3–10;
Nashua Telegraph
, December 7, 1976, at http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2209&dat=19761207&id=UKYrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3_wFAAAAIBAJ&pg=7066,1296511; House,
Cochlear Implants: My Perspective
, 8–9; Eddington, “Speech Recognition in Deaf Subjects.”

CHAPTER 9: PRIDE

This chapter makes use of author interviews with Ted Supalla and Carol Padden.

National Theatre of the Deaf
:
Jack R. Gannon,
Deaf Heritage: A Narrative History of Deaf America
(Silver Spring, MD: National Association of the Deaf, 1981). (
“
He bowed slightly”
/
“
As a result, sign language”
/
“
They decided to make NTD
,
”
Boston Herald
and
The National Observer
;
My Third Eye
transcript, 354–355); Stephen C. Baldwin,
Pictures in the Air
:
The Story of the National Theatre of the Deaf
(Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press, 1993) (
a theatrical version of signed English
, 34); National Theatre of the Deaf website at http://www.ntd.org/about.php?id=history (
six people bought tickets
); Padden and Humphries,
Deaf in America
, chap. 5.

William Stokoe
:
Padden and Humphries,
Deaf in America
, chap. 5, particularly pp. 79–81; Sacks,
Seeing Voices
, 61–63.

“
He was the first linguist”
:
Gannon,
Deaf Heritage
, 364–367.

“
a study in the anatomy of prejudice”
:
Lane,
When the Mind Hears
,
xiii
,
xv
.

“
As I signed”
:
Lou Ann
Walker,
A Loss for Words: The Story of Deafness in a Family
(New York, Harper Perennial, 1987), 202.

“
became more self-conscious
”
:
Padden and Humphries,
Inside Deaf Culture
, 130.

“A large population”
:
Deaf in America, 9.

“
The traditional way . . . to portray”
:
Padden and Humphries,
Deaf in America
, 1.

not something to be “cured” or “fixed”
:
Dolnick,
Atlantic Monthly
.

Deaf President Now
:
Jack R. Gannon.
The Week the World Heard Gallaudet
(Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press, 1989) (
WE STILL HAVE A DREAM!
p. 109 and frontispiece); Sacks,
Seeing Voices
, 99–130; Gallaudet University website, at http://www.gallaudet.edu/dpn_home.html; “Person of the Week,” ABC News, March 11, 1988; “New President Protested at School for Deaf,”
New York Times
, March 7, 1988; “Gallaudet University Installs Deaf President,”
New York Times
, October 23, 1988.

CHAPTER 10: LANGUAGE IN THE BRAIN

This chapter makes use of author interviews with Simon Parisier, Michael Merzenich, David Poeppel, and Helen Neville.

The differences between a brain . . . where it is most desirable . . . brain's basic division of labor
:
Changing Brains: Effects of Experience on Human Brain Development
(DVD), University of Oregon Brain Development Lab, 2009, at www.changingbrains.org; Lise Eliot,
What's Going on in There?
How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life
(New York: Bantam, 1999); Sharon Begley, “Your Child's Brain,”
Newsweek
, February 18, 1996; Arthur S. Bard and Mitchell G. Bard,
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding the Brain
(New York: Alpha Books, 2002).

“merely an opening gambit”
:
Sharon
Begley,
Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves
(New York: Ballantine Books, 2007), 10.

“experience is like a sculptor”
:
Changing Brains
DVD.

National Institutes of Health and UCLA
:
Nitin Gogtay et al., “Dynamic Mapping of Human Cortical Development during Childhood Through Early Adulthood,”
PNAS
101 no. 21 (2004): 8174–8179. See video at http://www.loni.ucla.edu/~thompson/DEVEL/dynamic.html.

a second, smaller wave of neuron creation
:
Jay N. Giedd et al., “Brain Development During Childhood and Adolescence: A Longitudinal MRI Study,”
Nature Neuroscience
2 no. 10 (1999): 861–863.

possible to keep learning
:
Begley,
Train Your Mind,
28.

The central auditory system
:
Author interviews with Michael Merzenich and David Poeppel. Also, Bradford J. May and John K. Niparko, “Auditory Physiology and Perception,” in Niparko, ed.,
Cochlear Implants: Principles & Practices,
1–17; biographical monograph, Michael Merzenich, courtesy of Michael Merzenich.

“
If a system can be influenced”
:
Author interview with Helen Neville. See also “Nature and Nurture and the Developing Brain,” Oregon Health and Science University Brain Awareness presentation by Neville, transcript courtesy of Neville Lab.

A study published in 2009
:
USA Today
, December 7, 2008; See also http://www.pleasanton.k12.ca.us/avhsweb/emersond/appsych/ch3_brain/ses_brain.pdf; Rajeev D. S. Raizada and Mark M. Kishiyama, “Effects of Socioeconomic Status on Brain Development, and How Cognitive Neuroscience May Contribute to Levelling the Playing Field,”
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
4 no. 3 (2010).

CHAPTER 11: WHAT IF THE BLIND COULD SEE?

This chapter is based on interviews with Helen Neville, Daphne Bavelier, Anu Sharma, Michael Dorman, and Michael Merzenich.

Molyneux and Locke and Santiago Ramón y Cajal
:
Begley,
Train Your Mind
, 30–37, 91–104 (“
fixed, ended, immutable
,” p. 36).

Hubel and Wiesel
:
David H. Hubel and Torsten N. Wiesel,
Brain and Visual Perception: The Story of a 25-Year Collaboration
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2005) (“
That is something
,” p. 371); Robert H. Wurtz, “Recounting the Impact of Hubel and Wiesel,”
Journal of Physiology
587 no. 12 (2009): 2817–2823.

Helen Neville
:
Author Interview. Begley,
Train Your Mind
, 91–104 (“
which is where any well-behaved brain
,
” p. 99); Daphne Bavelier and Helen J. Neville, “Cross-modal Plasticity: Where and How?”
Nature Reviews Neuroscience
3 no. 6 (2002): 443–452; Helen Neville and Daphne Bavelier, “Human Brain Plasticity: Evidence from Sensory Deprivation and Altered Language Experience,”
Plasticity in the Adult Brain: From Genes to Neurotherapy
138 (2002): 177; Helen J. Neville and Daphne Bavelier, “Effects of Auditory and Visual Deprivation on Human Brain Development,”
Clinical Neuroscience Research
1 no. 4 (2001): 248–257.