THERE is no teenager and mother angst in Wanda Gower-James’ family . . . she wants to hear her daughter.

The hearing-impaired woman hopes that this will happen shortly after she is treated in Christchurch at the Southern Hearing Charitable Trust cochlear implant programme on July 9.

Wanda Gower-James describes herself as profoundly deaf. Her hearing has for no known reason gradually deteriorated over the past 10 years.

In practical terms, this means she cannot hear people speaking in the car, she cannot listen to music, or hear her daughter on the phone when she rings from Canada, she misses witty remarks or casual conversation in group situations.

Those special moments most of us take for granted, like listening to the rain, the crashing of the ocean waves, the chirping of birds, twigs snapping under foot, or pillow talk in the dark, are just not possible.

In a one-on-one situation, she copes most ably, so much so, that other people cannot tell she is hearing-impaired, said MP Moana Mackey, who has become a good friend while helping with her efforts to become a cochlear implant recipient.

Wanda has been assessed and picked to take advantage of new government funding of $8 million, which will ensure at least 20 adults a year, for the next four years, will receive an cochlear implant.

The new money also includes one-off funding over the next two years for an additional 50 cochlear implants for adults who have been waiting for some time for the technology

A cochlear implant is a type of surgically-implanted hearing aid.

Instead of amplifying sounds like a traditional hearing aid, it provides a sensation of hearing by directly stimulating the auditory nerve using electrical signals.

When sound passes through to the cochlea of a hearing person, the inner ear’s microscopic hairs convert the sound energy into nerve energy.

The hearing nerve fibres then carry this energy as information to the brain.

People who are profoundly or totally deaf have very few or no operable hair cells in the cochlea, so the sound energy is unable to travel in this way.

The implant consists of an external portion that sits behind the ear and a second portion that is surgically placed under the skin behind the ear. The implant is switched on approximately six weeks after surgery and adults who receive an implant must learn to associate the signal provided by the implant with sounds they remember. They learn or relearn the sense of hearing — this can take many months of rehabilitation.

The family were rapt when Wanda was told she would have the procedure in July, just six months after being assessed.

They were originally told it could take up to two years to get a surgery date.

“We were stunned, we couldn’t believe it,” said her partner, Ron Taiapa.

Wanda was told she was the ideal candidate.

She was profoundly deaf, she could not benefit from hearing aids and she possessed a strong desire to communicate through listening, speaking and speech reading. She is a kindergarten teacher and being hearing-impaired makes this job extremely difficult.

Mr Taiapa said his partner would have to make many trips to Christchurch. One for the operation and one to turn the implant on.

After this, weekly trips are required to map and tune the implant. After a month this reduces to three-monthly, six-monthly, and eventually it reduces to once a year.

It takes considerable time and effort relearning to hear and each individual is very different.

Ms Gower-James knows that 22 electrodes cannot replace the thousands of hair cells that have been damaged and that she will never get all her hearing back.

But she is extremely motivated to get maximum benefit from her implant and hopes that she will get back up to 60 percent of her hearing.

The couple thank Moana Mackey, the Ministry of Health and the Southern Charitable Trust. They are extremely grateful to the Hearing Association and friends, whanau and work colleagues who wrote letters endorsing her as a suitable implant candidate.

The many letters did make a difference, said Ms Mackey.

“It all helps with the people making the decision if they know the person behind the name,” she said.