Nucleus Hero: Heather Whitestone McCallum

After just an hour, first with the Freedom™ for Nucleus® 24 upgrade, then with her second implant and Freedom processor – Heather Whitestone McCallum knew she would never go back.  “I immediately noticed a huge difference in the sounds. With Freedom, I can hear environmental sounds and music much more clearly than with my 3G.  The sounds of voices and speech, especially my children’s, are also much clearer.” 

Implanted with her first Cochlear implant, a Nucleus® 24, in 2002, and her second in July 2006, Heather is a pioneer recipient of Cochlear’s industry-leading implant technology.  In July 2006 just weeks before the turn-on for her second implant, Heather upgraded her Nucleus 24 processor to the Freedom. She says that the difference, both between Freedom and earlier processors, and between one implant and two is nothing short of spectacular. 

“I have changed far more than I can imagine,” she says.  “My family and friends have noticed the differences and they are very happy as long as I wear them all day long everyday.  I am very happy too.”

In the car, on the way home from the clinic where she had just received her Freedom upgrade, Heather says she was able to hear and understand conversations better and feel more included in family life than ever before.

“My boys always talked to their daddy in the car,” she says.  “This time, I had a
chance to understand most of what my oldest son said without feeling left out.  I listened to his voice carefully without reading his lips and then I asked my husband John if little John talked about skiing in the mountains.  My husband's eyes got big and he said, ‘Yes, that's true.  You could never hear that before.’"

Freedom’s unparalleled water resistance has also been a big hit.

“I rode in a pick-up truck for a hay ride with my boys,” Heather explains.  “Suddenly, we had rain. Since I had Freedom, I did not get too worried.  I could still talk to my boys and we laughed.  Before Freedom, I could never enjoy hearing my boys' laughing in the rain.  Now, I can. That's awesome.  I didn't realize how many opportunities I missed.”

Two weeks later, when Heather began wearing two Freedom processors – one in each ear – she noticed even more amazing improvements.   Just half an hour after having her second Freedom activated, her audiologist, Jennifer Yeagle covered her mouth with her hand and asked Heather to repeat her sentences.  “I repeated them without a mistake,” Heather says.

Heather’s Hearing Fingerprint:

When it comes to exploring the world of sound, we all have experiences that are as unique to us as our own fingerprints.  This unique hearing experience is what Cochlear calls your hearing fingerprint™.  With Freedom, Heather has discovered her own hearing fingerprint. Only Freedom with SmartSound allows recipients to match their own unique hearing fingerprint. 

Heather says: “I love all the SmartSound features, so I use them all just the same.  More often when I am in the very noisy places, I use Beam™.  At home, I usually use either my standard map or ADRO and when I speak on the phone, I use my bilateral Hatis device with my standard map set on Telecoil mixing.” when describing how she uses her SmartSound programs.

Among the other hearing experiences Heather discovered in her first weeks with bi-lateral Freedoms:

• The sound of her youngest son snoring in the car.
• Arriving home, the sound of her dog making a joyful noise (not barking) with a toy in his mouth.  With only one pre-Freedom implant, she didn't know that he actually made that noise.
• The sounds of her two boys playing upstairs.  Before Freedom, Heather could only hear them when they were screaming or laughing loudly.
• Significantly improved understanding of cell phone voices and messages.

“I highly recommend Freedom – and bilateral implants if possible for everyone,” she says.  Wearing two Freedom implants is like having two hands.  Life is too short to miss the opportunity to enjoy beautiful sounds.”