“If you can’t hear, then you can’t [easily] be part of society,” he said. “Once you’re interacting with people, and doing things and out and about, then you’re staying more active, more fit, more everything.”
Fisher’s GP recommended surgery in August 2016 because he had no hearing in his right ear at the time and only about 15 per cent capacity in his left. He had, as his GP put it, become “a nuisance” to his loved ones – even with hearing aids.
“Everybody had to repeat themselves. I couldn’t participate in family life.”
Fisher says his circumstances could not be any different nine years after receiving his implant. He can participate in group conversations with family members and even swims with a group of friends who meet every day at 6am, no matter the weather.
“It’s had an enormous impact. I’m not fearful of group situations. I would think that the majority of my week is spent with a lot of people who are much younger than me,” he said.
Fisher says he is not surprised by the study’s findings.
“I’m more able to keep more balls in the air than I was six or seven years ago. I can go to the supermarket now without a list. I remember to go to the supermarket and I remember what I need to buy there.”
Fisher (right) says he no longer feels like a burden in social settings. Credit: Joe Armao
The head of cochlear implants at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, Professor Robert Briggs, said the hospital oversees close to 300 adult implants each year.
“We could be doing nearly 10 times that if everybody that could benefit came along,” he said.
“It’s normal to be apprehensive about surgery. But it’s a relatively straightforward procedure with a patient having a one-night stay in hospital, and it’s relatively pain free.”
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Sarant worked in collaboration with the hospital and the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health for her paper. Only four similar studies worldwide have extended beyond the two-year follow-up date.
She says she is continuing to recruit research participants and hopes to do a review in another three years.
“The prevalence of hearing loss with our ageing population and the prevalence of dementia are both rising rapidly,” she said. “We don’t know what causes dementia. But it’s well known that the majority of people with hearing loss don’t do anything about it.”
