So delighted was 77-year-old Graham with his cochlear implant, he asked his granddaughter Lillie Westbury, a professional baker, to bake an “ear” cake to show his appreciation. He presented it to the team at the Nottingham Auditory Implant Programme (NAIP) in thanks for the advice and help they had given him. Having undergone a cochlear implant operation in April 2024, he appeared with the cake at his initial programming appointment.
Graham worked in the mining industry and suffered noise-induced hearing loss, which grew progressively worse. He used bilateral hearing aids but still struggled to hear speech even in quiet environments. This was significantly more difficult in the presence of background noise. He also struggled to hear on the phone.
During the ‘switch on’ appointment, Graham was able to repeat random months of the year spoken at a normal conversational level without any visual clues and using his cochlear implant alone.
Both Graham and his granddaughter were quite amazed by this.
“Lend me your ear!” said Professor Gerry O’Donoghue, Consultant Neuro-Otologist at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. “How sweet is that!”
