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American Morning
How Did Rush Limbaugh Regain His Hearing?
Aired January 22, 2002 - 09:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The big question this hour, how did Rush Limbaugh regain his hearing? Back in October, Rush Limbaugh shocked his radio audience by revealing that he had pretty much lost his ability to hear. But when Limbaugh signed on yesterday, he had a very different message to share.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO PERSONALITY: Greeting to you thrill seekers, conversationalist, fun lovers and appreciators of medical marvels all across the fruited plain. You are listening to -- and so am I -- for the first time in, what is it? Three months or maybe four that I am actually able to hear this show. So I, ladies and gentlemen, will be able to join you for the first time in four months via a medical marvel, some say miracle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: What Limbaugh is calling a medical marvel is a Cochlear implant operation performed by ear surgeon Dr. Antonio De La Cruz. And he joins us now from Los Angeles.
Thanks for being with us this morning. I know it's quite early in Los Angeles.
DR. ANTONIO DE LA CRUZ, RUSH LIMBAUGH'S DOCTOR: Good morning.
COOPER: Doctor, what is a Cochlear implant?
DE LA CRUZ: A Cochlear implant is device that converts a mechanical signal of hearing into a electrical signal that the brain can interpret.
COOPER: What does it look like? And where in the ear is it placed?
DE LA CRUZ: It's a device that's placed behind the ear, under the skin, and that is where the internal processing, or the internal device, is implanted. We have an external device that converts from mechanical to electrical. That will be induced incurring (ph) that will go to the brain.
COOPER: So part of it is outside, part of it goes inside the head. How does it convert that signal? DE LA CRUZ: There is an external processor that takes the mechanical signal and converts it into a process signal. Now there's an induction coil that induces through the skin, and the internal device picks it up and sends it to the inner, from there to the brain.
COOPER: What is the success rate of this operation?
DE LA CRUZ: Pretty high. We can anticipate that most individuals that receive a Cochlear implant, we expect them to get 30- 50 percent, even more, understandings of words. There's other aspects of hearing that are very important, like the ability to become part of the environment. Environmental sounds are very important, and finally music.
But most individuals are able to do it much better lip reading. They are helped in every day conversations with relatives, and many of them use the telephone.
COOPER: Is this a permanent change?
DE LA CRUZ: This is a permanent change. In fact there is a learning curve. It's like learning a new language. In the first few days, you are able to do a few things. And as the first two or three months, there is a rapid learning curve, and we can measure improvement and understanding with Cochlear implants for up to years later.
COOPER: So I imagine it requires a lot of post-surgery work, I mean, a lot of work with therapist and the like?
DE LA CRUZ: Less and less today. Twenty, thirty years ago, when we started with Cochlear implants, it required a tremendous amount of rehabilitation. Today it requires series of sessions with a neurologists that works with the Cochlear implant.
COOPER: Who would be a good candidate for this surgery?
DE LA CRUZ: Any individual that has a profound hearing loss, and that the best possible hearing aid to start work is a candid for Cochlear implant. There is practically no individual today that we don't have one way or another that -- to help with an implant, or with microsurgery of the milliliter, or with tubes. Almost every kind of hearing lost can be helped today with some kind of treatment or surgery.
COOPER: Any there any people who would not able to get the Cochlear implant, I mean, who should not be candidates for it?
DE LA CRUZ: Very few. Some children born with very extreme malformations on the inner ear, and even those, some of those are implantable. They're individuals that lose both ears because of tumors. There's a disease that destroys the nerve that goes between the ear and the brain. But even those, we have developed a brain stem implant that can help those individuals.
COOPER: Now over the years the Cochlear implant has not been without some controversy. Well, why is that?
DE LA CRUZ: There's a group of deaf individuals that believe that deafness is a culture. And at the Houser clinic and institute we believe this is a medical condition that can be treated, and we offer those options to the patient. The patient is the final individual that makes the choice of whether they want to remain without any treatment and continue to be deaf or they have the option of the Cochlear implant.
COOPER: All right, Dr. Antonio De La Cruz, thanks very much for being with us this morning. Congratulations on the successful surgery of Rush Limbaugh.
DE LA CRUZ: Why, thank you.
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