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CNN Live Today

How Exactly Does Limbaugh's Cochlear Implant Work?

Aired January 21, 2002 - 13:39   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.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks to what is apparently a medical miracle, Rush Limbaugh says he is able to hear his own show again.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

RUSH LIMBAUGH, HOST, "THE RUSH LIMBAUGH PROGRAM": Greetings to you, thrill seekers, conversationalists, fun-lovers and appreciators of medical marvels all across the fruited plains.

You are listening to, and so am I, for the first time in, what is it? What is it? Is this three months or maybe four? That I'm 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 AUDIO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: The radio personality learned last year, he was suffering from near total deafness. Doctors put in a cochlear implant, which enables Limbaugh to hear again out of his left ear.

Well, joining us now to explain how this implant works, CNN Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. First of all, Sanjay, this autoimmune disease that caused this, can you briefly explain how that works, how it happened?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Sure, Judy. It's a pretty rare thing, fortunately, first of all. Basically, in autoimmune problems, what happens is that the body, for some reason, recognizes the cells of the inner ear, that's the place where Mr. Limbaugh had his problems, those cells are being recognized as foreign.

So, your body actually starts to attack those cells on its own. And, sometimes this can be treated with medication, such as steroids, sometimes with other agents. In the case of Rush Limbaugh, unfortunately, that was not successful.

WOODRUFF: So, how does this implant work? How does it take care of the problem?

GUPTA: It really is pretty remarkable, Judy. What they do in this case is they actually take some electrodes and actually put them right through the bone. You can see here in this diagram, the black line here, by-passing the external ear, by-passing the middle ear, and going straight to the internal ear here, that's where a lot of hearing cells are located. So you have these electrodes that are actually programmed to those hearing cells in the very inner part of the ear.

The inner ear as you know, is responsible not only for hearing, but also for balance. After those electrodes are placed, about four to six weeks later, a microphone, as well as a sound processor is actually placed on the outside. Sometimes you see people wearing that on the outside of their ears, that actually collects sound and processes it back to the inner ear so people can actually hear.

Now, initially, it's not going to be the sort of sound that you are used to hearing. It's going to be very hard to discriminate voices. It's going to be very tinny. Someone who has one of these sorts of processors, will need to go through quite a bit of auditory, sort of, rehab, hearing rehab. But, after a while, it can be -- work pretty well for somebody.

WOODRUFF: Sanjay, this is just in his left ear. So, is there still a problem with the right ear or could they do the same procedure there?

GUPTA: The autoimmune process he spoke of earlier, Judy, did affect both of his ears. Usually what ENT -- ears nose and throat -- doctors will do is do it in one ear first. If that ear works well, they often times reserve the second ear, in case that first ear ever has a problem again. So, he may not get the procedure on the right ear for sometime, if ever.

WOODRUFF: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Thank you.

GUPTA: Thank you, Judy.

WOODRUFF: All in all, good news for Rush Limbaugh.

GUPTA: That's right.

WOODRUFF: And we're glad to hear it.

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