The right choice for me - Josh Foreman

Josh Foreman has more reasons than most to be grateful to his parents.

He was born profoundly deaf in both ears, but no one realised until his parents, who adopted him when he was 2 months old, began to wonder.

“They had their suspicions. I wasn’t responding to sounds that other babies would respond to – a dog barking, the doorbell ringing.”

Josh was two years old when it was confirmed.

“My parents were given a choice – I could learn sign language or get a cochlear implant.”

Josh, now 25, says he is very grateful that his parents chose the later, making him the then youngest person in New Zealand to have a cochlear implant (CI) fitted. He was two-and-a-half years old.

He completed eight years of intense therapy, six of them with The Hearing House, which his parents Bill and Diane Foreman were instrumental in helping to establish.

With the help of teacher aides Josh attended mainstream schools and he says this integration helped him develop his language skills.

“Being exposed to normal hearing peers helped me. They talked to me and I thought ‘I have to get used to this’. I was modelling myself on them.”

Josh says he is “really thankful” that his parents decided to get him cochlear implants.

“I’m really happy that they made that choice. A lot more opportunities have opened up to me.

“I’m enjoying hearing – music, birds, the waves.

“I find it hard to think I would have gotten this far without CIs.”

Josh certainly has come a long way – and he hasn’t stopped.

JOSH WENT TO THE UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND AND GAINED A BACHELOR OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION. IN 2016 HE COMPLETED A MASTERS IN EXERCISE SCIENCE SPECIALISING IN CLINICAL EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY.

He started university life with assistance from a reader and writer, but “I felt that was being lazy”.

Instead, Josh sat up the front of classes and lectures and paid more attention.

He says he wouldn’t be able to do his masters without CIs.

“The majority of communication these days is verbal. And I need to listen to my patients.”

He used a digital stethoscope when he was working with patients.

JOSH IS ALSO GRATEFUL THAT TECHNOLOGY HAS DEVELOPED. THE FIRST PROCESSOR HE WORE WAS CARRIED IN A LITTLE BAG ON HIS BACK. NOT ONLY ARE MODERN DEVICES SO MUCH SMALLER, BUT THEY CAN ALSO DROWN OUT BACKGROUND NOISE.

Josh says this means he is able to relax more when he is in social settings.

“I used to have to concentrate a bit more and I had to lip read.”

But now a conversation in a noisy café is comfortable and manageable.

Josh, who has worked as a swim instructor and a waiter, is now working at Auckland Hospital as a physiologist in the sleep department.

His long term goal is to open up his own clinic that will not only provide cardiac rehabilitation to patients, but also sports rehabilitation for athletes who have sustained injuries.

He also wants to save up to go travelling and then work overseas.

As a young man Josh has been keen to give back to The Hearing House and encourage teenagers with cochlear implants.

He volunteers as a mentor on the Hear For You programme. The mentoring weekend aims to give advice to teenagers and give them a confidence boost.

“These teenagers will have questions that only a deaf person will know the answer to. It’s so important that they can open up to someone.

“These kids talk, and really open up. They realise they are not alone.”

Working with deaf children is an “inspiration”

It might sound like a cliché, but Robyn Moriarty loves her job.

“The fact you can give someone hearing…..I just find it incredible.”

Robyn is a registered Audiological Scientist and has been working at The Hearing House since August 2016 after moving here from England.

She had been working with paediatric hearing aid patients at Nottingham University Hospital and says it was a big decision to leave the UK, but everything fell in to place easily, so she figured it was meant to be,

Robyn says being able to follow a child’s progress is a particular highlight of working at The Hearing House.

“I came from the NHS (National Health Service) where we were so big and we had so many patients. After recommending someone for an implant, or after they recovered from the surgery, we’d never see them again. You’d never hear how it went.”

Robyn says working in a small charity like The Hearing House has a “much nicer community feel” to it.

“Here you get to know everyone – the kids and the families. It’s nice to be able to see the changes and see how they are doing.

“It’s given me some inspiration about what kids can do with their implants. I look at them and think ‘wow’.

“I find it incredible that I can help do that, to be a small part of that.”

As an audiologist it is Robyn’s job to test a child’s hearing and speech perception to see if they are a suitable candidate for a cochlear implant.

After surgery, and the device has been switched on, the audiologists must check, measure and test to make sure that the device is working properly and at the correct volume for that child.

In the first year, the audiologists see a child at least nine times to adjust the settings and check that everything is in working order. As a child gets older, the appointments are less frequent.

Like every job, being an audiologist who works with children has its hard parts.

“The toughest bit is working with the kids who can’t tell you if it’s too loud or too quiet. That unknown part can be frustrating.”

However, working with parents is a highlight, and a special part of the job.

“For a lot of the parents, we’re almost a bit of hope. We’re their last resort and they just want anything that will help. As they watch their kids get better and better, the excitement overcomes them,” she says.

“But it can also be hard managing their expectations. They want to see changes quickly, but it can take a bit of time.”

Robyn says she has a lot of respect for the parents who come to The Hearing House considering the commitment that is involved.

“They have to put their trust in us and that must be quiet tough for them.”

Robyn spent 6 years studying to get her to this point – she did her undergraduate in neuro-science at The University of Nottingham and went on to do her masters in clinical science at Aston University. During her training she worked with children and adults.

She specialised in audiology, which she says was “fascinating”, and she was excited about what advancements in science and cochlear implant technology meant for the future.

"I could see what we could do in the future in terms of implants. It’s exciting to see all the changes in technology that are coming through."

Changing lives and communities

Young Henry Optican stole the show when he spoke at the official opening of the Joyce Fisher Preschool last month.

The four-year-old confidently told a crowd of around 50 people about his favourite things at preschool.

“Mat time. [I like] sitting down quietly.”

He also likes reading stories at mat time.

And like most kids, he enjoys lunch time. “We get to sit around and eat,” he told the audience.

“I like playing with my friends.”

Henry was diagnosed with hearing loss in both ears after new born hearing screens prompted further investigation. He has cochlear implants in both ears and has been attending our preschool for just over one year.

Henry was speaking at our event which marked the preschool’s official opening and doubled as a celebration that construction of The Hearing House Centre has begun.

We were delighted to have a number of special guests join us, including our local MP for Maungakiekie and Associate Minister for Health Hon Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga and Maungakiekie-Tamaki ward councillor Denise Lee from Auckland Council.

We were also thrilled to welcome donors, families, friends and staff to the event.

Robert Lerner from the Joyce Fisher Charitable Trust was among the speakers. The preschool is named after his late aunty, Lady Joyce Fisher, who was an extremely generous supporter of The Hearing House. Today, the members of the trust do a fantastic job of continuing to support us.

“She had a very long relationship with The Hearing House and a special relationship with it,” Mr Lerner said. “So for us, this was a no brainer to be involved with it.

“We are absolutely delighted with how the project has turned out.”

Mr Lerner said the trust members hope they “can continue to be involved with it for many years”.

“What a wonderful result these implants have. It changes lives. It changes communities. It makes a real difference.”

Tom Marshall, chairman of the Cochlear Implant Foundation of New Zealand, also spoke at the event and said the celebration was “a momentous day” for the foundation and The Hearing House.

“Lady Fisher was a very special woman and we know that she had a warm regard for The Hearing House and was a great supporter of us during her life. So we are very pleased to have the opportunity to perpetuate her name.”

Mr Marshall also recognised those that have helped make it possible for us to start the construction of our new centre.

“The generosity and vision of the organisations and people in our community is just extraordinary and we are grateful to you all.”

Mr Lotu-Iiga took the opportunity to say that the Government is “fully supportive” of what we, at The Hearing House, do.

“It’s because what you do works. What you do here has an impact on children, but also their families and communities.”

The hearing centre we were celebrating will be an $8 million, 1000sqm specialised facility for deaf children and their families, and adults who have suffered sudden or gradual hearing loss.

We are retaining our existing iconic building, a former vicarage on Campbell Rd, Greenlane, and the purpose-built specialised facility will adjoin it. The new premises will feature therapy rooms, audiology booths, a home suite, a community meeting room and a sensory integration room.

The Hearing House expansion will enable us to take on 450 adult clients in late 2017. This is part of a partnership with the University of Auckland.

The Hearing House chief executive Scott Johnston says the celebration event was a great chance to say thank you to everyone who has supported us so far.

“It was a pleasure to meet with the people who have helped make this happen, to show them around the preschool and discuss with them our plans for the future.”