"I am hoping this will return part of my hearing," said Barger. "To say that it would return it 100% would be absolutely a miracle"

Kathy is unhappy with her hearing aids. So, she decided to try out what could be the next best thing to a bionic ear: a hybrid cochlear implant.

It's surgically implanted behind and into, her ear.

"It's a new way of thinking about implants," said UCSF physician Lawrence Lustig, "because it will open up a whole era of possibilities for people with partial hearing loss."

As we get older, many of us have trouble hearing higher frequencies, like consonants. Words like "sat" or "fat" can both sound like "aaah." Standard hearing aids pump up the volume, but they don't make it any easier to tell an 's' from an 'f'

That's where this new hybrid may help.

"This device would fill in that portion," said physician Joseph Roberson, "the 's' or 'f' which would then give clarity to the meaning of speech."

For years, standard cochlear implants have created a sense of sound, but only for profoundly deaf individuals. But it's not normal hearing.

"It sounds very mechanical, it sounds very cartoonish," said Dr. Lustig. "Like Donald Duck is talking."

A hybrid is modified to add in only higher frequencies - the ones you tend to lose as you get older. It's used alongside a standard hearing aid.

"People function better in noise, specifically," said Dr. Roberson. "They have better music appreciation and sound is much more normal for them."

"Now I go to plays and musicals which I could not have done before and even understand them," said patient Art Gardner.

Art Gardner of San Ramon got his hybrid at the California Ear Institute two years ago. He wanted to hear his grandchildren. "(Now) I can look at people's eyes as opposed to their lips," said Gardner.

There are risks to the surgery, such as complete hearing loss. And your brain has to get used to it. But Gardner found it was worth it.

Barger hopes to. "Until you lose your hearing," she said, "You don't realize how valuable it is"

By Kim Mulvihill, M.D.
http://cbs5.com/seenon/local_story_149170814.html