David Kim, 33, moved to California from Korea at the age of 8 months. He lives in Orange County with his wife, Elizabeth, and 3-year-old son, Josiah. Kim was born with profound hearing loss, and now hears with a cochlear implant from Advanced Bionics Corporation.David Kim with his son Josiah at Angels Stadium. Photo by Megan Clancy
"Basically, one of my friends read about cochlear implants in Time and suggested me to look into this new technology," Kim said in response about how he decided to get the cochlear implant. After gathering information through his research, he felt it was worth a shot getting more hearing from an implant. He got his implant at Sutter Medical Center in 2003. "I wanted to get a cochlear implant basically because I wanted to communicate with hearing people," Kim said. "I just wanted to be more aware of things around me."
Kim grew up using both spoken language and American Sign Language. After he got implanted, he did not need speech therapy since his speech was already very clear. Kim also speaks some Korean (Hangul), but does not use it often.
"I started to hear sounds that I never was able to hear. It was an awesome experience," Kim said. "I cried at some sounds like kids talking, the violin playing, birds singing and crickets chirping. I was amazed to hear myself talking."
Kim was unable to recognize his name by listening alone, but now he can. "It's like learning a new language," Kim said. "I had to match the words to sounds." At home, he would practice listening by having conversations with his wife, Elizabeth.
He enjoys listening to NPR News, pop style Christian music, Jazz and Blues.
"I started to hear sounds that I never was able to hear. It was an awesome experience," Kim said. "I cried at some sounds like kids talking, the violin playing, birds singing and crickets chirping. I was amazed to hear myself talking."
Kim was unable to recognize his name by listening alone, but now he can. "It's like learning a new language," Kim said. "I had to match the words to sounds." At home, he would practice listening by having conversations with his wife, Elizabeth.
He enjoys listening to NPR News, pop style Christian music, Jazz and Blues.
Elizabeth Kim, Josiah Kim and David Kim at Saddleback Church's Easter Service on April 4, 2010 at Angel's Stadium in Anaheim, Calif. Photo by Megan Clancy
"Hearing my son's voice was a joy," Kim said. "It became important to me."
No comments:
Post a Comment