Born in Indonesia with hearing loss, Amy overcame her challenges through hard work and her Kanso® Sound Processor to achieve her dream of working as an animator for The Walt Disney Co.. Her work has been used in a plethora of major motion pictures and tv series. Read about her story here:
“I was born with a severe-to-profound hearing loss in the developing country of Indonesia, where resources and opportunities for the deaf are limited. The best medical advice given to my parents at the time was to wait until I was 4 years old so the doctors could run hearing tests. Which meant the first four years of my life were spent in dead silence. When I was brought back to be tested at age 4, doctors concluded that I was severely-to-profoundly deaf.
Hearing aids were beneficial only to a certain extent in my better (right) ear. My left ear was too deaf to benefit from it. I grew up in mainstreamed schools, struggling to lipread and understand what was being said. As much love and support that I received from my parents at home, it wasn’t enough to keep me on par with my peers academically. In fourth grade, the school principal informed my parents that I could no longer be a student in their school.
No other schools in Indonesia would take me either. It was as if I had the big scarlet letters ‘DEAF’ stamped on my forehead that made schools apprehensive about adding me to their student roster. Running out of options, I was sent to live with relatives I barely knew in Montreal, Canada at the age of 11. I did not see my family for several years.
It was during the lonely Canadian winters I realized no one was coming to rescue me. It was all up to me – and I was determined to make something out of my life. I trained myself furiously in lip reading and making use of the tiny residual hearing I had by watching Canadian children’s TV shows.
Hard work can make dreams come true
Some years later – my family and I reunited and immigrated to the United States. I manifested a childhood dream of working as an animator by landing my first job out of college at The Walt Disney Co..
The biggest challenge in that highly competitive field is to be perceived as capable and being as good as my hearing counterparts. Since movie jobs are contractual, it meant I had to hop from one movie to another. If I appeared too deaf and overly dependent on others to help me do the job, I felt it was a mark against my professional reputation. It could also mean not getting an opportunity on another movie.
So I worked twice as hard not to fall into that trap. I had a strong work ethic, executed my deliverables and made myself very likable/easy to work with. Movie producers/colleagues loved having me on their teams. For over two decades, I was booked back-to-back on movie jobs. I got to work on over 40 feature films, which is something I am incredibly proud of!
Finding a beneficial hearing solution
In 2022, the sounds in my world grew even fainter. Hearing tests showed my greatest fear: the residual hearing in both ears was declining. Hearing aids would no longer benefit me. I went to a dark place where my childhood struggles resurfaced and replayed in my head. ‘How would I function in my movie jobs, where everything is so fast-paced?’ I dreaded having to be dependent on a sign language interpreter following me around to every meeting. ‘What if my peers/producers thought I was no longer capable of keeping up with the speed of the business?’
I met with a physician based in Indianapolis, who told me about cochlear implants (CI). He was very patient and factual in explaining how CIs work. I jumped on it immediately. I chose the Cochlear™ Kanso® Sound Processor because I loved that it is a small, off-the-ear solution. I also found the idea of the Aqua+ waterproof accessory1 for the Kanso Sound Processor attractive for the summer seasons by the pool.
When they activated my CI after the surgery, the first sound I heard was the audiologist’s fingernails clacking on the keyboards. I was floored. I heard footsteps in the hallway of the medical building. I heard kitchen utensils clanging in the restaurant when we went out to celebrate my CI activation. I even heard people conversing across the restaurant!
The impact of my Kanso Sound Processor in my life
Hearing therapy was a lot of work. Despite hearing fatigue, I had to be diligent about it. I reminded myself of the analogy: It’s no different from someone who wants to lose weight by going to the gym. The more work he/she puts in, the better results he/she will attain. The final responsibility of maximizing the CI benefits is up to us. I wanted to succeed so badly, so I never gave up.
Returning to the movie world, I got amazing contracts to work on ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial Destiny’, ‘The Creator’, ‘Haunted Mansion’, ‘Mandalorian’, and ‘Aquaman 2.’ With Kanso Sound Processor, my life is so much easier, brighter and less of a daily struggle. Now I am able to understand conversations in meetings without having to lipread!
There is a saying: In life you can never stop the waves. Learn how to surf. In this case, my sound processor was a powerful metaphor for my surfboard.
One afternoon, during movie shot reviews, I heard my visual effects supervisor for the first time when he called my name and I was not even looking in his direction. I had the biggest smile on my face for the rest of that day – hearing my own name called was the sweetest music I’ve ever heard.”
If hearing aids are no longer a benefit for you, discover the Kanso Sound Processor and all other solutions that Cochlear offer, just like Amy!
2 3 4 5- The Kanso Sound Processor with the Aqua+ is water resistant to level IP68 of the International Standard IEC60529. This water protection rating means that the sound processor with the Aqua+ can be continuously submerged under water to a depth of 3 meters (9 feet and 9 inches) for up to 2 hours. This water protection only applies when you use the Aqua+ and LR44 alkaline or nickel metal hydride disposable batteries.
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