Hearing Enabled

Commitment Statement: Connor Sullivan wants to spread the joy of hearing.

Twenty year old Connor Sullivan, a communication sciences and disorders sophomore at the University of Oklahoma, is an advocate for hearing after having undergone a procedure that enabled him to hear.

Sullivan wasn’t diagnosed with a hearing impairment until the age of four. He wore a hearing aid until December 2010 when he underwent a procedure that allowed him to experience hearing for the first time in many years.

“It was nerve wrecking,” Sullivan said. “It was the most pain I have ever felt. There were all kinds of risks, but when you get to that point in life, it’s worth the risk.”

Every day Sullivan goes to Starbucks and listens for his name after he orders. It’s really a wonderful feeling being able to hear your name called, he said.

There are 14 students registered with the Disability Resource Center this semester who  have hearing impairments, said Suzette Dyer, director of OU’s Disability Resource Center. But Sullivan is not one of them.

Sullivan said he isn’t registered because he is no longer permanently deaf; his cochlear implant enables him to hear and carry out a normal life.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved cochlear implants for adults in 1985 and five years later for children. Sullivan is among the approximately 67,000 people in the U.S. who have implants, according to the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.

Sullivan said his implant allows him to perform tasks he would not have been able to do before.
Without the implant, Sullivan said he wouldn’t have been able to become a reporter for OU’s student run newspaper.

“I would have never been able to conduct interviews without my implant,” Sullivan said.

Hearing allows individual a sense of independence they might not otherwise have, he said.
Sullivan said he made more friends after the procedure.

Sullivan said he wants to help others realize the world of opportunities he gained after his procedure. He is studying to become an audiologist.

“I want to help deaf people hear like somebody did for me,” he said.

According to the American Speech Language Hearing Association, both children and adults receive extensive rehabilitation services from audiologist after their procedures. Sullivan said he wants to become an audiologists his patients can relate to.

Stephanie Tadajewski is a communication sciences and disorders sophomore like Sullivan.
She recognized Sullivan from fourth grade and became friends with him this semester.

“He feels he has a calling to help other kids who are in his situation,” Tadajewski said.

Tadajewski said she will focus on the verbal communication aspect of communication disorders, and like Connor her goal is to help individuals communicate.

“He’s going to help the kids listen, and I’m going to help them speak,” Tadajewski said.


(VIDEO: Ajinur Setiwaldi, 2:04)




Sullivan's blog about his personal experiences: http://connor56.blogspot.com/
Sullivan's opinion column about hearing: http://oudaily.com/news/2012/mar/01/column-be-thankful-hearing-because-i-certainly-am/

Citation of non-human sources:

Boswell Susan. (2012). American speech-language-hearing association. Retrieved from          http://www.asha.org/public/hearing/Cochlear-Implant/

Fda u.s. food and drug administration. (2009, April 16). Retrieved from http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/ProductsandMedicalProcedures/ImplantsandProsthetics/CochlearImplants/default.htm

National institute on deafness and other communication disorders. (2011, March). Retrieved from http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/pages/coch.aspx