Cochlear implant is music to Phelps Hospital patient’s ears 

During May’s National Speech-Language-Hearing Month, here’s a story that may “resonate” with readers.  

Nine years ago, Ardsley resident Frances Furst developed tinnitus in her left ear and then her right one. She was diagnosed with Meniere’s disease, which can cause vertigo and hearing loss, among other challenges. For years, she used hearing aids and read lips, but by May of last year she had become completely deaf.   

That’s when Lawrence Meiteles, M.D., a neurotologist/otolaryngologist at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, suggested a cochlear implant for her left ear. Furst was scheduled to have the surgery later that fall but for other medical reasons, it was delayed until last December. 

With the help of Swapna Natara, AuD., and her team of therapists at Phelps Hospital’s Speech & Audiology Center in Sleepy Hollow, Furst managed expectations and life as she waited for the surgery. While the five-hour procedure happened as scheduled, the healing and activation of the implant was a typically slow process. At first, all she could hear was static. Then one day in March of this year, Furst had a eureka moment: 

 “I was sitting in a quiet coffee shop with background music. The most surprising thing happened: I was able to hear and understand the words of a song playing in the background. The song was ‘That’s Life.’ How appropriate. It was so amazing to be able to actually hear the words. I think I am getting there.”