Lou Ferrigno's Life Changing Decision to Get a Cochlear Implant and What Advice He Has for Others
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- Опубликовано: 23 май 2024
- This week, host Shari Eberts is joined by fitness icon, Lou Ferrigno. While he is best known for his role in the TV series, The Incredible Hulk, Ferrigno has also for years been an inspiration to many in the hard of hearing community. In 2021, Lou underwent cochlear implant surgery and it completely changed his life.
In this interview, Lou talks about how his experience as a child with hearing loss and being bullied help shape his life and career. Having to work harder in the face of adversity ultimately led Lou to a successful career in bodybuilding and later as an actor.
Interview transcript available here: hearinghealthmatters.org/this...
Learn more about cochlear implants - candidacy, types, styles and features, here: hearinghealthmatters.org/audi...
Be sure to subscribe to our RUclips channel for the latest episodes each week, and follow This Week in Hearing on LinkedIn and Twitter: / this-week-in-hearing / weekinhearing
-TIMESTAMPS-
00:00 Introduction
01:24 Hearing loss as a child
04:57 Impact of hearing loss on career
08:43 Getting two hearing aids for first time
10:02 Incredible Hulk series
11:42 Getting a cochlear implant
17:39 Medicare advocacy
20:45 Future of acting career 
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Lou had so much to overcome throughout his whole life. Most people would never had made it through all of it. What an inspiration!
Lou, your character as the Incredible Hulk was memorable for me, but you sharing your personal experience with hearing loss and hearing rebirth is simply inspirational. Thank you.
What a legend Lou is! So inspirational! He makes me want to get back into the gym!
Thank you for sharing. I gained so much respect for Lou after hearing his life story. What an inspiration.
Lou, still being a hero ...
i met lou about 30 years ago he such a sweet guy! i am so happy for him!
This is very comforting to me. I have been dealing with autoimmune inner ear disease over the past 10 years. A high dose of prednisone would normally bring my hearing back. I lost my hearing in April and I am completely deaf in my right ear. I have about 30 to 40% left in my left ear which made me a candidate for cochlear implant. I am scheduled for surgery October 24. I am a bit nervous but seeing Lou it’s definitely inspiring. our best friend owns World Gym in the Bay Area and through the years we’ve had many dealings with Lou . It just does my heart good to see him happy and of course successful.
God bless and thanks for sharing your experience.
How was the implant has your earing gotten better
11 months later, how are you doing?
My little girl was born with severe hearing loss in right ear. It's been a struggle for her, she started with a hearing aid but the little hearing she had declined to nothing so the doctor just told me don't bother with the hearing aid anymore. This was in Alaska and they don't offer Cochlear implant. We moved to Arizona and the audiologist recommended a Cochlear implant. When we went to the Doctors he said the Baha system is alot better, so she got that instead. The baha has been a battle, it's not comfortable for her to wear, she gets headaches and she's gone backwards in school. She has an appointment to see a Doctor for Cochlear implant. Thank you for sharing your story ❤️
Inspiration. 5 years ago I had a chance to meet him at a Comic Con like event in NY and I couldn’t go because my tinnitus was so terrible that day. I really regret that. God Bless You, Lou.
Lou, you're truly inspiring. I lost my hearing while serving in combat. Grateful for this story because I'm in the running for a cochlear implant. Excited about it
Great man.. will always be my hulk.
Lou...forget about your character the Imcredible Hulk...you are an Incredible Inspiration to me..I recently got my CI thru Cochlear America and it was your testimony that convinced me to have it done after contemplating for 3 years....btw when my son was 3 years old he would rip his shirts and have them hang on him and imitate you...he was so funny ...he is 48 now and a cop and he looks like a hulk...very muscular...good inspiration all the way around....thanks for the interview...I had my CI done Oct 25, 2022 and its a process but I am making good progress every day....thanks again!
Lou's story is an awesome exampleof resilience and determination.
*André Djourno and Charles Eyriès* invented the original cochlear implant in 1957. Their design distributed stimulation using a single channel.
The modern day, multi-channel, cochlear implant was independently developed and commercialized by two separate teams-one led by *Graeme Clark in Australia* and another by *Ingeborg Hochmair and her future husband, Erwin Hochmair in Austria*
Hochmairs' device first implanted in a person in December 1977 and Clark's in August 1978.
Thank you for sharing your story Mr. Ferringo, it made me sad though. Last week I had an AB cochlear implant installed, and now I'm in the limbo stage.
My son has hearing loss. He is 22 months. We need to have an abr test to see how bad it is. We’re looking at severe to profound loss. I never knew Lou struggled with this and now I can show my son all that could be accomplished even with hearing loss. There is a hero for him to look up to. Thanks Hulk/Lou 😊
This woman asking Lou the questions obviously did not hear or did not listen to what he said in the beginning. In telling about his childhood he described the stigma of wearing the big hearing aid and getting bullied and teased. And then she asked “did you feel a stigma about your hearing loss or were you able to accept it?” I am so happy for Lou to be able to hear and converse with people now.
Very cool - everyone loves Lou for,sure what a great guy - the explanation about the hearing aids and now the implant is very interesting - I have tinnitus and some times it gets pretty loud and masks voices so I catch myself staring at peoples faces to help me understand what they are saying - this problem is making me appreciate the struggles that people with real hearing loss must deal with and increases my respect for people like Lou who step up and push through to have a good life despite the difficulties - Life is good, even when it ain’t so good sometimes - self determination and positive attitude is the key (in my humble opinion)
I truly admire this man not because he's overcome adversity good because he's pursued excellence in anything that he's chosen to do in life he's a terrific actor a few years ago he had in an episode of Star Trek afan production of the 1960s TV series the show has professional production value
Keep up the good work with your hearing Lou Ferrigno! I'm glade my favorite Hulk can hear....
Greetings from Dublin Ireland. Thanks for sharing this video with us.
Sounds very encouraging. Losing my hearing some 30 years ago has been very challenging.
Thanks again
Jarlath
I'm irish from galway everything grand with you
Amazing and inspirational ! Lou has a lot to teach us !
Thank you for this inspirational video
What a great interview!!
Wonderful and inspirational man
Ele foi o único Hulk ninguém chega aos pés dele
congratulations
Glad to hear Lou and others are working with Medicare and Medicade to make hearing aides and implants more available to older people and people who currently cant afford such things. My Mom was finally able to get hearing aides at Costco for around $1800 so there is hope as technology improves and prices come down. Lou looks great for 70 wow.
The government is not really that interested in older people, IMHO. After all, most senior citizens are not working and paying big taxes, and they are getting Social Security (which they paid into, I think the gov't forgets that), they are getting Medicare services. There is, I think, an effort to slightly lower hearing aid prices. Otherwise, I would not count on the Medicare being helpful.
❤good stuff👍🏻
I had suegery for superior semicircular dehisence that left me totally DEAF in my left ear. I have the same condition in my right ear, but do not dare have it repaired. I now have single sided hearing. I have tried to adapt and it is miserable. I cannot tell the direction of sound and mishear language often. Thank you for sharing your experience.
i wish Lou would talk about what brand or model implant he uses and what doctor he used..
He is still handsome 💚
As someone who is hard of hearing, I'm glad to hear that CI's are becoming better and safer. However, I think it's a bit disingenuous to not mention any side effects or issues that might arise. I know someone in her 70s who got implanted about 6 months ago. She mentioned dizziness (which I guess could be due to inflammation or proximity of the implant to the semi-circular canals?). I recently asked her if she felt her implant was working, now that she's had some time to adjust, and she nodded yes, but I just couldn't get a read on how much of a difference it was making compared to pre-implant.
I had my implant installed back in the mid 90s when it was basically experimental. The dizziness is a real side effect, but over time it went away. My surgery was 6 hours if you can believe it, so what Lou is talking about here, minor surgery, minor recovery, I guess they have come a long way since.
Dude looks pretty good for 70
He’s very handsome and young looking. He sure doesn’t look 70.
Holy shit the story re: his dad beating him 😢 his dad was also a total stage dad
Não mudou nada