I have just watched this most moving documentary

Although they were both brave about it, the surgery was traumatic. You could tell it was more than average post operative distress, particularly for Sally who took months to fully recover.

It has to be significant that Sally hated it so much she was almost breaking down with the way noise disturbed her even though it was possible to turn the sound down or off.

Like wise, the problems with knowing how to choose volume and neither of them seemed to take much pleasure in being able to hear music. It seemed not to make sense to them. Also a room full of talking people was more problematic than being deaf. Both preferred to watch T.V. without sound and couldn't concentrate on anything as even quiet noise, was a constant distraction especially when reading and driving.

It gradually became obvious that being able to hear was a form of noise nuisance. Even after one year, when they had adapted to it, this was in a surprisingly limited way and as Irene described, it had become like a novelty tool they only used once in a while. The last scene demonstrated this as they sat by a lake;

Paul was reading with the sound off and Sally only turned it on to listen to the wind in the water, to kind of, 'check it out', just briefly. Once satisfied that she had heard it, 'ah water, wind, together, this is what it sounds like' and she moved her hand as if conducting the movement, sally then gave a small smile and switched it off in order to enjoy the view better.

They say they didn't regret having it done but not with much conviction. What they learned from it philosophically, seemed to be the thing they valued most but I wonder if they would have gone through it, just for that, if they had know what an ordeal it would be? It seemed to me as if it had permanently unsetteled them. They did not seem so content or happy in themselves and I wonder if this was more than a simple dissapointment of expectations?

I have a friend who is becoming deaf in his second ear and I began watching the documentary thinking, “Oh great, I must tell John about this”, but by the end I feel, “Oh God, I must warn John about this”.

Perhaps an implant wouldn't be so bad if, like John, you have already learned to hear or, is part of why the Taylors found hearing so distressing, due to the implants themselves?

First, they are a foreign body, embedded in the skull with a probe along the ear canal into the inner ear. This is very close to the brain,surely an irritant in itself let alone any buzzing or vibration coming out of it?

The opinion of a neurologist would be valuable as it is known that even slight irritation to the brain can distress and agitate, affect mood, behavior, and even personality, regardless of how well a person psychologically adjusts to the sensation.

Second: Could the Taylors have been unsatisfied due to having only one ear done? My friend describes similar disorientation, after total loss of hearing in one ear along with not knowing where all sounds come from.

Third: How can we know the quality of sound? It may be poor, like a bad radio, no sterio, no dolby, no equaliser, too much high frequency, not enough balance or rounded sound perhaps? How can we know what it is like for them? It could be horrendous noise and when Paul was asked to describe it he couldn't of course. He had nothing to compare it to and answered, “This is like asking, how do you describe the colour green?”.

What bothered me about this whole thing was that the surgeons sincerely believed and had obviously been 'sold' the idea of implants in the first place, calling them a miracle of science etc. It seems that this 'miracle' is still very much undeveloped and in its early stages.

Anyway, It was a really beautiful portrait of a marraige between two, deeply insightful, lovely people who had successfully raised a wonderful family. Well worth watching as a motif on life and perhaps, making peace with the way things are.