Treatment Brings a World of Sounds

Operation Corrects Bad Ear

Advanced Biomaterial
Restores Hearing

Treatment Brings a World of Sounds

The Libertyville News, Lakeland Newspapers
Volume 7, Number 44, November 3, 1995

Elizabeth Eaken
Staff Reporter

When Betty McGraw was a young girl she always sat in the front row at school so she could tell what was going on. She ended up leaving high school early because she had a hard time in school.

What was wrong with McGraw, now 61, of Round Lake, was a hereditary hearing loss that occurs in almost 10 percent of the population according to her doctor, William Gatti, who practices in Libertyville and Gurnee.

McGraw said as a young girl her mother took her to several doctors who told her there was nothing that could be done to restore her hearing. After that she gave up hope of ever having her hearing restored.

Gatti performed surgery on McGraw in September and she is now able to hear after a life of being on the fringes. 

"I've been deaf all. my life and doctors always told me they couldn't do anything about it," McGraw explained.

She went to see Dr. Gatti at the prompting of her sons last spring. 

"After my husband died I was afraid of being alone and not hearing someone if   they tried to break into my home," McGraw said. "My sons offered to pay for me to go get a hearing aid because I couldn't afford it and I was really frightened of being alone now."

Dr. Gatti says what McGraw has was a conductive hearing loss called otosclerosis, an operable condition. She had an 80 percent hearing loss in her right ear and 60 percent in her left he said.

"The problem with Betty is she probably slipped through the cracks," says Gatti. "We did an audio gram on her when she first came in last spring and found the problem right away.

She may have never had a complete audio gram before to identify her conductive hearing problem." Gatti explained that McGraw's condition is usually a progressive type of hearing loss and is noticed by patients around 30 to 40 years of age.

"Betty was the most remarkable patient," Gatti explained. "She had one of the largest hearing losses that you find in people with hearing loss and it had gone on so long. She's a dramatic example of failure to identify the problem."

McGraw says she lost so much not being able to hear all these years.

"I never heard my babies cry. My husband used to tell me, "Betty. the baby's crying," explained McGraw. "I've lived in my house for 25 years and never heard my furnace turn on or the washing machine start."

McGraw is adjusting to her newfound hearing slowly. The other day she went into Kmart and was so overwhelmed by the commotion that she had to run out.

"I wasn't used to the noise, now a whole new world has been opened to me."

She says people still shout when talking to her because they forget about her newfound hearing but the doctor says they will remember soon enough. 

McGraw wants others out there to know there is hope and Dr. Gatti was a godsend to her.

"I think there are people out there like I was who think nothing can be done for them and maybe they are wrong. I lost all those years because I thought the same thing," said McGraw.