103-Year-Old British Pensioner Becomes World’s Oldest Person To Receive Cochlear Implant

NEW YORK (VINnews) — A British pensioner has become the world’s oldest person to receive a cochlear implant, a device enabling his hearing to improve dramatically. Join our WhatsApp group

On his 103rd birthday, Leslie Hodgson from Penrith walked into The James Cook University Hospital Middlesbrough and asked for help to regain his hearing for the first time in ten years.

It was a far cry from the retired architect’s first ear operation in 1925, which was done with a hammer and chisel and made his recent surgery even more complicated.

Leslie also needed a subtotal petrosectomy, to clear out the lining of his mastoid, (part of the skull located just behind the ear).

Mr Noweed Ahmad, auditory implant surgeon at the trust said: “Leslie walked into my clinic, told me it was his 103rd birthday and that (after researching it) he wanted a cochlear implant to restore his hearing.

“Discussing it with my colleagues and taking into account that he was also registered blind, we felt that we should carefully consider his request.”

“This remarkable man came to us for help and has shown that you are never too old to have a cochlear implant. It can be life changing.”

Ahmad added that deafness is the second most common disability in the UK, with one in six UK adults experiencing hearing loss. Despite this, only 5% of people in the UK who could benefit from a cochlear implant are estimated to have received one.