Former Miss America undergoes surgery to restore hearing

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - Former Miss America Heather Whitestone McCallum, saying she felt a need to hear her children talk, has undergone surgery that is expected to enable her to detect whispers. <br> <br> McCallum, who was the first deaf woman to win the pageant, returned to her Atlanta home Thursday after receiving a cochlear implant in her right ear. <br> <br> The Pelham native said she decided to have the operation when her son John, 2, fell in her back yard. <br> <br> ``I couldn&#39;t hear him crying,&#39;&#39; McCallum, now a 29-year-old wife and mother of two, told The Birmingham News. ``Not being there for him really scared me.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> A childhood bout with the haemophilus influenza virus and high fever left her with no hearing in her right ear and the ability to discern only low frequencies in her left. <br> <br> McCallum said she had been happy using a hearing aid until the birth of her two sons. Although it enabled her to hear sirens and horns and some environmental sounds, she said she could not hear her boys&#39; speech. <br> <br> Dr. John Niparko, the surgeon who inserted McCallum&#39;s implant Wednesday at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore, said her ear will need about six weeks to heal before the device can be activated. <br> <br> A tiny computer will be worn at her ear level to translate vibrations into electronic code, Niparko said. The implant will receive signals, then relay information to the hearing nerve. <br> <br> McCallum said she hopes her decision to receive the implant raises awareness among deaf people about the opportunities available for improving speech.