In school and hearing for the first time

FARMINGTON – A Mt. Blue Middle School student was able to hear the sounds in his classes for the first time on Tuesday.

Eighth-grade student Matthew Otte, who has not heard a single sound in his life, underwent cochlear implant surgery during April vacation in Portland. The electronic device works to receive signals and then transmits them to nerves in the inner ear for the creation of sound.

Otte returned to school after vacation without the device turned on as the area around the implant surgery healed. On Thursday the devise was turned on and Otte, with his mother Bea Otte of New Vineyard, spent Memorial Day weekend exploring the world of sound.

He found high pitched sounds easier to hear than lower tones, but it left him feeling “really dizzy,” he said through his American Sign Language interpreter Alex Wilbur.

His doctor was able to make adjustments to lower the pitch sound, which made it more comfortable, Otte said. Over the summer, just how he hears sounds will require several sound adjustments, called mapping, Bea Otte said earlier.

Mat Otte described the sensation of hearing for the first time as “I felt it inside my brain,” and he added, “I’m getting use to it.”

Since hearing for the first time, the Honor Roll student is trying to make sense of it all. Words have no meaning right now.

Stephanie Ward, a teacher who coordinates Otte’s learning needs, will be conducting his speech therapy class. He is expected to start at the high school in the fall. It will take a lot of work to learn to connect sounds with meaning.

“If anyone can do it, he can. He’s so driven,” Ward said. Be a Otte, who adopted Mat when he was 7 years old, said if this first implant is successful, he will be a candidate for the second ear implant.

Otte was the first teenager to have the implant surgery performed in Maine. The procedure is normally performed on infants, but testing showed that Otte’s nerves hadn’t atrophied and would respond the the cochlear implant’s electronic impulses.

On returning to school Tuesday morning with the ability to hear sounds Otte found the normal chatter of students passing in the halls between classes can cause dizziness.

“I hear a lot of talking but I can’t understand them,” he said.

But he does understand fully the kindness of his classmates, teachers and staff who have supported him by holding various fund raisers to help with the transportation costs of going to and from his appointments in Portland.

Hat Day, which allowed those donating $1 to wear a hat in school, brought in $440 last month. Another fund raiser ended with teacher Bill Romanelli duct-taped to a wall after his jar reached the $50 total.

On Tuesday morning little bells sewn onto a patch that read, “Let’s hear it for Mat,” brought in more help, as did handmade lollipops students, Brooke Bolduc and Jenessa Stanley were selling. So far, a total of about $600 has been raised.

Bells have a special meaning for Otte because he always wondered what kind of sound they could make. Now he knows.

Anyone wishing to help support the Otte family’s transportation costs to Portland for doctor appointments can send donations to: Mt. Blue Middle School, ℅ Patty Veayo/Saddleback Community, 269 Middle St, Farmington, ME 04938. Attention: Donation for the Otte family.