It's a YouTube sensation: The video of a young Texas woman who can hear for the first time – thanks to a hearing device made by a White Bear Lake med-tech company called Envoy Medical. The video was featured on the Today Show Monday.


Sarah Churman, a 29-year-old mother of two young children, has been severely hearing impaired since birth due to a rare genetic deformity. In a video taken by her husband Sloan, Churman breaks down in tears when she first hears the voice of a hearing technician, as well as her own voice. Her husband posted the video on YouTube so friends and family could view the event – and it became a sensation with more than 6 million hits and counting.
The device, called Esteem, was approved by the FDA in 2009 and, to date, about 500 people have been implanted. Based on pacemaker technology, the Esteem system is implanted under the skin behind the ear in an out-patient procedure and is invisible to others.
The $30,000 device eliminates the need for hearing aids, said Envoy CEO Patrick Spearman. "We have been able to accomplish with Esteem what hearing aids attempted to do."
Churman told the Today Show's Matt Lauer she was scared to death to see what would happen when the device was turned on. She worried "that it was going to come on and I wasn't going to like it, just because. . .this is all I've ever known for 29 years. So the fear of the unknown, not knowing what it was going to sound like can be overwhelming. And it was just nervousness, (but) then the other half of me, 'Oh hurry up and turn it on!'"

Janet Moore covers medical technology for the Star Tribune.