WHEN THE DOLPHIN BROKE MY EAR: Can Deaf People Recover Hearing?

From 1972-87, I worked as a professional scuba diver for Marine World/Africa USA, an aquarium-zoo in Redwood City, California. Most of the work was plain hard labor, scrubbing algae off the walls, floors, and windows of the giant salt-water tanks. But the creatures we swam with? Sharks, dolphins, eels, seals and killer whales -- magic. Sometimes we brought the dolphins to the vets for medical attention. This was not always as easy as it might sound. In later years, tanks were made with rising floors, which made the situation less stressful for all concerned. But in those days, we would put a net in the water, to narrow the swimming area. Breathing through snorkel tubes, we would swim over the top of the net, wait until the dolphin appeared to relax, and then gently approach, and put our arms around them. When they cooperated, everything was easy. But one day a 350 pound dolphin named Ernestine snapped her jaws at me, and nodded her head in warning. ("Yes" means "no" in dolphin body language.) What I should have done was to back off and try again later. But I was young and foolish, and everyone was watching. I swam toward her, slowly, arms out. She did a sudden forward roll, like dolphin judo. Her tail slammed the side of my head. It felt like a car crash. Cold water entered my now-burst eardrum. When I pulled myself out of the tank, there was a roaring in my head. The world was spinning round and round, and I sat down to make the planet hold still. But I was lucky, the...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news