Most people are born with all five senses -- sight, touch, smell, taste and hearing -- although somehow people deprived of one or two of these senses manage to survive and thrive. The rest of us often take these senses for granted. What does it really mean to see or hear?

The ability to hear, for example, is very complicated. By definition, it is the ability to perceive sounds through stimulation of auditory nerves in the ear, but it also requires a person to be able to understand those sounds. So a profoundly deaf person who is suddenly able to hear also must learn to process the sounds he or she is hearing.

Such is the case with cochlear implants and most of the patients who receive them. Recently, Y-Press interviewed two students who have received cochlear implants: Grayson Swaim, 12, of Camby and Juanita Lewis, 15, of Terre Haute. Juanita received the implant when she was 12, and Grayson received the implant when he was 4. Both had hearing aids before, but being able to hear well was overwhelming at first.

"It was really shocking. I had to kind of get used to it. It took me probably about three months to get used to it," said Juanita, the second of five children and the only family member with hearing loss.

"It was confusing. You can't really hear. All I do is see the person. I hear other people talking or other machines," said Grayson, whose parents and sister have no hearing loss.

"A cochlear implant is a small device that takes the place of our inner ear, which is part of the ear that converts sound into the little electrical signals that go up your hearing nerves of your brain," explained Dr. Richard Miyamoto, chairman of the department of otolaryngology at the Indiana University School of Medicine. "People who are deaf have ears that don't allow sound to be converted into the little electrical signals that have to travel up the hearing nerve."

Cochlear implants are surgically placed, and they have an external piece of equipment that gathers the sounds to be sent to the implant. Currently, the cochlear implant is for people who are severely hearing impaired and unable to reap sufficient benefits from a hearing aid. Although the range of candidates is growing with the technology, a cochlear implant is most successful with people who once had the ability to hear, and with young children.

"I think that most of the things that happen after the surgery are just training-type things," Miyamoto said. "We have our audiologists and speech people who work with the kids, but it's mainly just learning to listen to their device and making sure it's set properly once it's in place."

Juanita said the cochlear implant has advantages. "I feel that I am still missing out on a lot of different sounds, but I think this really is good. I can hear most things. Without the cochlear implant, I cannot hear anything, basically."

Along with the ability to hear comes the ability to talk. This skill may take some time to acquire, however, if a recipient has never possessed the hearing required to speak before the implant.

"I think I started speaking when I was three years old, and I couldn't pronounce the words properly," said Grayson, who learned to read lips. He considers himself deaf before the cochlear implant and hearing-impaired now. His words are clear, and his speech impediment is not obvious.

Grayson continues to go to speech therapy. "They teach you how to say words and how to say the words properly," he said.

Before the implant, Juanita was deaf in her right ear but had hearing aids in both ears. "I was able to talk. I started talking when I was five," she said. Her speech is near perfect.

Speaking ability varies quite a bit, explained Miyamoto. "We have some of the youngsters who continue to improve slowly over many years' time. We're seeing improvement in their skills even two and three years after the implant."

Juanita's and Grayson's implants have affected their schooling.

"At school, I have a speaker, and the teacher has a microphone. They're portable. Sometimes I will have somebody come and take me out of class to learn grammar, learn synonyms, learn antonyms," said Grayson, who attends North Madison Elementary in Camby. "I think it's a little bit harder for me to learn in school" than a hearing person, he said.

Juanita attends Terre Haute South Vigo High School. "My grades have been very good and better than my other grades that I had with my hearing aids. I can receive a lot more from the teachers than I did with the hearing aids," she said.

According to Miyamoto, the effect of a cochlear implant on student performance is under intense scrutiny. "Most of them (with implants) are behind and stay behind, but they're catching up all the time," he said.

Miyamoto pointed out that cochlear implants don't work for everyone. "What I usually tell patients -- other adults who have had hearing loss -- is that about half of our patients hear well enough that they can talk on the telephone. That's pretty amazing when you're totally deaf," he said. "But virtually everybody will hear enough that they can come back in contact with their environment. And all patients will find that it enhances their lip-reading ability."

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Kyle Kippenbrock, 16.

REPORTERS: Stuart McWhirter, 13; Keisha Mitchell, 13.