Michael's Story
The Making of a
Miracle
Michael is one of only three people in the world chosen for the groundbreaking Envoy Medical Acclaim® clinical trial with the Mayo Clinic in 2022. While most cases take months to recognize speech, he began recognizing words within 30 minutes, was singing along to music within hours, and achieved full speech recognition in just 4 days. Experts in the trial called his adaptation “nothing short of a miracle.” His experience is considered exceptionally rare and possibly the first case in human history.
The Breakthrough That Redefines Hearing Science
Michael underwent a groundbreaking procedure with the first-ever, fully internal Envoy Medical Acclaim®. As a hockey goalie, he relied on instinct and split-second reflexes—but nothing could prepare him for what came next. His brain adapted at an unprecedented speed, challenging existing understanding of neurology and hearing science, and may represent the first documented case of its kind in human history…
Defying the Impossible
From a young age, Michael lived with severe hearing loss. By adulthood, his word recognition was just 10%—even with hearing aids. Without them, his ability to understand speech was effectively zero. Yet, despite what the tests showed, he navigated conversations, formed connections, and engaged with the world in ways that would later baffle audiologists.
Doctors assumed his hearing aids were providing more benefit than the data suggested. But repeated evaluations confirmed the opposite: the devices did little to help. Instead, Michael’s brain had done what technology couldn’t—it adapted.
A Mind That Rewired Itself
Without realizing it, Michael developed an extraordinary neurological ability—the power to understand conversations without fully hearing them. His brain learned to interpret distorted, barely audible sounds by fusing them with other sensory and contextual cues.
He instinctively read lips, tracked facial expressions, recognized phrasing patterns, and anticipated responses based on memory and situational awareness. This wasn’t just heightened senses—Michael experienced a rare cognitive phenomenon known as cross-modal plasticity in cases of sensory loss, where the brain rewires itself by recruiting other functions to compensate for a deficit.
While most people hear words directly, Michael’s brain built an entirely different system to understand what was being said—like solving a puzzle with missing pieces but still seeing the full picture.
The Groundbreaking Device That Changed Everything
In 2022, Michael became one of only three people in the world chosen to receive the Envoy Medical Acclaim®, the world’s first fully internal cochlear implant—a revolutionary device with no external components.
Doctors anticipated a long, difficult adjustment period. Cochlear implant recipients typically require weeks or months of training to make sense of the new sounds.
Michael defied every expectation.
When the implant was first activated, it wasn’t words—it was chaos. A mess of screeching, robotic distortions that made speech completely unrecognizable. The study team reassured him that adaptation would take time, but Michael left Mayo distraught, overwhelmed by the noise. He turned the implant off in the parking garage. For the rest of the day and night, he relied only on his remaining hearing aid in his non-implanted ear.
The next morning, he set out on the 11.5-hour drive home. Before even leaving the Rochester, MN city limits, he had an epiphany: maybe he could speed up the adaptation process by listening to music.
He removed his hearing aid, turned the implant back on, pulled up his music playlist, and started singing along while following the lyrics on his phone’s screen. He hoped that the lyrics and bass would give him a reference point during each song.
At first, it was just more screeching and distortion.
Thirty minutes into the drive, bits and pieces of his own voice started cutting through the noise. He could hear fragments of himself talking and singing, but nothing else.
Four hours into the drive, everything changed. He could hear everything he said or sang—clearly, without distortion. The screeching was still there for everything else, but his own voice was crystal clear.By the time he arrived home, his brain had done what experts believed was impossible.
Four days later, all the screeching and distortion were gone. He could hear everything clearly.
An exceptionally rare neurological event
- Within 30 minutes of listening to his playlist, he started recognizing his own voice.
- Within hours, he was singing along to music.
- Within four days, he achieved full speech comprehension—without lip-reading, external cues, or any rehabilitation.
What should have taken months—if not years—happened in mere days.
Experts in the Acclaim clinical trial called Michael’s adaptation “nothing short of a miracle.” The speed at which his brain decoded and processed auditory signals was so extreme that it was estimated to be an exceptionally rare neurological event.
Michael’s experience is believed to be the first documented instance of its kind in human history.
Thanks to the Acclaim he has not worn a hearing aid since November 2022.
Help write the story and Shape the Future of Hearing.
Today, Michael is building a platform to raise awareness, advocate for hearing innovation, and inspire others to push past their limits.
Years of struggling to hear left him determined to change the future—not just for himself, but for everyone living with hearing loss.
Next learn about the impact Michael has made…
