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Tasha Ghouri, Love Island’s first-ever deaf contestant, meets her MED-EL Cochlear Implant maker
Love Island’s first ever deaf contestant and cochlear implant mentor
Tasha Ghouri, originally from Yorkshire, was born deaf and received her cochlear implant when she was five years old. Today she is not just a fashion model and dancer, but also a cochlear implant mentor.
On her “Superpowers with Tasha” Instagram and Podcast platforms she celebrates empowering people and their superpowers and encourages other hearing implant users to show off their audio processors proudly. Although you can usually see her modelling her signature baby blue SONNET audio processor, Tasha has also been trialling the RONDO 3 – an off the ear cochlear implant audio processor which offers various design covers so users can either blend in and wear it discretely or STAND OUT, depending on their mood. “Today I can hear the softest sounds and the difference in people’s accents thanks to my CI. This is why I am so proud to wear and show it in my photoshoots and dance videos” explains Tasha.
On 22nd June 2023 Tasha visited the MED-EL headquarters in Innsbruck, Austria, to learn more about the incredible technology behind her cochlear implant and to meet those that personally had a hand in making it. It was an emotional experience, not only for Tasha but also the implant makers who are immensely proud and passionate about the work they do.
It was also a humbling experience for those that have been part of Tasha’s hearing journey from the very beginning, her parents. “Having now experienced first-hand how everyone at MED-EL has at some point been involved in Tasha’s hearing loss journey, our visit to MED-EL HQ should be described as us coming to meet our extended family. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for transforming not just Tasha’s life, but the thousands of other lives as you do” said her dad Tarek on the experience. “I was honoured to have been invited to visit MED-EL in Innsbruck to see in person the amazing work they do to help people all over the world with hearing loss, hear the world around them” said her mum Nicola.
During the visit one of Tasha’s lifelong dreams came true by meeting the CEO and founder of MED-EL, Dr. Ingeborg Hochmair, who in 1977 pioneered the modern cochlear implant along with her husband Prof. Erwin Hochmair.
Speaking to Tasha about the experience she said “I dreamt of this day for so long, ever since I was little, and the fact that happened is just crazy. I am forever thankful and grateful to MED-EL for gifting me my hearing. Thanks to my CI, I can dream big”.
To find out more information about MED-EL and their hearing solutions please visit their website by clicking HERE. “Superpowers with Tasha” can be accessed via the following links: