A HISTORY-making audiology team at Bradford Royal Infirmary is starring in a Channel 4 documentary.

The documentary, Cochlear Live, will feature the ground-breaking work of Yorkshire Auditory Implant Service (YAIS), based at the hospital’s Listening for Life Centre.

The programme, part of Channel 4’s Cutting Edge autumn series, will follow a group of profoundly deaf people who are preparing to undergo surgery to have cochlear implants fitted. These miniature electronic devices replace the function of their damaged inner ear. The implants will be switched on when the cameras are broadcasting live – showing the patients’ reactions.

Head of the YAIS Jane Martin said: “It is a great privilege to be present at a switch-on and often an emotional experience for patients, their families and team members.

“Responses can be very different, ranging from meaningful hearing in an instant to whistles and beeps – which do eventually change and become meaningful.

“One implication of our population becoming older is that hearing loss will affect more of us in the future, so the more we are aware of auditory devices such as cochlear implants, the better.”

The switch-on is expected to take place at the Manchester Auditory Implant Centre, which is part of Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

The skill of Bradford’s surgeons has transformed the lives of countless patients who have been given the chance to hear again.

Last year, the YAIS team made history when they restored the hearing of 91-year-old Charles Holden.

Mr Holden, of Ilkley, became one of Europe’s oldest cochlear implant patients.

The surgery was carried out under local anaesthetic by consultant ear, nose and throat surgeon Professor Chris Raine.

Hearing again for the first time in almost 30 years, Mr Holden told Prof Raine and his team: “I couldn’t believe it. I nearly cried. It was beautiful to hear my son’s voice again.”

Surgeons made history a second time just weeks later, when they performed the first cochlear implant in the UK on a pregnant patient.

Kimberley Ward, 27, underwent the surgery 17 weeks into her pregnancy, again under local anaesthetic, in order to hear her baby’s heartbeat for the first time.