Most deaf people learn to speak, but usually with a sort of foreign accent. This woman must have lost her hearing later in life, since she speaks normally and understands what the other lady is saying.
According to the articles I have read about her she had major voice training to teach her. In addition to that she used a form of hearing aid for several years when she was learning to speak, but stopped using them because they were ineffective as she grew. She relied on voice training and read lips. With voice training in some individuals speech can be adapted to sound almost normal even without hearing yourself. So she has heard before, but not well and lost her hearing fully when she was very young, probably before she could even consciously remember during her speech development stage.
When they use this device they ramp it up slowly until they fully engage it. Before this she was hearing murmors and tones, but no specific voices. This is the first time in her adult life she has heard her voice as we hear it.
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With voice training in some individuals speech can be adapted to sound almost normal even without hearing yourself.
So she has heard before, but not well and lost her hearing fully when she was very young, probably before she could even consciously remember during her speech development stage.
When they use this device they ramp it up slowly until they fully engage it. Before this she was hearing murmors and tones, but no specific voices. This is the first time in her adult life she has heard her voice as we hear it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochlear_implant
Here is an interview with her and her husband.
http://www.dennyburk.com/interview-with-the-deaf-woman-who-now-hears/