Hey there, it's Stephen Dubner. We just published a two-part series on what some people call sludge,

meaning all the frictions that make it hard to fill out tax forms or find a health care provider

or even cancel a subscription. One part of our series involved government sludge and how it interferes with

getting policy done. The series reminded me of another episode we once made that I thought was

worth hearing again, so we're playing it for you here as a bonus episode. It is called

Policymaking is not a science yet. We have updated facts and figures as necessary. As always,

thanks for listening.

Usually when children are born deaf, they call it nerve deafness.

But it's really not the actual nerve.

It's little tiny hair cells in the cochlea.

Dana Suskind is a physician scientist at the University of Chicago.

And, more dramatically, she is a pediatric surgeon who specializes in cochlear implants.

My job is to implant this incredible piece of technology

which bypasses these defective hair cells

and takes the sound from the environment, the acoustic sound,

and transforms it into electrical energy,

which then stimulates the nerve.

And somebody who is severe to completely profoundly deaf after implantation can have normal levels of hearing.

And it is pretty phenomenal.

It is pretty phenomenal.

If you ever need a good cry, a happy cry, just type in cochlear implant

activation on YouTube. You'll see little kids hearing sound for the first time and their parents

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