Kitty Grutzmacher had contended with poor hearing for a decade, but the problem had worsened over the past year. Even with her hearing aids, “There was little or no sound,” she sys.

“I was avoiding going out in groups. I stopped playing cards, stopped going to Bible study, even going to church.”

Her audiologist was unable to offer Grutzmacher, a retired nurse in Elgin, a solution. But she found her way to the cochlear implant program at Northwestern University.

Krystine Mullins, an audiologist there who assesses hearing and counsels people about their options, says surgically implanting this electronic device usually substantially improved a person’s ability to understand speech.

That Grutzmacher was 84 was immaterial.

“As long as you’re healthy enough to undergo surgery, age is not a

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