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70-495: Marlee is a female given name. Notable persons with this name include: Marlee Matlin (born 1965), American actress Marlee Ranacher , Australian author Marlee Scott (born 1986), Canadian country music singer now living in the United States See also [ edit ] Marley (disambiguation) [REDACTED] Name list This page or section lists people that share

140-472: A Lesser God co-star William Hurt , who she says physically abused and raped her. She also addresses the sexual abuse she suffered as a child at the hands of her female babysitter. Following her breakout role in Children of a Lesser God , Matlin has made occasional film appearances (mostly due to lack of substantial roles for deaf actors), but has focused most of her work in television. This includes starring in

210-555: A Movie Star." She was discovered by Henry Winkler during one of her ICODA theater performances, which ultimately led to her film debut in Children of a Lesser God (1986). The film received generally positive reviews and Matlin's performance as Sarah Norman, a reluctant-to-speak deaf woman who falls for a hearing man, drew high praise: Richard Schickel of Time magazine wrote: "[Matlin] has an unusual talent for concentrating her emotions -- and an audience's -- in her signing. But there

280-630: A babysitter at age 11, and by a teacher in high school. Matlin made her stage debut at the age of seven, as Dorothy in an International Center on Deafness and the Arts ( ICODA ) children's theatre production of The Wizard of Oz , and continued to appear with the ICODA children's theatre group throughout her childhood. At the age of thirteen, she won second prize in the Chicago Center's Annual International Creative Arts Festival for an essay titled, "If I Was not

350-538: A comical tirade against Borstein over being made fun of, and how she was not invited to provide her own voice for Family Guy . Matlin went on to voice Stella , Peter Griffin 's coworker, in the Season 10 episode " The Blind Side ;" Stella later became a recurring character. In 2010, Matlin produced a pilot for a reality show she titled My Deaf Family, which she presented to various national network executives. Although they expressed interest, no network purchased rights to

420-501: A hearing woman for the first time in her career, which earned her a CableACE nomination for Best Actress. She had a prominent supporting role in the drama It's My Party (1996). She later had recurring roles in The West Wing , and Blue's Clues . Other television appearances include Seinfeld (" The Lip Reader "), The Outer Limits (" The Message "), ER , The Practice , and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit . She

490-402: A membranous portal that faces the middle ear cavity: The vestibular duct ends at the oval window , where the footplate of the stapes sits. The footplate vibrates when the pressure is transmitted via the ossicular chain. The wave in the perilymph moves away from the footplate and towards the helicotrema . Since those fluid waves move the cochlear partition that separates the ducts up and down,

560-437: A microphone. Otoacoustic emissions are important in some types of tests for hearing impairment , since they are present when the cochlea is working well, and less so when it is suffering from loss of OHC activity. Otoacoustic emissions also exhibit sex dimorphisms, since females tend to display higher magnitudes of otoacoustic emissions. Males tend to experience a reduction in otoacoustic emission magnitudes as they age. Women, on

630-516: A minute, Marlee, how can you hear me?' They forget I have an interpreter there who is signing to me as they talk. So I say, 'You know what? I can hear on Wednesdays. ' " Matlin and her two older brothers, Eric and Marc, grew up in a Reform Jewish household. Her family roots are in Poland and Russia. Matlin attended a synagogue for the Deaf (Congregation Bene Shalom), and after studying Hebrew phonetically,

700-530: A new comedy show set in the 1970s that aims to explore the life of a kid with deaf parents. This show was to be executive produced by Marlee Matlin according to Deadline . In 2021, Matlin appeared in CODA , an American comedy-drama film that follows a hearing teenage girl who is a child of deaf adults (CODA for short). The film stars Emilia Jones as the hearing girl, with Matlin and Troy Kotsur as her culturally deaf parents and Daniel Durant as her deaf brother;

770-409: A pattern that peaks a distance from the oval window depending upon the soundwave frequency. The organ of Corti vibrates due to outer hair cells further amplifying these vibrations. Inner hair cells are then displaced by the vibrations in the fluid, and depolarise by an influx of K+ via their tip-link -connected channels, and send their signals via neurotransmitter to the primary auditory neurons of

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840-609: A revised version of " Just the Way You Are " with lyrics by Tony Geiss . Matlin used sign language during the song and hugged Oscar the Grouch during the song's conclusion. One year after that, Billy Joel invited her to perform in his video for " We Didn't Start the Fire ". In 1989, Matlin portrayed a deaf widow in the television movie Bridge to Silence . In that role, she spoke in addition to using sign language. People magazine did not like

910-525: A single event on any television show before, $ 986,000. Donald Trump , who was then hosting The Celebrity Apprentice, donated an additional $ 14,000 to make the contribution an even million. As of January 2015 , Matlin acts as the ACLU 's celebrity ambassador for disability rights. As a "celebrity ambassador" for the ACLU, in attempts to bridge the gap between law enforcement and the deaf community, Matlin discussed

980-686: A television executive. In 2008, Matlin participated as a competitor in the sixth season of ABC 's Dancing with the Stars . Her dance partner was newcomer Fabian Sanchez . Matlin and Sanchez were the sixth couple eliminated from the competition. On May 6, 2009, Matlin received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . On November 8, 2009, Matlin appeared on Seth & Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show , hosted by Seth MacFarlane and Alex Borstein . After Borstein imitated Matlin calling MovieFone and singing " Poker Face ," Matlin herself appeared and launched into

1050-541: Is a common cause of partial hearing loss and is the reason why users of firearms or heavy machinery often wear earmuffs or earplugs . To transmit the sensation of sound to the brain, where it can be processed into the perception of hearing , hair cells of the cochlea must convert their mechanical stimulation into the electrical signaling patterns of the nervous system. Hair cells are modified neurons , able to generate action potentials which can be transmitted to other nerve cells. These action potential signals travel through

1120-422: Is achieved by reducing the area ratio from the tympanic membrane (drum) to the oval window ( stapes bone) by 20. As pressure = force/area, results in a pressure gain of about 20 times from the original sound wave pressure in air. This gain is a form of impedance matching – to match the soundwave travelling through air to that travelling in the fluid–membrane system. At the base of the cochlea, each 'duct' ends in

1190-408: Is also affected by cochlear damage which can impair the patient's ability to distinguish between spectral differences of vowels. The effects of cochlear damage on different aspects of hearing loss like temporal integration, pitch perception, and frequency determination are still being studied, given that multiple factors must be taken into account in regard to cochlear research. In 2009, engineers at

1260-493: Is an American actress. She is the recipient of numerous awards , including an Academy Award , a Golden Globe Award , and a Screen Actors Guild Award , in addition to nominations for a BAFTA Award , and four Primetime Emmy Awards . Deaf since she was 18 months old, Matlin made her acting debut playing Sarah Norman in the romantic drama film Children of a Lesser God (1986), winning the Academy Award for Best Actress . She

1330-505: Is derived from the Latin word for snail shell , which in turn is from the Ancient Greek κοχλίας kokhlias ("snail, screw"), and from κόχλος kokhlos ("spiral shell") in reference to its coiled shape; the cochlea is coiled in mammals with the exception of monotremes . The cochlea ( pl. : cochleae) is a spiraled, hollow, conical chamber of bone, in which waves propagate from the base (near

1400-543: Is occasionally also called "cochlea," despite not being coiled up. Instead, it forms a blind-ended tube, also called the cochlear duct. This difference apparently evolved in parallel with the differences in frequency range of hearing between mammals and non-mammalian vertebrates. The superior frequency range in mammals is partly due to their unique mechanism of pre-amplification of sound by active cell-body vibrations of outer hair cells . Frequency resolution is, however, not better in mammals than in most lizards and birds, but

1470-406: Is one of the more durable bones in the skull, it is used in ascertaining the sexes of human remains found at archaeological sites. The cochlea is filled with a watery liquid, the endolymph , which moves in response to the vibrations coming from the middle ear via the oval window. As the fluid moves, the cochlear partition (basilar membrane and organ of Corti) moves; thousands of hair cells sense

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1540-436: Is really what her rebellion is about," and Paul Attasanio of The Washington Post said, "The most obvious challenge of the role is to communicate without speaking, but Matlin rises to it in the same way the stars of the silent era did -- she acts with her eyes, her gestures." Children of a Lesser God brought her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Drama and an Academy Award for Best Actress . Only 21 years old at

1610-475: Is something more here, an ironic intelligence, a fierce but not distancing wit, that the movies, with their famous ability to photograph thought, discover in very few performances." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times was also impressed with Matlin, writing, "She holds her own against the powerhouse she's acting with, carrying scenes with a passion and almost painful fear of being rejected and hurt, which

1680-601: Is the first deaf performer to win an Academy Award, as well as the youngest winner in the Best Actress category. Matlin starred in the police drama series Reasonable Doubts (1991–1993), which earned her two Golden Globe Award nominations, and her guest roles in Seinfeld (1993), Picket Fences (1993), The Practice (2000), and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2004–05) earned her four Primetime Emmy Award nominations. For her role in CODA (2021), she won

1750-557: The Americans with Disabilities Act . In the following year, Matlin was a finalist on the NBC show The Celebrity Apprentice , competing to win money for her charity, The Starkey Hearing Foundation , finishing in second place. However, on one episode of The Celebrity Apprentice , "The Art of the Deal", which was transmitted on April 3, 2011, she raised more funds than had ever been raised for charity in

1820-676: The Henry Viscardi Achievement Awards for disability advocacy in 2014. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for Children of a Lesser God . She was the only deaf performer to have won an Academy Award until 2022 when Troy Kotsur received the award for best supporting actor. In 1991, Matlin received the Bernard Bragg Young Artists Achievement Award at the Annual International Creative Arts Festival sponsored by

1890-484: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology created an electronic chip that can quickly analyze a very large range of radio frequencies while using only a fraction of the power needed for existing technologies; its design specifically mimics a cochlea. The coiled form of cochlea is unique to mammals . In birds and in other non-mammalian vertebrates , the compartment containing the sensory cells for hearing

1960-586: The Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture . Matlin is a prominent member of the National Association of the Deaf , and her interpreter is Jack Jason. In 2009, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . Matlin was born in Morton Grove, Illinois , on August 24, 1965, to Libby ( née Hammer; 1930–2020) and Donald Matlin (1930–2013), who

2030-534: The game shows Dancing with the Stars and The Celebrity Apprentice . In recognition of her philanthropic work and her advocacy for the inclusion of people with disabilities, Matlin received the 2016 Morton E. Ruderman Award in Inclusion , a $ 120,000 prize given annually by Jay Ruderman of the Ruderman Family Foundation to one individual whose work excels at promoting disability inclusion. She won

2100-629: The police drama series Reasonable Doubts , Sesame Street and playing Mayor Laurie Bey in Picket Fences , pollster Joey Lucas in The West Wing , Ruby Whitlow in My Name Is Earl , Jodi Lerner in The L Word , and Melody Bledsoe in Switched at Birth . Her numerous guest appearances have included Seinfeld , The Practice , and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit . Matlin has also competed on

2170-415: The spiral ganglion . The hair cells in the organ of Corti are tuned to certain sound frequencies by way of their location in the cochlea, due to the degree of stiffness in the basilar membrane. This stiffness is due to, among other things, the thickness and width of the basilar membrane, which along the length of the cochlea is stiffest nearest its beginning at the oval window, where the stapes introduces

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2240-469: The vestibulocochlear nerve to eventually reach the anterior medulla , where they synapse and are initially processed in the cochlear nuclei . Some processing occurs in the cochlear nuclei themselves, but the signals must also travel to the superior olivary complex of the pons as well as the inferior colliculi for further processing. Not only does the cochlea "receive" sound, a healthy cochlea generates and amplifies sound when necessary. Where

2310-715: The "Victory Awards" for the National Rehabilitation Hospital , and other causes. Matlin was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1994 as a member of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for National and Community Service and served as chair of National Volunteer Week . Matlin was a participant in the first-ever national television advertising campaign supporting donations to Jewish federations. The program featured "film and television personalities celebrating their Jewish heritage and promoting charitable giving to

2380-644: The Center on Deafness in Chicago. Matlin received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters degree from Gallaudet University in 1987. In October 2007, she was appointed to the Gallaudet University Board of Trustees. In 1988, Matlin received the Samuel S. Beard Award for Greatest Public Service by an Individual 35 Years or Under, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards. Cochlea The name 'cochlea'

2450-498: The Jewish community" and included Greg Grunberg , Joshua Malina , Kevin Weisman , and Jonathan Silverman . Matlin is also a lifetime member of Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization of America. Matlin has been a frequent guest narrator at Disney's Candlelight Processional at Walt Disney World . On July 26, 2010, Matlin signed a speech at an event commemorating the 20th anniversary of

2520-469: The OHC is from the olivary body via the medial olivocochlear bundle. The cochlear duct is almost as complex on its own as the ear itself. The cochlear duct is bounded on three sides by the basilar membrane , the stria vascularis , and Reissner's membrane. The stria vascularis is a rich bed of capillaries and secretory cells; Reissner's membrane is a thin membrane that separates endolymph from perilymph; and

2590-407: The basilar membrane gets less and less stiff, waves slow down and it responds better to lower frequencies. In addition, in mammals, the cochlea is coiled, which has been shown to enhance low-frequency vibrations as they travel through the fluid-filled coil. This spatial arrangement of sound reception is referred to as tonotopy . For very low frequencies (below 20 Hz), the waves propagate along

2660-402: The basilar membrane is a mechanically somewhat stiff membrane, supporting the receptor organ for hearing, the organ of Corti, and determines the mechanical wave propagation properties of the cochlear system. Between males and females, there are differences in the shape of the human cochlea. The variation is in the twist at the end of the spiral. Because of this difference, and because the cochlea

2730-438: The cochlea can result from different incidents or conditions like a severe head injury, a cholesteatoma , an infection, and/or exposure to loud noise which could kill hair cells in the cochlea. Hearing loss associated with the cochlea is often a result of outer hair cells and inner hair cells damage or death. Outer hair cells are more susceptible to damage, which can result in less sensitivity to weak sounds. Frequency sensitivity

2800-404: The cochlea is itself a fluid-filled tube, the third 'duct'. This central column is called the cochlear duct. Its fluid, endolymph, also contains electrolytes and proteins, but is chemically quite different from perilymph. Whereas the perilymph is rich in sodium ions, the endolymph is rich in potassium ions, which produces an ionic , electrical potential. The hair cells are arranged in four rows in

2870-414: The cochlea. The epithelial-cell gap-junction network couples non-sensory epithelial cells, while the connective-tissue gap-junction network couples connective-tissue cells. Gap-junction channels recycle potassium ions back to the endolymph after mechanotransduction in hair cells . Importantly, gap junction channels are found between cochlear supporting cells, but not auditory hair cells . Damage to

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2940-629: The communication barriers when deaf individuals are stopped by the police. Matlin married Burbank police officer Kevin Grandalski on August 29, 1993, at the home of actor Henry Winkler . The couple first met while she was filming a scene from Reasonable Doubts outside the studio grounds; the police department had assigned Grandalski to provide security and control traffic. They have four children: Sarah (born 1996), Brandon (born 2000), Tyler (born 2002), and Isabelle (born 2003). In 2002, Matlin published her first novel, titled Deaf Child Crossing, which

3010-451: The complete route of the cochlea – differentially up vestibular duct and tympanic duct all the way to the helicotrema . Frequencies this low still activate the organ of Corti to some extent but are too low to elicit the perception of a pitch . Higher frequencies do not propagate to the helicotrema , due to the stiffness-mediated tonotopy. A very strong movement of the basilar membrane due to very loud noise may cause hair cells to die. This

3080-419: The ear's ability to amplify weak sounds. The active amplifier also leads to the phenomenon of soundwave vibrations being emitted from the cochlea back into the ear canal through the middle ear (otoacoustic emissions). Otoacoustic emissions are due to a wave exiting the cochlea via the oval window, and propagating back through the middle ear to the eardrum, and out the ear canal, where it can be picked up by

3150-507: The film, but praised Matlin's work, writing, "the beautiful, emotionally moving Matlin is too good for this well-intentioned but sentimental slop." Matlin attended the 1988 Oscars to present the Academy Award for Best Actor. After signing her introduction in ASL, she spoke aloud the names of the nominees and of Michael Douglas, the winner. Matlin was nominated for a Golden Globe for her work as

3220-523: The films, remaining openminded and respectful of both signed and spoken communication preferences, and promoting telephone equipment specifically designed for deaf persons. She has testified before the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources in support of the establishment of the National Institute on Deafness and Communication Disorders. Matlin has also been active in the fight against AIDS,

3290-427: The form of vibrations, which cause the stereocilia to move. The stereocilia then convert these vibrations into nerve impulses which are taken up to the brain to be interpreted. Two of the three fluid sections are canals and the third is the 'organ of Corti' which detects pressure impulses that travel along the auditory nerve to the brain. The two canals are called the vestibular canal and the tympanic canal. The walls of

3360-403: The hollow cochlea are made of bone, with a thin, delicate lining of epithelial tissue . This coiled tube is divided through most of its length by an inner membranous partition. Two fluid-filled outer spaces (ducts or scalae ) are formed by this dividing membrane. At the top of the snailshell-like coiling tubes, there is a reversal of the direction of the fluid, thus changing the vestibular duct to

3430-453: The lead female role in the television series Reasonable Doubts (1991–1993). Matlin was nominated for an Emmy Award for a guest appearance in Picket Fences (1992) and became a regular on that series during its final season (1996). She played Carrie Buck in the 1994 television drama Against Her Will: The Carrie Buck Story , based on the 1927 United States Supreme Court case Buck v. Bell 274 U.S. 200. In that role, Matlin portrayed

3500-429: The middle ear and the oval window ) to the apex (the top or center of the spiral). The spiral canal of the cochlea is a section of the bony labyrinth of the inner ear that is approximately 30 mm long and makes 2 3 ⁄ 4 turns about the modiolus. The cochlear structures include: The cochlea is a portion of the inner ear that looks like a snail shell ( cochlea is Greek for snail). The cochlea receives sound in

3570-450: The middle ear transmits vibrations to the fenestra ovalis (oval window) on the outside of the cochlea, which vibrates the perilymph in the vestibular duct (upper chamber of the cochlea). The ossicles are essential for efficient coupling of sound waves into the cochlea, since the cochlea environment is a fluid–membrane system, and it takes more pressure to move sound through fluid–membrane waves than it does through air. A pressure increase

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3640-699: The mother of one of the victims in an episode of CSI: NY . That same year, Matlin was cast in season 4 of The L Word as Jodi Lerner , a lesbian sculptor and girlfriend of one of the show's protagonists, Bette Porter , played by Jennifer Beals . On February 4, 2007, and February 7, 2016, Matlin interpreted the " Star Spangled Banner " in American Sign Language at Super Bowl XLI in Miami, Florida, and at Super Bowl 50 in Santa Clara, California , respectively. In January 2008, she appeared on Nip/Tuck as

3710-408: The motion via their stereocilia , and convert that motion to electrical signals that are communicated via neurotransmitters to many thousands of nerve cells. These primary auditory neurons transform the signals into electrochemical impulses known as action potentials , which travel along the auditory nerve to structures in the brainstem for further processing. The stapes (stirrup) ossicle bone of

3780-404: The organ of Corti along the entire length of the cochlear coil. Three rows consist of outer hair cells (OHCs) and one row consists of inner hair cells (IHCs). The inner hair cells provide the main neural output of the cochlea. The outer hair cells, instead, mainly 'receive' neural input from the brain, which influences their motility as part of the cochlea's mechanical "pre-amplifier". The input to

3850-449: The organism needs a mechanism to hear very faint sounds, the cochlea amplifies by the reverse transduction of the OHCs, converting electrical signals back to mechanical in a positive-feedback configuration. The OHCs have a protein motor called prestin on their outer membranes; it generates additional movement that couples back to the fluid–membrane wave. This "active amplifier" is essential in

3920-429: The other hand, do not experience a change in otoacoustic emission magnitudes with age. Gap-junction proteins, called connexins , expressed in the cochlea play an important role in auditory functioning. Mutations in gap-junction genes have been found to cause syndromic and nonsyndromic deafness. Certain connexins, including connexin 30 and connexin 26 , are prevalent in the two distinct gap-junction systems found in

3990-509: The recurring role of Harriet on the Syfy television series, The Magicians . On July 31, 2017, it was announced by Deadline that Matlin joined as a series regular in the third season of the ABC thriller Quantico . She starred in the role of ex- FBI agent Jocelyn Turner. In 2019, Matlin was mentioned in an article by Hearing Like Me as somebody that could bring more #DeafTalent to "Life and Deaf,"

4060-634: The role won her the SAG Award for Best Ensemble . Matlin is actively involved with charitable organizations such as Easter Seals (where she was appointed an Honorary board member), the Children Affected by AIDS Foundation, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation , VSA arts , and the Red Cross Celebrity Cabinet. She has been a strong advocate for the rights of deaf people , accepting television roles only if producers commit to caption

4130-557: The same given name . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change that link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marlee&oldid=1246404028 " Categories : Given names Feminine given names Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata All set index articles Marlee Matlin Marlee Matlin (born August 24, 1965)

4200-492: The show. On March 29, 2010, Matlin uploaded the pilot to YouTube and launched a viral marketing campaign. Matlin played the recurring character of Melody Bledsoe on Switched at Birth . In 2013, Matlin played herself in No Ordinary Hero: The SuperDeafy Movie . In September 2015, she made her Broadway debut in the revival production of the musical Spring Awakening . Beginning in 2017, Matlin played

4270-402: The study of the cochlea should fundamentally be focused at the level of hair cells, it is important to note the anatomical and physiological differences between the hair cells of various species. In birds, for instance, instead of outer and inner hair cells, there are tall and short hair cells. There are several similarities of note in regard to this comparative data. For one, the tall hair cell

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4340-481: The time, Matlin remains the youngest actress to receive the Oscar in the Best Actress category . She was the only Deaf nominee and recipient in any category for 36 years until 2022, when deaf actor and filmmaker Troy Kotsur won for Best Supporting Actor for his role in CODA , in which Matlin also played a supporting role. Two years later, she made a guest appearance on Sesame Street with Billy Joel performing

4410-434: The tympanic duct. This area is called the helicotrema. This continuation at the helicotrema allows fluid being pushed into the vestibular duct by the oval window to move back out via movement in the tympanic duct and deflection of the round window; since the fluid is nearly incompressible and the bony walls are rigid, it is essential for the conserved fluid volume to exit somewhere. The lengthwise partition that divides most of

4480-441: The upper frequency limit is – sometimes much – higher. Most bird species do not hear above 4–5 kHz, the currently known maximum being ~ 11 kHz in the barn owl. Some marine mammals hear up to 200 kHz. A long coiled compartment, rather than a short and straight one, provides more space for additional octaves of hearing range, and has made possible some of the highly derived behaviors involving mammalian hearing. As

4550-436: The vibrations coming from the eardrum. Since its stiffness is high there, it allows only high-frequency vibrations to move the basilar membrane, and thus the hair cells. The farther a wave travels towards the cochlea's apex (the helicotrema ), the less stiff the basilar membrane is; thus lower frequencies travel down the tube, and the less-stiff membrane is moved most easily by them where the reduced stiffness allows: that is, as

4620-469: The waves have a corresponding symmetric part in perilymph of the tympanic duct, which ends at the round window, bulging out when the oval window bulges in. The perilymph in the vestibular duct and the endolymph in the cochlear duct act mechanically as a single duct, being kept apart only by the very thin Reissner's membrane . The vibrations of the endolymph in the cochlear duct displace the basilar membrane in

4690-521: Was able to learn her Torah portion for her Bat Mitzvah . She was later interviewed for the book Mazel Tov: Celebrities' Bar and Bat Mitzvah Memories . She graduated from John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights and attended Harper College in Palatine, Illinois . She had planned a career in criminal justice. In her autobiography, Matlin described two instances in which she was molested : by

4760-483: Was an automobile dealer. Matlin lost all hearing in her right ear and 80% of the hearing in her left ear at the age of 18 months due to illness and fevers. In her autobiography I'll Scream Later , she suggests that her hearing loss may have been due to a genetically malformed cochlea . She is the only member of her family who is deaf. She has a sense of humor about her deafness: "Often I'm talking to people through my speakerphone, and after 10 minutes or so they say, 'Wait

4830-721: Was loosely based on her own childhood. She later wrote and published a sequel titled Nobody's Perfect , produced on stage at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in partnership with VSA Arts in October 2007. On April 14, 2009, Matlin's autobiography, I'll Scream Later , was published. In it, she describes her drug abuse and how it drove her to check herself into the Betty Ford Center . She also tells about her rocky, two-year relationship with her significantly older Children of

4900-710: Was nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards for her guest appearances in Seinfeld , Law & Order: Special Victims Unit , and The Practice . In 2004, she hosted the 3rd Annual Festival for Cinema of the Deaf in Chicago. That same year, she also starred in the movie What the Bleep Do We Know!? as Amanda. In 2006, she played a deaf parent in Desperate Housewives . She had a recurring role in My Name Is Earl as public defender for Joy Turner (who made many jokes about Matlin's deafness at Matlin's expense), and played

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