A 1-year-old girl was able to hear for the first time, thanks to a cochlear implant. The moment was captured on video where the toddler responds to her mother's voice.
Ayla's Journey
Ayla Esler's parents, Anna and Will Esler, discovered that their daughter could not hear during her newborn exams. The couple began working with a specialist but also prepared themselves for what life would be like with a child who can't hear.
Ayla's parents, hopeful she would be able to hear again, learned that she was eligible to receive a cochlear implant. In May 2018, Ayla underwent the surgery and has now been happily adjusting. However, her parents state that Ayla has a long way to go.
After the four-hour surgery, the Doctors at the Cook Children's Health Care System recorded Ayla's first time of hearing. The 26-second-clip showed Ayla's mother burst into tears while holding her baby. Ayla, whos implants were activated, responds by shaking her head from side to side while cooing.
A New Beginning
Anna became overwhelmed with emotion at the sight of her daughter being able to hear.
"When I saw her happy and dancing and responding to sound for the first time in her life I just lost it because we've been waiting a long time for that," Anna stated. Ayla's father was also in the room and was seen wiping a tear from his eye during the heartwarming moment.
Will said that he was nervous and excited after his daughter received her implants. Seeing her hearing sound for the first time was an incredible moment. The NIH's National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders states that the cochlear implants bypass the parts of the ear that are damaged and stimulate the auditory nerve. The signals that are generated by the implants are then sent to the brain.
The institute notes that a person who uses implants may take time to get used to it as it is different from normal hearing.
Hearing implants allow people to recognize warning signals, other sounds from the environment, and speech in person or over the phone.
