A 1-year-old girl who was born deaf can now hear thanks to doctors at a Texas children’s hospital.
In a heartwarming video posted by the Cook Children’s Medical Cener in Fort Worth, the parents of Ayla Esler watch in awe as their baby daughter hears sounds for the first time after receiving cochlear implant surgery.
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Surrounded by her elder siblings and family, Ayla smiles and make sounds of joy, holding her hand up to her ear, indicating that she is picking up on the sounds.
Ayla’s mother, overcome with emotion, weeps as her youngest child wiggles happily on her lap.
https://www.facebook.com/cookchildrens/videos/10155853899149576/
With a cochlear implant, the patient wears a receiver inside the ear and a sound processor behind the ear or attached to clothing. The sound processor essentially works as a microphone and converts sounds and speech into a “special code” that is transmitted to the wearer’s ear, according to WFAA-TV. The code passes through the cochlea and then to the brain for processing.
The Cook Children’s Medical Center launched its cochlear implant program in 2006.
The video of Ayla hearing for the first time has been viewed more than 35,000 times on the hospital’s Facebook page since it was posted on Tuesday.
(H/T: WFAA-TV)