Here is a great video of an 8 month old baby hearing his Mother’s voice for the first time. He just had his cochlear implant turned on.
I don’t think these are quite the first words he has heard as it is a test in progress, but you can see his reaction when his mother speaks to him.
Cute.
Good Lord. Youtube is filled with these cute videos of babies hearing.
Reagan freaks out hearing for the first time.
That first video made me laugh, the second made me cry. That little girl was so scared! It must be kind of odd to suddenly be able to hear and not understand why! Poor thing! Amazing technology, though!
Wow. Thanks.
Awww. So sweet.
What were the comments in the second one all about, with the scuba? Deaf kids are better at scuba, or something, what?
Here’s some additional information:
I have some hearing loss. The few days after I received my hearing aid, I was bombarded
by noises I hadn’t heard in years. Imagine every noise around you being turned up to an almost deafening pitch… it took a few days to get used to wearing the hearing aid, and that was why.
So think, when you see YouTube tales of children with new Deaf Aids, that hearing voices isn’t always pleasant at first. It’s attention-grabbing, yes.
an seanchai
When scuba diving, one of the only ways to get someones attention if they’re not looking right at you is sound. It’s possible to make some pretty attention grabbing noises underwater, none of which are going to be effective for a deaf person. When it’s an emergency and you need their attention -now-, their inability to hear could mean serious injury or even death.
My sister’s deaf and had this all explained to her when we were going to go scuba diving one time. We elected to go snorkelling instead.
As far as cochlear implants go, it’s a very personal choice for a lot of adults. The ability to hear, partially, means that they’re sort of stuck between two communities. The deaf community is very, very tight and kids who grow up in that community often choose to forgo imperfect ‘solutions’ like CI’s simply because being deaf is a very large part of their identity. The implantation of CIs in very young children is, for this reason, pretty controversial.
Ah, okay. I also looked at the comments more closely and apparently if you have this device in you can’t go scuba diving. But then if you’re deaf, it’s kind of a moot point, isn’t it?
Well unless you’re a deaf avid scuba diver. I can’t imagine not wanting to give up scuba for the chance to hear though.
Another person in the comments mentions being deaf and being able to do everything, even driving. I must admit I’ve never thought about it before, but wouldn’t the inability to hear be incredibly dangerous while driving? No sirens, no horns honking, no “I hear a funny noise in my engine”. It seems like a much bigger concern than scuba diving.
Despite the controversy you have to admit that the technology is really frigging amazing.
Pfm. Pure fucking magic
Thanks for sharing.
Man, that was wonderful to see… I just kept flipping through videos and all checking it all out. 
I still remember the first sounds from the day I got my HA, that Audiologist visit was just so vividly ingrained into me. I don’t really recall the age I was (around 4-5) or anything else really about that day, but I still remember the first sounds I got to hear again. Very Cool to see others having similar experiences but even crazier as they’re so young and they’re getting CI’s! I only have hearing aids and I love having them, but it’s great to see the CI technology getting better and better each year for if I ever need them.
The only other experience that came close to it was when I was losing my vision and got glasses during college, and walked out and realized “Huh… apparently you’re supposed to be able to see the leaves at the top of trees” and all, it was just so insidious how it just creeps up on you and you don’t even realize what you’re missing out and what’s “normal” for ya when it’s gone.
When my father got his hearing aid, he spent the first few days wondering when the world had become so noisy… I think myself that the world is getting more noisy, and having a whole decade or more of that catch up with you all at once must be seriously disorienting!
As for the scuba thing: kids (and adults) with cochlear implants have to live with certain restrictions, because they’ve got a pretty delicate little piece of electronics in their heads. I hadn’t heard that scuba diving is out but I think that’s what they’re talking about. (A more common issue is static electricity; things like plastic slides and even balloons can be a problem is precautions aren’t taken.)
This made mrs.kidneyfailure start to cry. She’s having a baby in a few months and everything about babies makes her all weepy.
Swear to god, I’ve skimmed the thread titles several times and each time read it as “8 month old baby bears for the first time”, and thought WTF??
There’s still controversy, but CI is getting more and more accepted in the Deaf community.
Back when hearing aids were first introduced they were NOT accepted at ALL by the Deaf community. And actually it DOES seem like a lot of people who don’t really know the Deaf community all that well unilaterallly paint the entire Deaf community as being hardcore against CIs, just b/c we have some reservations about CIs.
I think more and more Deaf people are beginning to understand that CI is for people who have maxed out their hearing aids. And I think the acceptance of CIs will make Deaf culture more hard of hearing friendly, and less infested with people who are “Deafer then thou”
Actually Meyer6, many dhh as babies/toddlers learn how to compensate VISUALLY. We don’t think of ourselves as being “hearing impaired” but rather as VISUAL/Sighted. No sirens? We can see the flashing lights…horns honking are annoying…there ARE ways to strongly compensate. It’s not like we’re blind/low vision.
Hey, I meant no insult and I’m sorry if the question came off as snarky. I do appreciate that you learn to compensate, and of course I know that deaf does not equal blind. I’m just surprised driving is safe - after all, surely there is only so much compensating you can do? Flashing lights are good - hell, sometimes I see those before I hear the siren too - but they are usually not visible until after the siren in heard, especially if there is a bend in the road. Honking is annoying, but sometimes warning you of impending danger.
I believe you if you say it’s okay, you obviously know more about it that I do. It’s honestly something I’ve never though about before. I am just surprised, especially after budista mentioned the danger of scuba diving, that it is safe.
One way to replicate it (I don’t suggest it though) is to put on headphones while driving and blast your music (not to painful levels, but to a distracting level) to where you can’t really hear anything outside of your car. You’ll find that it’s still possible to get about in the world for the most part, but yeah- you will be slightly distracted the whole time- but you should still be able to make it to the store and such and back. The key then is to basically realize that you’re down for certain things- you can see lights and all just fine- it’s the auditory things- so you just look out for those more- so you have to increase your vigilance and basically keep scanning for lights or up and down the roads to SEE signs of trouble or rough spots and you have to follow the rules, because if someone’s honking- you’re not hearing that- so best to just avoid getting honked at.
It’s that sorta thing, basically you increase your defensive driving skills to compensate- but you don’t really need your ears to drive, and there are people out there who tend to blast music in their cars so loud that you wonder if they can hear what’s really going on, or if they’re just as distracted.
Here’s an example of how things would sound with cochlear implants:
Fascinating. With the higher number of channels, speech is recognizable if not great; music is still a lost cause.