# Awwwww! Baby gets cochlear implant, hears mother's voice for the first time **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 28, 2010, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awwwww-baby-gets-cochlear-implant-hears-mothers-voice-for-the-first-time/558684 "2010-10-28T17:35:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awwwww-baby-gets-cochlear-implant-hears-mothers-voice-for-the-first-time/558684/1 "2010-10-28T17:35:08Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/HTzTt1VnHRM/hqdefault.jpg "8 Month Old Deaf Baby's Reaction To Cochlear Implant Being Activated") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTzTt1VnHRM) Pretty awesome, yet 115 soulless nutcases still insist on disliking it. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awwwww-baby-gets-cochlear-implant-hears-mothers-voice-for-the-first-time/558684/2 "2010-10-28T18:27:36Z")
I love those videos… YouTube has a ton of them. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awwwww-baby-gets-cochlear-implant-hears-mothers-voice-for-the-first-time/558684/3 "2010-10-28T19:07:53Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > Pretty awesome, yet 115 soulless nutcases still insist on disliking it. Well…there’s your garden variety trolls who dislike any video just for the sake if disliking it…then there’s people who aren’t trolls _per se_, but for some reason hate a lot of the “feel good” and “cutesy” type of videos (sometimes I’m one of those…well, I don’t _hate_ those kinds of videos, I’m generally indifferent to them…but I don’t go out of my way to click the dislike button.) And I suppose some of the dislikes could come from more radical members of the deaf community who hate cochlear implants and, at times, compare it to the Holocaust and/or eugenics. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awwwww-baby-gets-cochlear-implant-hears-mothers-voice-for-the-first-time/558684/4 "2010-10-28T19:21:57Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > And I suppose some of the dislikes could come from more radical members of the deaf community who hate cochlear implants and, at times, compare it to the Holocaust and/or eugenics. They are certainly an issue. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awwwww-baby-gets-cochlear-implant-hears-mothers-voice-for-the-first-time/558684/5 "2010-10-28T20:04:53Z")
Cochlear implants, or people who mistake deafness for a virtue? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awwwww-baby-gets-cochlear-implant-hears-mothers-voice-for-the-first-time/558684/6 "2010-10-28T20:20:30Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > Cochlear implants, or people who mistake deafness for a virtue? Implants are sometimes an issue. So is Deaf Culture, obviously. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awwwww-baby-gets-cochlear-implant-hears-mothers-voice-for-the-first-time/558684/7 "2010-10-28T23:30:04Z")
Well, my eyes watered. Powerful stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awwwww-baby-gets-cochlear-implant-hears-mothers-voice-for-the-first-time/558684/8 "2010-10-29T00:09:16Z")
So if a mama duck had quacked at the baby before the mother could say something, would the baby imprint onto the duck instead? ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awwwww-baby-gets-cochlear-implant-hears-mothers-voice-for-the-first-time/558684/9 "2010-10-29T02:22:33Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTzTt1VnHRM](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTzTt1VnHRM) > > Pretty awesome, yet 115 soulless nutcases still insist on disliking it. I saw this a while ago but it’s still great. The best is the dumbstruck look on the baby’s face and the way he completely drops the pacifier. I assume in baby thought, he’s thinking: “W…T…F?!” … “Wow.” … “OK, maybe this is a good thing.” … 😃 ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awwwww-baby-gets-cochlear-implant-hears-mothers-voice-for-the-first-time/558684/10 "2010-10-29T03:50:47Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > Well…there’s your garden variety trolls who dislike any video just for the sake if disliking it…then there’s people who aren’t trolls _per se_, but for some reason hate a lot of the “feel good” and “cutesy” type of videos (sometimes I’m one of those…well, I don’t _hate_ those kinds of videos, I’m generally indifferent to them…but I don’t go out of my way to click the dislike button.) > > And I suppose some of the dislikes could come from more radical members of the deaf community who hate cochlear implants and, at times, compare it to the Holocaust and/or eugenics. Or it could be from people who just plain hate babies. Yes there are such people on the Internet. (Not me, I hasten to say.) ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awwwww-baby-gets-cochlear-implant-hears-mothers-voice-for-the-first-time/558684/11 "2010-10-29T05:35:28Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > Cochlear implants, or people who mistake deafness for a virtue? I’ve never known a Deaf person who considers deafness to be a virtue. Deaf people simply consider deafness to be _not an undesirable state of being_, much to the eternal puzzlement of hearing people. ---
**Author:** ![ColdPhoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@ColdPhoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColdPhoenix)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awwwww-baby-gets-cochlear-implant-hears-mothers-voice-for-the-first-time/558684/12 "2010-10-29T07:50:08Z")
G’ah! Six months ago I’d have been indifferent about that video but now that I have a son my eyes have gone all watery. Stupid kids!!! ---
**Author:** ![margin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@margin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/margin)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awwwww-baby-gets-cochlear-implant-hears-mothers-voice-for-the-first-time/558684/13 "2010-10-29T18:09:12Z")
He just drops the pacifier and gets a huge smile on his little face. Adorable. But don’t those cochlear implants have cords and stuff? How on earth do they keep the baby from messing with that stuff? ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awwwww-baby-gets-cochlear-implant-hears-mothers-voice-for-the-first-time/558684/14 "2010-10-29T23:40:45Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > And I suppose some of the dislikes could come from more radical members of the deaf community who hate cochlear implants and, at times, compare it to the Holocaust and/or eugenics. This was my first thought. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awwwww-baby-gets-cochlear-implant-hears-mothers-voice-for-the-first-time/558684/15 "2010-10-30T02:22:42Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > I’ve never known a Deaf person who considers deafness to be a virtue. Deaf people simply consider deafness to be _not an undesirable state of being_, much to the eternal puzzlement of hearing people. Which is odd considering a deaf person with eyes would understand that lack of sight would be an undesirability state of being. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awwwww-baby-gets-cochlear-implant-hears-mothers-voice-for-the-first-time/558684/16 "2010-10-30T02:39:53Z")
I saw a program on an older couple who were deaf and married for about 50 years. They were told they could get implants and hear. They did it and were fascinated by hearing for a while. Then they both started to turn them off ,more a little each day. Eventually they turned them off completely. The loud noise of the day just repelled them. At first the sound of surf was attractive. But eventually it seemed like a punch press. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awwwww-baby-gets-cochlear-implant-hears-mothers-voice-for-the-first-time/558684/17 "2010-10-30T03:52:34Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Which is odd considering a deaf person with eyes would understand that lack of sight would be an undesirability state of being. But the deaf are much more isolated in many ways; the blind can still talk to others directly, while the deaf have to write or to use sign language that only a smallish minority of outsiders understand. Deafness isolates you from people, while blindness makes it harder to function with things. This has caused them to form their own subculture with its own hierarchy; and the people with power and prestige within that society depend on the existence of deafness and the isolation of its victims to keep their position. If deafness becomes a thing of the past the formerly deaf will no longer need them as an interface with the rest of society, and they go from big frogs in a small pond to no one of consequence. So, anyone with prestige in the deaf community has every reason to convince deaf people that deafness is something valuable, and that attempts to cure them are a genocidal assault. ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awwwww-baby-gets-cochlear-implant-hears-mothers-voice-for-the-first-time/558684/18 "2010-10-30T15:37:06Z")
Mmm, that’s not entirely true. I have vitiligo, a benign but socially brutal skin condition. All that I wanted was to have the vitiligo gone from my face, so that I wasn’t treated as a social pariah the rest of my life. After reaching the level I was satisfied with, I didn’t bother with it again. Years later when I sought out a dermatologist for acne (then a second time as the first moved away) both strongly encouraged me to continue with my light therapy to completely eradicate the vitiligo from my body, purely for cosmetic and social reasons. I’ve chosen not to. I don’t see it as a scourge that I did as a child. I grew a tough and resilient skin from the taunting and teasing, and it’s made me into the person I am today - extremely confident and able to control social situations. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and all that. So while I’ve never experienced any hearing loss, no doubt these people have had to cope isolation and by coping it’s made them stronger, more resilient people. It’s shaped who they are today. It’s tough to want to completely overhaul your life, especially since it means your prior existence was subpar and worth little, if anything. It’s the acknowledgment that you’re currently imperfect, when in your mind you’ve grown to accept yourself. Rejecting that self-acceptance is starting back at square one psychologically. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awwwww-baby-gets-cochlear-implant-hears-mothers-voice-for-the-first-time/558684/19 "2010-10-30T16:07:30Z")
I can’t watch these. I’ve seen a couple of these videos already, and [del]I start crying[/del] massive amounts of dust seem to get into my eye, just as I’m watching the video every time. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awwwww-baby-gets-cochlear-implant-hears-mothers-voice-for-the-first-time/558684/20 "2010-10-30T16:16:09Z")
I think it’s wonderful that deaf people have a culture of their own, but it’s a culture grown out of isolation and hardship, and it’s profoundly fucked up to want to inflict isolation and hardship on people when there’s an alternative. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awwwww-baby-gets-cochlear-implant-hears-mothers-voice-for-the-first-time/558684.md?page=2)