One-year-old Ayla had a simply adorable reaction to hearing her first sounds.
Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas shared video of the baby's reaction to her new cochlear implants.
Ayla's mom held her as the implants were turned on. The baby immediately noticed and started to dance while putting her hand up to her ear.
The Esler family watched with smiles and tears as Ayla experienced hearing for the first time in her young life. Her mom was brought to sobs by the sweet experience.
Cook Children’s launched its cochlear implant program in 2006.
The patient wears a receiver inside the ear with a sound processor – essentially a microphone – behind the ear or attached to clothing. The processor picks up sounds or speech and converts it into “a special code” that is then transmitted to the receiver in the ear.
That code is then passed through the cochlea and ultimately to the brain for processing.