Cochlear Implant Allows Baby To Hear First Sounds

From: ClickonSA.com - San Antonio,TX,USA - Mar 25, 2005

Family Traveled From Mexico For Procedure

SAN ANTONIO -- An 8-month-old boy from Mexico heard his first sounds Thursday after receiving a cochlear implant at Methodist Hospital on Wednesday.

Doctors turned the implant on Thursday morning, allowing Aldo Lopez Barrientos to hear for the first time in his life.

Audiologist Steve Scott said Aldo's first sounds frightened him.

"He's hearing for the first time and he's just hearing noise. Even though we're talking, it just sounds like noise to him. And any of us, if we were listing to noise all the time, that wouldn't be a fun thing to have listen to. So, its a process and then he'll slowly start to get the meaning behind that noise. That's when it will really turn into useful sound for him," said Scott.

Through a translator, Aldo's father said that because of the implant, his son now has a bright future.

"He will now have a life like other children. He'll be able to go to college and have a career. Many of the doctors tell us that he will be able to do what any other child can do," said Antonio Lopez.

Even though Aldo faces years of therapy, his parents said they are thrilled that he will finally be able to hear them say that they love him.

Aldo's parents found out about the implant after they saw a child with one at a supermarket in their hometown of Monterrey, Mexico.

After doing some research, they traveled to San Antonio to get the procedure done.

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