My Cochlear Implant

 

Hi, my name is Javier, I am 10 years old and I want to tell you my story. I was born in Madrid Spain. As a baby, my parents played with me and I did not pay too much attention to them because I did not understand. When I was 2 years old, I barely spoke a few words and that worried my parents.

They took me to the ear doctor, the audiologist. The doctor told my parents that I could not hear anything from the right ear and from the left I heard a little, so they had to put me devices to listen. They put some headphones on me and I started to hear some noises. The doctor told my parents that there was a device called a “Cochlear Implant” that would help restoring my hearing in the right ear.

When I was 2 1/2 years old I had surgery and a cochlear implant was put in my right ear. The inner part of the cochlear implant is inside the snail in a bone called "mastoid" and the outer part I put on with a magnet. In the left ear, I kept the hearing aid. I was in the hospital for a couple of days. I do not remember very well because I was very little and it did not hurt at all.

After a month, they took me to do the programming of my implant. It was very exciting to hear for the first time the voice of my mother, my father, my sister, and everything that happens in the world. When I first heard the television, the telephone, the dogs, the birds, so many things that I saw that existed, it was great, because I did not know how it was to heard and little by little I learned to listen to them.

One day that I really liked was when I first heard the sound of the sea. I don't always take my hearing aids to the beach because they can break down. I have also learned to take good care of them; they cannot get wet, I must charge the batteries at night so that I can hear during the day, I must not bend the cables, and I must put them in special boxes to remove moisture.

Little by little I began to hear all the sounds and it is impressive. With my parents, the therapists and my teachers I am learning to listen and speak. Now I know what the words mean. Every day I hear and speak better. I am learning to read and write. I always wear the cochlear implant and my hearing aid so that I can listen to my parents, my sister and my friends and recognize everything that happens around me. I really like video games, listen to music and watch videos in my computer. I can do it thanks to my devices. Every day I discover new sounds and everything that exists in the world and it is very nice to discover it!

                                                         Javier Liberos Ahumada

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The School Magazine.