Ear implants bring out new world

Palmerston North mum Christine Prasitdamrong still remembers the look on little Ally's face the first day she heard sound.

"It was just amazing," she said of the "switch on" of the then 21-month-old's first cochlear implant. They were so impressed, they paid for a second implant themselves.

Now seven-years-old, Ally is enjoying ballet lessons, learning to play the violin and piano and preparing to recite a poem at Carncot School's production of The Nutcracker. These are all skills that have become possible since joining the hearing world, but Mrs Prasitdamrong said the success didn't happen overnight.

"The implant and the switch on don't solve the problem," she said.

Profoundly deaf during her early years, and using her eyes to communicate while not attempting to verbalise, Ally had to learn how to filter out background noise and understand language.

"It was a lot for her to absorb, hearing everything at once, but she is quite resilient and took it well," she said.

It takes a great deal of rehabilitation, particularly auditory-verbal therapy, to help children catch up with the language abilities of their naturally-hearing peers.

While one cochlear implant per patient is paid for by the taxpayer, The Hearing House and the Southern Cochlear Implant Paediatric Programme still rely on public fundraising to keep their ongoing services free for families.

Mrs Prasitdamrong said she was delighted all New Zealand babies were now being screened as newborns for hearing loss, and could be fitted with hearing aids and implants much younger than Ally was.

"It's the best thing we can do," she said.

"If we can help babies to hear at three months, it's so much better – they don't have all that lost time to make up for."

Ally has conscripted Palmerston North mayor Jono Naylor as an ambassador for the charity's Loud Shirt Day on September 17, yesterday presenting him with a shocking yellow tee-shirt to wear on the day.

"I'm happy to promote great causes, and welcome any excuse to wear a tee-shirt to work," he said after receiving the bright shirt.

Mr Naylor was also rather taken by the concept that cochlear implant users can turn the devices off, returning to a world of silence.

"That could be handy for council meetings," he said.

Mrs Prasitdamrong, owner of Flavour Bistro in Downtown, is hosting a $10 buffet breakfast on Loud Shirt Day, and hopes other businesses and schools will have mufti days with a loud shirt theme to help "give deaf kids a voice".

- © Fairfax NZ News