Hope for the Deaf/Hoh

[wendybeth]

Thanks- it is exciting news for us! This is one of the many things that make the choice of getting a cochlear implant so hard for families, because the implant process destroys the cochlea. However, in many of these cases, the kids have had meningitis, which often causes the cochlea to ossify (harden) within a few months post illness, so they have to move fast if they are going to do it at all. Then, you have the limited time frame to teach speech as well- most kids speech centers start to shut down by age nine. It's a tough choice, and one I'm grateful we never had to make.