KLEMME, IA - A north Iowa youngster is hearing for the first time thanks to a special device.
Last July, KIMT News 3 introduced you to Evan Welsh of Klemme.
Evan was born profoundly deaf in both ears, and had no luck with hearing aids.
His parents decided to go with cochlear implants to give evan a chance to hear the sounds around him.
In September, evan received his implants and can now do something he's never done before, hear.
Doctors say the implants are working, loud and clear.
Evan is already showing great progress and his parents are beaming that their one-year-old has gone from complete silence to sound.
"Evan, what's a truck say? vroooom." says his mother Clarissa Welsh.
Evan responds with, "vrooom!"
This is exactly the response Clarissa and Rich Welsh have been waiting a year to hear and they give all the credit to what they call his "super ears."
"He knows that he's making sound and he wants to hear himself," says Evan's father, Rich Welsh.
Shortly after Evan's birth, his parents learned their little man couldn't hear anything.
Through his first year of life, he spent time learning sign language to communicate with his family and worked with a teacher for the deaf and hard of hearing.
"He's just now learning to listen. His hearing age started the day of activation. So that part of his brain is just starting to work," says Clarissa Welsh, Evan's mother.
His cochlear implant activation happened in September, just a few weeks after undergoing surgery at
the University of Iowa Children's Hospital.
A team of surgeons worked the 4 hour procedure.
The surgeons implanted electrodes directly into Evan's inner ear.
The implant will directly send sound to Evan's auditory nerve.
"Typically when children are implanted early like Evan at age 1, they will develop normal language and speech patterns," says Marlan Hansen. M.D., with the Department of Otolaryngology at University of Iowa Children's Hospital.
The University of Iowa Children's Hospitals became the first to perform cochlear implant surgery on a child.
Now 20 years later nearly 35 children each year receive cochlear implants at the medical facility, and double that number of adults.
Only those who are profoundly deaf who don't get any benefit from hearing aids receive the implant.
"We've been doing these for over 25 years, so we have a large team and research component," says Dr. Hansen.
It look like the little Hawkeye fan is wearing headphones, but they are actually the coils Evan wears.
Coils with magnets that pair up with internal magnets and the implants.
Sound processors he wears on his back send signals to the implanted electrodes, which can convert sound into an electrical signal the auditory nerve can interpret.
While little Evan needed cochlear implants to help him hear, most people find help through hearing aids. In most cases you don't even know the device is there.
The history of hearing aids dates back to the early 1800's when people used hearing trumpets.
By the 1930's they became portable with smaller batteries and smaller hearing aids.
It wasn't until the 1950's when hearing aids really started taking off with the development of the transistor.
Then in the mid 1990's the dawn of the digital age brought a transformation to the hearing aid industry.
Local hearing aid specialists say patients notice big differences between hearing instruments of the past, and the digital devices worn today.
"They're much happier with the newer technology because they are more comfortable to wear, less conspicuous, and provide them better hearing in more listening situations," says Calvin Trepp, Hearing Instrument Specialist.
Trepp says finding out if your ears need a little extra help is as simple as a hearing test.
"Hearing loss is a painless process. So people will put it off, and put it off, ok so there's a lot of technology today that will help people hear better," says Trepp.
Experts say it's a good idea to have your hearing tested once a year if you're around a lot of loud noises frequently.
Normal ears, about every three years.
Meanwhile, Evan adjusts to the world of sound around him.
Learning something new each day.
"It's been fun to watch him explore the world of sound, and we're only beginning. He will always be deaf. Even with the implant. When it's off he has no sound, So to be able to communicate with sign language and verbally and have the best of both worlds, hopefully is the plan," says Clarissa.
"It's more of a miracle really, that he can hear, and he's gone from silence to sound," says Rich.
It's baby steps for Evan now, but with each new sound he tries to make, it's a huge leap for someone who just a short time ago, couldn't hear a thing.
evan will continue to work with a team at the university of iowa children's hospital, especially this first year with the implants.
The goal is to have evan caught up with speech and language development by the time he goes to school.
Evan is also taking part in a clinical study at the University of Iowa Children's Hospital.
If you'd like to follow Evan's story, his parents keep a blog about his progress.
Just click on the related links to this story to find that, plus
links with more information about cochlear implants and hearing instruments.
