Miss-Delectable
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
- Messages
- 17,160
- Reaction score
- 7
http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=1294996
THE sound of carols has brought joy to a 12-year-old girl who can hear for the first time this Christmas.
Josie Caven was born profoundly deaf and since the age of two has worn hearing aids which allowed her to distinguish a few sounds.
But cochlear implants have now brought the music of the festive season flooding into Josie's life and have left her gasping in amazement.
She shouted out in surprise when she realised she was listening to Jingle Bells on the radio for the first time and her friends are getting used to stopping to listen to carol singers.
Josie, of Birstwith, near Harrogate, said: "It is so nice to hear music, especially Christmas carols. I think they sound lovely and I ask my friends to stop and listen when we hear them in town.
"Now that I can hear I feel so much happier and more confident, it has changed everything for me. This is going to be my best Christmas and I've asked mum and dad for an iPod so I can listen to the Black Eyed Peas and McFly."
Josie, who lives with mother Teresa, 37, her father Richard, 43, sister Olivia, 10 and brother Anthony, four, suffers wide vestibular aqueduct syndrome.
The illness, which Olivia also suffers from, causes deafness because it allows an exchange of fluids which damages the inner ear.
Her mother, who runs a country pub with Richard, said: "The implants have made such a dramatic change to Josie's life, I have never seen her so happy.
"Christmas is going to be wonderful this year because she is taking in all these amazing sounds for the first time. She heard Jingle Bells on the radio and when she looked up her face was a picture as she realised what she was listening to.
"And she loves the carols, she thinks they are beautiful and just sits and listens to them so intently. She wants an iPod for Christmas. There is a wire which can go directly to the implants so it will be like having her favourite music inside her head. She has always liked music but has never been able to appreciate it properly until now."
Josie was given an analogue hearing aid when she was found to be deaf aged two years and two months and four years ago she received a digital hearing aid which helped her pick out conversation a little more clearly.
She was able to start mainstream lessons, having spent her early years in a special school.
But the every day noise at St Aidan's Church of England School, Harrogate, left her feeling isolated and withdrawn.
When specialists discovered her hearing was diminishing in the summer she was referred for implants at Bradford Royal Infirmary.
In the months that followed she went completely deaf and then could hear only bleeping which increased gradually in volume as the implants were switched on. Slowly she was able to hear more and more and is now as close to having full hearing as she will ever be.
Her mother said: "She is having to learn what each new sound is and what it means. She will ask 'was that a door closing?' and has realised for the first time the light in her room hums when it is switched on.
"She can hear the engine in the car and is having proper conversations with people for the first time. She even knows what her name sounds like now, because before she could not hear the soft 'S' sound in the middle of the word.
"Seeing her face light up as she hears everything around her is all I could have wished for this Christmas."
THE sound of carols has brought joy to a 12-year-old girl who can hear for the first time this Christmas.
Josie Caven was born profoundly deaf and since the age of two has worn hearing aids which allowed her to distinguish a few sounds.
But cochlear implants have now brought the music of the festive season flooding into Josie's life and have left her gasping in amazement.
She shouted out in surprise when she realised she was listening to Jingle Bells on the radio for the first time and her friends are getting used to stopping to listen to carol singers.
Josie, of Birstwith, near Harrogate, said: "It is so nice to hear music, especially Christmas carols. I think they sound lovely and I ask my friends to stop and listen when we hear them in town.
"Now that I can hear I feel so much happier and more confident, it has changed everything for me. This is going to be my best Christmas and I've asked mum and dad for an iPod so I can listen to the Black Eyed Peas and McFly."
Josie, who lives with mother Teresa, 37, her father Richard, 43, sister Olivia, 10 and brother Anthony, four, suffers wide vestibular aqueduct syndrome.
The illness, which Olivia also suffers from, causes deafness because it allows an exchange of fluids which damages the inner ear.
Her mother, who runs a country pub with Richard, said: "The implants have made such a dramatic change to Josie's life, I have never seen her so happy.
"Christmas is going to be wonderful this year because she is taking in all these amazing sounds for the first time. She heard Jingle Bells on the radio and when she looked up her face was a picture as she realised what she was listening to.
"And she loves the carols, she thinks they are beautiful and just sits and listens to them so intently. She wants an iPod for Christmas. There is a wire which can go directly to the implants so it will be like having her favourite music inside her head. She has always liked music but has never been able to appreciate it properly until now."
Josie was given an analogue hearing aid when she was found to be deaf aged two years and two months and four years ago she received a digital hearing aid which helped her pick out conversation a little more clearly.
She was able to start mainstream lessons, having spent her early years in a special school.
But the every day noise at St Aidan's Church of England School, Harrogate, left her feeling isolated and withdrawn.
When specialists discovered her hearing was diminishing in the summer she was referred for implants at Bradford Royal Infirmary.
In the months that followed she went completely deaf and then could hear only bleeping which increased gradually in volume as the implants were switched on. Slowly she was able to hear more and more and is now as close to having full hearing as she will ever be.
Her mother said: "She is having to learn what each new sound is and what it means. She will ask 'was that a door closing?' and has realised for the first time the light in her room hums when it is switched on.
"She can hear the engine in the car and is having proper conversations with people for the first time. She even knows what her name sounds like now, because before she could not hear the soft 'S' sound in the middle of the word.
"Seeing her face light up as she hears everything around her is all I could have wished for this Christmas."
