People may not realize that there have been amazing advances in technology that can help deaf children hear again. It’s called a cochlear implant, a surgical implant that amplifies sound waves directly into a child’s brain — and allows them to hear again.

A study in the current Otolaryngology, discussed in the New York Times (Vital Signs), had post-surgery children fill out a quality-of-life questionnaire; this group experienced “quality of life similar to that of normal-hearing peers”. That’s a wonderful result!

You can read more about this exciting technology from the U.S. National Instititute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.