In many ways, Caiden Moran is an average five-year-old boy. Running around his front yard, climbing trees and playing with his brother, the only difference you might notice is the small device on the side of his head.
"Caiden was born, and before we left the hospital we did the newborn hearing screening. And he had failed, so we came back a week later, did the test again, failed again," said his mother Danielle Moran.
Caiden was born profoundly Deaf, with no cochleas an inner part of the ear that converts sound to nerve impulses and sends them to the brain. At the time doctors confirmed baby Caiden was deaf his father Tommy a member of the U.S. Navy had been deployed to Hawaii.
"I was sad," he said. "I didn't know anybody who was Deaf, I didn't know sign language, I didn't know how to be a good dad and raise a Deaf child."
Because Caiden had no cochleas, a cochlear implant would be of no help. Instead, his parents learned sign language, assuming it would be the only way their son could ever communicate. Then, by chance, Danielle heard about a potential solution an auditory brainstem implant (ABI).
An ABI consists of a microphone and transmitter on the head, which convert sounds from the outside world into electrical signals. Those signals are transmitted to an internal receiver made up of electrodes, implanted on the brainstem. The auditory neurons are stimulated directly in the brain, bypassing the inner ear completely... Read The Full Story.
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