Parents' Perspectives
The following quotes are from parents of young cochlear implant recipients or recipients who received their implant as a child, all of whom are served at the Boys Town National Research Hospital Cochlear Implant Center:
“Our daughter has made great progress in her communication skills thanks to the use of her cochlear implant. It has been a true miracle. She is able to hear and understand verbal communication with little or no help from sign language. She would otherwise be totally deaf without the use of this device.”
--Parent of a child implanted at age 15 months
“The cochlear implant has allowed my child access to sound. My child is profoundly deaf, but now has choices and opportunities I believe he would not have had without the implant. He is able to speak and can choose whether to sign or not to sign, to use an interpreter or rely on his implant and lip reading. The cochlear implant did not “fix” my child (he is not broken), it simply allows more accessibility and choices in this hearing world.”
--Parent of a child implanted at age 22 months
“I’ve had my CI for almost 10 years now and it has helped me so much. I love it! Thank you, Boys Town!”
--Cochlear implant recipient, age 17 years
“Our daughter is doing great and picking up listening skills quickly.”
--Parent of a child implanted at age 2 years
“It is so wonderful to hear our profoundly deaf daughter talk clearly. The cochlear implant is a great tool that will let our daughter attend our neighborhood schools just like her hearing brother. She is acting like any 3 year old these days! We are even looking at getting her a second implant soon!”
--Parent of a child implanted at age 18 months
“My cochlear implant is so wonderful and I’m getting better at hearing. I love my cochlear implant. I have been listening and I hear lots of birds singing outside. And I heard a train in the morning, kids playing across the street and I can talk to my Grandma on the telephone. I’m so happy I got my cochlear implant!”
--Cochlear implant recipient, age 12 years
“Our experience … couldn’t have been better. The staff was kind and understanding and completely helpful. When she was turned on a month later was amazing. She seem[ed] fascinated by the whole process. Now seven months later she is making sense of it all and starting to talk some. Our only regret is that we didn’t do it sooner.”
--Parent of a child implanted at age 2 years
The following websites contain personal accounts of the cochlear implantation process from the parents’ perspective. Boys Town National Research Hospital and the Lied Learning and Technology Center for Childhood Deafness and Vision Disorders is in no way affiliated with or responsible for the information contained in the following websites:
Hearing and Balance
