the profoundly deaf girl who found her voice after brain surgery - at home skin tightening devices

Seven-year-
Old Leia Armitage was completely silent in the first two years of her life, but, thanks to pioneering brain surgery and years of treatment, she finally found her voice, and finally can tell parents that she loves them.
"We were told that you could put a bomb behind her, and if it exploded, she couldn't hear it at all," said Leia's father, Bob . ", When he recalled discovering that their daughter had a rare severe deafness.
Leia, from dungenham in east London, does not have the inner ear and auditory nerves, which means that even standard hearing aids or cochlear implants will not help her.
As a result, she never wanted to talk.
But despite the risks, her parents are fighting for her to become one of the first children in the UK to receive an auditory brain stem implant, requiring complex brain surgery when she is two years old.
The UK's National Health Service system calls surgery "real life"
Change ", and said it will provide funds for the implantation of other deaf children in a similar position.
It is estimated that approximately 15 children will be assessed each year for surgery and 9 children will continue to undergo surgery.
Choosing this type of brain surgery is a huge decision for them, Bob said, but "we want to give Leia the best chance of life ".
He and his wife, Alison, hope that after the NHS foundation trust fund surgery at Guy and St. Thomas, she will be able to hear the sound of a horn from a car while crossing the road --
To make her safer in this world.
However, in the five years after her surgery, her progress was much greater than they expected.
It started very slowly, and Leia turned over when she heard the door shut shortly after the operation.
Gradually, when her parents kept repeating the words and asked her to imitate the sound, she began to understand the concept of the sound.
Now, after a lot of regular language and language therapy, she can put the complete sentences together and try to sing along with the music and hear the sound on the phone.
"When we go downstairs, we can call her upstairs and she will hear us," Bob explained . ".
But this is in mainstream schools, in a classroom with hearing children, and because the assistant who uses sign language gives her a lot of sign language, Leia is really flyingto-one time.
"She's getting more and more popular, and in most things she's not far from the rest of her age," Bob said . ".
At home, her parents like to use her voice best.
"Dad, I love you" is probably the best thing I 've ever heard her say, Bob said.
"When I asked her to go to bed, she now said 'good night Mama, 'which I never thought I would hear," Alison said . ". The cutting-
Marginal surgery involves inserting devices directly into the brain to stimulate auditory pathways in children without cochlear or auditory nerves.
The microphone and sound processor unit, worn on the side of the head, then transmits the sound to the implant.
This electrical stimulation provides hearing, but does not guarantee a return to normal hearing.
However, Professor Jiang Dan, consultant ear specialist and clinical director of the hearing implant center at Guy and St. Thomas NHS Foundation Trust, said that some children can develop a certain degree of language.
"The result is variable.
"Some people will do better than others," he said . ".
"They have to adapt and younger children do better, so we like to insert implants as early as possible if possible.
"Children under the age of five are best placed to learn new sound concepts and respond to intensive treatment," he said.
Susan Daniels, chief executive officer of the National Association of deaf children, said: "Every deaf child is different, and for some people, technology like auditory brain stem implant can be the right choice, and can have a huge impact on their lives.
"With the right support, deaf children can be as successful as their hearing peers, and this investment is another important step towards a society without deaf children falling behind.