Brielle’s family was scared when they discovered that their little girl was born with hearing loss. Luckily, they were surrounded by a team of experts who provided a solution the family was excited to pursue. Brielle received a cochlear implant and with the support of her family she has become an exuberant girl who advocates for her cochlear implant, loves to run, bowl and dance. Read her story:
“Brielle was born with hearing loss in her right ear. The doctors kept telling us she had fluid still in her right ear and to try different positions when feeding to help absorb. A few weeks later we were referred to our local Children’s Hospital in Portland. We were unsure of what this meant but we went, and they confirmed Brielle had profound sensorineural hearing loss in her right ear1. Our audiologist was quick to explain what this meant for Brielle, and was even quicker to get us on the path to aiding the ear. We originally tried the Cochlear™ Baha® Start with a Softband; Brielle had no interest in wearing it and it didn’t seem to do anything for her hearing wise.
After a trial with the Baha Start with a Softband, our audiologist recommended we look into a cochlear implant (CI) as a next step. This was big scary news for us as parents and we didn’t know how big this world would become to us. After learning about the procedure and what potential it had for Brielle – we were sold.
Brielle’s new hearing solution – a cochlear implant
In May 2021 Brielle went to our local surgical facility to have the cochlear implant surgery. Surgery was a scary waiting process, but she came out with no complications and some fancy new equipment. About five weeks later her CI was activated.
At first it was tricky, and from my understanding it was because her brain was using one ear fully while trying to adjust to the different sound of an implant in her ear that had never heard before. After a few weeks of mapping and speech therapy, Brielle had it down. She always struggled with her hearing, her ability to locate sound, her balance was weirdly off and her speech was very behind. Within two months of her CI being activated she graduated speech therapy and was all of a sudden fluent with her speech. It was clear, it was confident and she was crushing milestones.
We chose to use Cochlear after a ton of research and weighing options. Cochlear had a huge family of support with nothing but good things to say. I also loved the idea of up-to-date equipment and cochlear just being so ‘on top of it.’ They didn’t prove us wrong either, they were amazing when it came to lost/broken equipment. The customer service reps checked in on us a few times shortly after activation just to make sure we were adapting well.
The biggest benefit we have seen with Brielle is her speech. We were so scared she was going to struggle with her speech and today, she is a loud, spunky and confident speaker. My favorite feature has been the Nucleus Smart App2 on my iPhone®3, which allows me the ability to track her hearing levels and interact with her sound processor directly from the app. We also LOVE the Mini Microphone 2+ especially for car rides or busy areas.
Making an impact on all of our lives
Having a child with a hearing loss was originally scary, I didn’t know the ‘what ifs’ or what any of it meant. Raising Brielle with hearing loss and later a cochlear implant has been such an amazing learning journey for us as a family. Our family has been nothing but supportive; researching hearing solutions like CI’s, learning American sign language (ASL) and doing anything to make it feel inclusive.
Brielle is a huge advocate for her cochlear implant at only 6 years old and is insanely responsible with her sound processor. She loves to tell other children and adults about what it is and why it helps her. She loves to show children that it’s a magnet to her head & makes it a fun learning opportunity at that level. She had a student in school receive a cochlear implant shortly after her, and Brielle was able to help this other young girl understand and see it as a ‘cool’ thing and not a scary experience.
Brielle has had nothing but an incredible experience with her cochlear implant and I’m so thankful for the company and everything they’ve done to support this journey.
Favorites and the future!
Some of Brielle’s favorite things to do are running, bowling, wrestling and dancing. She is ALWAYS on the go and moving and bopping around. I believe her CI set her up for this kind of success and confidence. We have watched an entirely different little girl grow up after she received her device. Her being able to communicate and balance by finding sound…life changing for her.
Honestly. Brielle’s goals are BIG. She wants to be a track star; she wants to be a ballerina and she wants to work in the beauty industry. She loves school and aims to surpass the bars set for her.
Thank you Cochlear for everything you’ve done for our family, it has been life changing and that’s always the first thing we tell people when asked about her journey. One of our big goals as a family is to make it to one of the Cochlear Celebration’s they host and meet other people like Brielle! She loooooves seeing other children with cochlear implants and always tells people ‘I have one too!’
Let me also add; we LOVE the option of having an ear mold. Brielle is sooooo active and has thick hair, so sometimes her sound processor falls off – she loves rocking her purple and blue glitter ear mold to keep it in place and secure to her head!❤️
Having an implant has drastically changed her life and all the worries we originally had, have all been laid to rest. We are so confident in Brielle’s future, and she’s even more confident in herself! Hearing loss won’t hold her back!” ❤️
If you have a child that was born with, or diagnosed with hearing loss, a cochlear implant may be a solution. Discover this technology today!
- The Cochlear Nucleus cochlear implant system is indicated for individuals 5 years or older who have one ear with a severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss and obtain limited benefit from an appropriately fitted unilateral hearing device and one ear with normal or near normal hearing.
- For a full list of smartphone and app compatible devices, visit: www.cochlear.com/compatibility.
- Apple, the Apple logo, and iPhone are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
