Jacob’s arrival into the world in Ardmore, Oklahoma was just perfect in every way.  Until.  Until the nurse arrived to tell his mother and father he had referred on his hearing screening.  They worried.  They fretted.  Within days of leaving the hospital, his parents followed up with an audiologist who immediately referred Jacob to the professionals now at Hearts for Hearing in Oklahoma City.  Jacob was diagnosed with bilateral profound hearing loss.  His family was devastated.  They cried.  Their hopes and dreams were shattered.  As two hearing parents they wanted Jacob to learn to listen and talk. Without delay Jacob was fit with hearing aids at six weeks of age and began Auditory-Verbal therapy.  His parents persevered, traveling weekly to Oklahoma City for Auditory-Verbal therapy, earmolds and aggressive audiological management with the Hearts for Hearing team.  Jacob wore his hearing aids during all waking hours and during Auditory-Verbal therapy his family learned strategies to create auditory living.  Because Jacob’s hearing loss was profound, he received a cochlear implant at 12 months of age in his right ear and a second cochlear implant in his left ear at 22 months of age.  Today, at age 4 years of age, Jacob has speech and language skills equal to normal hearing kids and attends Pre-Kindergarten in the regular classroom at his neighborhood skills.

Here is Jacob at 13 months of age in his first therapy session immediately following activation of his first implant:

Fast forward to Jacob at age 3 years, 11 months:

Fast forward to Jacob at age 3 years, 11 months: