Healthcast: Surgery Restores Newborns' Hearing
WTAE-TV's Marilyn Brooks Reports
UPDATED: 9:01 a.m. EST February 26, 2001
A number of things can take away the hearing of a newborn baby. Now, something can give it back.
Cochlear implants are being successfully performed on babies as young as 12 months, WTAE-TV medical editor Marilyn Brooks reports.
Barry Hirsch, director of otolaryngology at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, recently performed the surgery on a local child. He tells Brooks that the younger the child, the better the chance that the surgery will work because babies' brains are still pliable enough to learn to use the implant.
Click here to learn more about cochlear implants.
Related Links:
- ThePittsburghChannel.com's Signs Around Pittsburgh -- a place for deaf and hard-of-hearing people to meet, share upcoming events and activities and spread awareness of deaf culture and related organizations.
- UPMC Eye and Ear Institute
Copyright 2001 by ThePittsburghChannel. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
