Meet Robbie Barnes

Oklahoma! belted out 12-year-old Robbie Barnes while participating in the chorus of his schools musical production.

Watching him sing with so much feeling, no bystander would be surprised to learn he truly enjoys music. Besides singing, he loves playing the recorder, violin, and piano. But to those who know him, Robbies ability to enjoy music is nothing short of amazing.

Robbie Barnes was born deaf. Yet for most of his life, Robbie has been able to hear. Thats because he has a Nucleus cochlear implant.

Robbies deafness was diagnosed at 13 months. Two months later, he was fitted with hearing aides. He received weekly speech therapy and auditory-verbal therapy, and was enrolled in an early intervention program. At first, he made progress, but hit a plateau around his third birthday. Thats when his parents began to investigate the options for a cochlear implant.

They soon learned they had a choice in brands for cochlear implants. After exploring the options, their decision came down to customer service.

We were concerned about the ceramic casing of some implants, knowing how active young boys could be. Then we discovered that Cochlears Nucleus system has a silicone casing. The durability of the silicone casing was appealing, but there was a problem. We were concerned about Robbies allergy to silicone, says Robbies mom.

Before going forward with an implant, [Name] needed to know whether Robbie would have an adverse reaction to the silicone coating from Nucleus implants casing. To find out, Cochlear sent several samples of the silicone material to Robbies doctor. The doctor determined Robbie would not have a problem with the casing.

We were very impressed when Cochlear took the time to address our son's allergy. That customer service was the deciding factor. We went with the Nucleus system.

As the years have gone by, Robbie has upgraded his speech processor, and now uses the ESPrit 3G for the Nucleus 22. He likes its style, how inconspicuous it is, and the freedom from the long cord going to the body processor.

I have to say, weve been impressed with Cochlears commitment to offering updates as technology improves. It shows that customer service is still Cochlears main concern.

When asked what she likes most about Robbies Nucleus implant, she says, There are no language barriers holding him back from relationships with his family. He is active in sports, Cub Scouts, and our church, and carries himself with confidence and a joy of life. He is able to follow his interests, whether that is a Civil War reenactment, Space Camp, or musical performance. The implant has allowed Robbie to be the child he was meant to be.