Meet Sara Barnes

If anyone had ever told me that I would need to ask my deaf child to be quiet for just 10 minutes, I'd have laughed, says Saras mom.

Seven-year-old Sara was born deaf. Yet Sara hearsand talksnon-stop. She wants to be friends with everyone, to ask their opinion, and to share hers. Thats thanks to the Nucleus cochlear implant that Sara received when she was 18 months old.

Like her brother Robbie, Sara had inherited her congenital deafness. She was diagnosed at five weeks of age and fitted with hearing aides at three months. About a year later, tests determined Sara was a candidate for a cochlear implant.
She was implanted the day she turned 18 months old, which at the time was the minimum age for receiving an implant.

Sara came through the surgery well, and as soon as she was out of the hospital gown and into her regular clothes, she was her old self, says Saras mom. She headed to the playroom, acting as if the bandage was a new headband.

At her initial programming, she was very interactive, letting the audiologist know she was hearing the beeps at the different levels. When she was hooked up to live sound, she gave the classic little kid gesture of I heard that and her little eyes opened wide! It was a wonder-filled day.

Before getting her implant, Sara was able to discriminate speech at 40 dB with her hearing aides. Afterwards, she had speech perception at 20 dB.

Today, Sara is in a regular classroom setting in a public school. She has consistently scored above her chronological age on all tests, including vocabulary. At the beginning of the school year, classmates are told that Sara has cochlear implants and needs noise levels to remain low. But thats all the intervention she needs at this point.

Sara relies very little on lip reading and seems to acclimate easily to new speakers. She can use the phone with no assistive equipment. Sara also enjoys music and loves to dance. In fact, she wants a guitar and to take piano lessons.

Having a cochlear implant has enabled Sara to reach her full potential socially, academically, and personally. She is full of confidence and loves to show her speech processor to everyone.