Cochlear implants are a miracle of modern science that allows people with profound hearing loss to have a sense of hearing.
ETSU has just recently opened a cochlear implant clinic on campus in the College of Clinical and Rehabilitative Health Sciences. The clinic gauges whether a person is a good candidate for cochlear implants through a series of tests.
Today at the new cochlear implant clinic today a child became the second patient since the clinic opened their doors.
Matteo Van Beveren is five years-old and he wears hearing aids that give him about forty percent of normal hearing.
Matteo lost his hearing as an infant in Brazil according to his adoptive parents. The hearing loss came about because of the use of strong medications when he was born prematurely. Matteo underwent hearing tests at the cochlear implant clinic this morning all in an effort by his parents to give their son the best shot at normal hearing.
"Even if he continues with the hearing aids but we can improve that gain then we want to know that too,” said Steve Van Beveren, Matteo’s father. If there’s anything else that we can be doing therapy wise or developmentally we want know all that."
Before the new cochlear implant clinic opened its doors at ETSU people in our region had to travel to Knoxville or Nashville to determine if they were candidates for cochlear implants.
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