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He was born deaf in his left ear, and because the reason was a missing ear canal, a conventional hearing aid was of no use. But thanks to a new type of hearing implant, six-year-old Eli Anderson can now hear through both his ears.
His parents, Claire and Warren Anderson, from the West Rand, were excited to welcome their baby after Claire was told she would not be able to conceive due to an autoimmune disease.
Their excitement was short-lived when Eli was diagnosed with atresia at birth, a condition which resulted in him being born without an ear canal in his left ear. He was also diagnosed with microtia, a congenital deformity of the outer ear, also his left ear.
"Eli’s ear was not fully developed. Not long after, during his first hearing screening it was also confirmed that he was deaf in his left ear,” Warren says.
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Determined to improve their son’s quality of life, his parents began researching a solution to their son’s disability, and they were referred to ear, nose and throat surgeon Dr Maurice Hockman at Netcare Linksfield Hospital.
“After a few consultations with Dr Hockman, and plastic surgeon Dr Gabriel Doucas, we were told we had to wait until Eli was a bit older, and his skull had thickened before he could have his operation," Warren recalls.
“We had to wait until he was six, before he went to grade one, for the surgeries to take place.”
“With Eli's condition, sound cannot reach the middle ear, and as there is no external ear canal, a conventional hearing aid couldn't be used,” explains Dr Hockman.
Eli was the the fifth person in South Africa to get the cochlear Osia System hearing device.
The Osia System is an implant which consists of a sound processor worn behind the ear and a sound transmitter that's attached to the skull.
Eli did not have a happy start to his school year, his parents say. He was bullied by other kids for being different and very self-conscious of his deformed ear.
On 1 March this year Eli underwent nearly five hours of surgery to have the hearing device fitted, and his left ear was reshaped by Dr Doucas.
“His newly shaped ear will continue to grow at a normal pace,” says Dr Doucas.
It took Eli about three weeks to adjust to the hearing device.
“I will never forget the first time he heard sound in his left ear - his face lit up,” Warren says.
“He shouted, 'yes, yes I can hear that!'”
Soon after he returned to school his doctors and Southern ENT, the distributors of the hearing device, gave a talk at Eli’s school to teach the grade ones and teachers about Eli’s hearing device.
“It was such a beautiful day. They put a portable hearing device on each child, explained to them how Eli hears and why he needed,” Warren.
“This was such a confidence booster for Eli because now he was going to school not afraid of being stared at for wearing the hearing device and he's more confident now that everyone knows what it,” Claire.
Since then Eli has grown from strength to strength. He's much more active and loves playing hockey and soccer and being outside. He's also been excelling academically.
“He’s such a brave little man, he's our champion”, Warren says.
EXTRA SOURCES: COCHLEAR.COM, NCBI.NLM.NIH.GOV, MNAPR.CO.ZA, NETCARE.CO.ZA
