“I love my mother as the trees love water and sunshine – she helps me grow, prosper, and reach great heights.” – Terri Guillemets
In the following touching video we see 2-year-old Cooper react wonderously as he hears his mom’s voice for the very first time. The toddler was being equipped with a cochlear implant during the taping. As you could imagine, when Cooper realizes what he’s hearing it’s a very special moment and one worth sharing.
The video has been around for a while but has just recently went “viral” thanks to the folks over at The Chive sharing it. In the original (seen above), one of Cooper’s parents explains the details behind the implant.
My son just got his cochlear implants after 2 years of excruciating waiting. This is his initial response after first getting turned on. It just made us melt!
Cooper was diagnosed as profoundly deaf, therefore he can’t hear a thing. What usually happens with CI implants is that the child picks up on environmental sounds first (cars honking, birds chirping, telephone ring) before understanding and processing speech sounds. Therefore, when the child is first activated usually respond to taps on a table before responding to someone speaking. We just got lucky.
The video is reminiscent of the moving footage of Sloan Churman, a 29-year-old woman, and her tearful reaction to hearing her own voice for the very first time.
As for the power of a mother’s voice, in a 2010 study girls age 7-12 reacted nearly the same to merely hearing their mother’s voice over the phone than they did to actual physical contact like hugging. It’s an interesting read if you have the time.
