Technology opens world of sound
Technology gave the gift of sound to a boy who loves to dance and girl who loves sport, despite both being born profoundly deaf.
Benji Earle, 13, and his sister, Sadie, 11, of New Plymouth, both have cochlear implants – a surgically-implanted electronic device that restores hearing.
Benji is into hip hop dancing, and can stream music directly into his implants.
‘‘It’s absolutely his passion,’’ mum Nicola Earle said.
‘‘He really enjoys it, and we know it’s something that possibly wouldn’t have happened without his implant. He wouldn’t have known the pleasure of music as fully as he can with his cochlear implants.’’
Sadie, meanwhile, has made the Taranaki under-11s basketball team.
‘‘She has tried every single activity there is to try and gives everything a go,’’ her mother said.
‘‘Having the cochlear implant gives her the possibility to do BMX, sprint kayaking, ballroom dancing and karate.’’
The devices have been life changing for both children, helping them achieve all the normal developmental milestones, she said.
The Earle family is keen to help others in the same situation, and is raising awareness of next Friday’s Loud Shirt Day, an annual fundraiser for The Hearing House and the Southern Cochlear Implant Programme (SCIP).
The charities provide Cochlear Implant recipients with specialised support and therapy as they learn to process sound, and throughout their lifetime.
Loud Shirt Day, on October 29, encourages Kiwis around the country to wear their loudest, most clashing colourful shirts and help raise money by giving a donation, or organising events.
Both Benji and Sadie had their first implants at eight or nine months old, and because they were so young, they adapted quickly to sound.
Each had a second implant on the opposite side four years later.
The implants are $50,000 each, dad Tony Earle said.
At the time that Benji needed his, the Government funding only covered one implant, so the family set to fundraising.
They raised about $40,000 in four to five months, with a lot of support from their community.
‘‘We kind of treated it like a job,’’ Tony said.
Halfway through, a change making all children eligible for two implants meant Sadie was able to get her second implant funded. ‘‘That was huge, it means any new family starting this journey won’t have that dilemma.’’
Nicola added: ‘‘For our children their experience of cochlear implants is the difference between living in a world of silence and a life of sound.
‘‘They can be independent and don’t need to rely on us for things coming into their teenage years.’’
For information on next Friday’s event, visit www.loudshirtdaynz.org/ register