Magical moment this little deaf boy heard for the very first time
HIS first reaction was shock … then sheer delight. For the pictures above show the moment five-month-old Alex Denman-Sang heard for the first time.
Sitting on his father Paul’s lap, he broke into a heart-melting grin as his mother Jen called his name.
Alex had been born deaf but was fitted with cochlear implants at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool last month.
Miss Denman filmed his reaction as he heard his first sounds. She is heard saying, ‘Hi, it’s mummy’, as Alex smiles at her and giggles. She quips: ‘God help us when we get home to your brother.’ The footage went viral after it was posted on Twitter by the hospital, and has been viewed more than 830,000 times. Yesterday Alex charmed legions of ITV viewers as he appeared on This Morning with his mother, sitting happily with presenters Rylan ClarkNeal and Gok Wan. Miss Denman told how she and Mr Sang found out about his deafness in the days following his birth.
Doctors carried out a series of tests and diagnosed sensorineural hearing loss in both ears. Plans were made for him to be fitted with the implants. Alex, who was nicknamed Fidget in the womb because he was never still, is taking time to get used to them. ‘He takes them out and chews them. He chews everything,’ Miss Denman said. She told This Morning of her shock when her video went viral. At the time, Alder Hey said the family were ‘overwhelmed’ and ‘genuinely surprised’ by the response. Miss Denman said: ‘It was only meant for family and friends. It just went crazy.’
She added that it meant ‘a lot’ that her voice was the first Alex heard. Viewers tweeted their delight at Alex’s appearance on the show. He didn’t seem at all fazed by the television cameras as he sat in Gok Wan’s lap and sucked the presenter’s fingers.
One wrote: ‘Alex is so adorable, the way he is looking at Gok Wan.
Brilliant story.’ Another added: ‘How cute is little baby Alex … his little face when he hears his mum for the first time and how adorable is his little hairdo.’
According to the NHS, between one and two babies in every 1,000 are born with hearing loss.