Girl Born Deaf Given The Gift Of Hearing With Cochlear Implants

CHAPPAQUA, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A heartwarming update tonight on a little girl who was born profoundly deaf.

Little Hannah McMullan was one of the cutest, happiest babies around. You'd be hard-pressed to tell there was anything wrong with her.

But Hannah lived in a world of complete silence.

"Hannah was born and took the new born hearing test and failed," mother Jennifer Weitzman said. "She was born deaf."

Five years later, Hannah's now in a mainstream kindergarten class at Westorchard Elementary School in Chappaqua, and has made considerable progress, CBS2's Dr. Max Gomez reported.

"She's a very bright girl and as you can see, she's learned to read, and you know she's making friends, participates well in all activities," Katie Loretan said.

What's allowed Hannah to make such amazing progress are her cochlear implants -- a sophisticated combination of microphones, inner ear electrodes and a microcomputer.

At nine months of age, Hannah was one of the youngest children to get them.

But the cochlear implants aren't the whole story. Hannah also participates in speech and listening therapy every day. Listening helps her distinguish similar sounds and speech improves her articulation.

"People were like okay, now she can hear, and they don't realize the amount of much work she has to put in just on a daily basis, she has to really learn to hear, every day, she's practicing, every day she is listening really hard, and it takes its toll on her," father Michael McMullan said.

The hard work and sacrifice is all worth it when you see the smile on Hannah's face.

Hannah's parents said it wasn't an easy decision to put their infant daughter through the implant surgery, but if modern science could give her the gift of hearing, it was the right choice to make.

The earlier in life children get cochlear implants, the better their hearing and language skills will be.