Microchip implanted in brain helps deaf three-year-old hear for the first time

A microchip implanted into the brain is giving a three-year-old boy born deaf the gift of hearing for the first time.

 

Doctors at the University of North Carolina gifted Grayson Champ by implanting the microchip that will replace cochlear nerves, The Daily Dot reported.

 

"We're bringing the potential for hearing to a child who can't hear and had no other options," UNC ear, head, and neck surgeon Craig Buchman said.

 

UNC posted a YouTube video of the child learning to hear with the device. 


 

Grayson was born without cochlear nerves, which help people hear and process sound.

 

His parents Len and Nicole first tried a cochlear implant. but the procedure did not work for Grayson.

 

With the procedure, Grayson is the first child in the United States to get an "auditory brain implant" that helps process the sound that travels through tubes in the ear.

 

'Daddy loves you'

 

Upon activating the device, the first thing Len said to Grayson was: "Daddy loves you," getting what The Daily Dot report said was a "priceless" reaction.

 

Len described the experience as "phenomenal."

 

Now that Grayson can hear, his parents are now helping him process the different sounds he perceives.

 

"We don't know exactly what it's like for him," The Daily Dot quoted Nicole as telling WBTV.

 

"We don't know what he hears. His brain is still trying to organize itself to use sound," she said. —VC, GMA News