A cochlear implant enables Min Thit Phyo to hear

Luck for Min Thit Phyo. Born deaf in Kant-Kaw, Central Myanmar, that boy of modest farmers had no chance of a normal life at first. Without being able to hear, he faced an existence on the edge of society.

Already at the age of one year he was diagnosed deaf, but any help was financially unreachable for him. Only through the "Angelika Wagner Project" of the association EAGLE e.V. (www.eagle-ent.org/?q=en/reports) and further support from "Ein Herz für Kinder" and MED-EL, the Burmese ENT physician Dr Win Htike Kyi was able to provide him with a cochlear implant.

This hearing system converts sound into electrical signals and transmits them directly to the auditory nerve. The brain then puts the nerve impulses together and interprets them as sounds, speech and tones. After a process of habituation and learning, it thus enables hearing and consequently speaking.

In the meantime, the device has already been switched on at Min Thit Phyo and the little one will soon be able to hear the voices of his happy parents, exchange ideas with friends and later master everyday school life.