Baby born deaf hears mother’s and father’s voices for first time after having hearing aids fitted

Doting parents have shared the heartwarming moment their baby son who was born deaf hears their voices for the first time after having hearing aids fitted.   

Tiffany Wroe, 29, who is from Manchester but has lived in Nairobi, Kenya, for the past 10 years with her husband John, 44, shared the video of 11-week-old Saul on Facebook.

The baby, who was born with moderate to severe hearing loss in both ears, could be seen smiling up at his mother and father as they spoke softly to him after fitting his new hearing aids.

He was so overwhelmed by the sound of their voices that he almost burst into tears before Tiffany reassured him.

Tiffany and John, who are both swimming coaches in Kenya and also have daughters Khaleesi, five, and Kendall, four, said when Saul got his hearing aids last week it was ‘very, very emotional’.

Their video began with John saying ‘it’s Daddy’ to Saul as he lay in his mother’s arms. As he spoke, Saul looked up in apparent amazement.

Tiffany then spoke to him and said ‘it’s Mummy’ and ‘hello’ – and each time she spoke he replied with a small noise before breaking into a smile. 

She continued: ‘Can you hear Mummy?’ and Saul briefly appeared as though he was going to cry.

The mother then continued to talk to him and said, ‘I can see that smile’ as Saul continued to take in the sounds around him. 

Tiffany told the Daily Record: ‘When Saul was born he failed his newborn hearing screening so he went for a follow-up and he failed that too. Then he went for a third hearing test and failed that too.

‘Doctors told us he had profound hearing loss but we weren’t sure because we knew he had been more responsive than he would have been if he was profoundly [totally] deaf so we did a bit of research ourselves.’

Specialists at Manchester University advised the couple they could carry out tests to see how Saul reacted, allowing them to find out if he could hear anything.

They discovered he could hear noises above around 60 decibels, whereas those who are not hearing impaired can hear from around 20. 

Medics then told Tiffany and John that Saul would need hearing aids but because they are both unable to work because of coronavirus restrictions, family stepped in to help Saul get hearing aids.   

Tiffany added: ‘Thanks to John’s parents’ help Saul was able to get the best hearing aids available and we are so grateful. Just watching his face when he heard us speaking for the first time was so incredible.’ 

Saul needs to have regular hearing tests and he needs to have his hearing aids fitted as he gets bigger. 

Tiffany added that medics have said Saul’s hearing should not get any worse and that his hearing aids will give him the ability to learn how to speak.