Watch: Cochlear implants allow baby to hear for the first time

Gethin Thompson's eyes lit up the first time he heard a sound.

The 15-month-old was born profoundly deaf so when he said his first word it was even more special than for most.

"We were sitting at the dining room table and he crawled over and said 'up, up, up'. We all looked at each other and said 'did you hear that?'. I just burst into tears," mother Rhian Thompson said.

When Gethin was a newborn he wouldn't sit still long enough for the newborn hearing test so it wasn't until Thompson took him in for a routine audiology appointment at 11 weeks old that they found out anything was wrong.

"We got the diagnosis that Gethin was profoundly deaf. It was a very big shock. That wasn't even on our radar - there's no family history of it. We were completely devastated - it came out of left field," she said.

"You automatically start thinking of all the things he can't do. I think I cried for a week."

But now, thanks to cochlear implants, Gethin is able to enjoy life like any other toddler.

After his diagnosis, Thompson and her husband Michael, who also have a three-year-old daughter, learned he was eligible for cochlear implants in both ears.

He had surgery to have the devices implanted when he was five-and-a-half months old and had a very strong response when they were switched on a couple of weeks later in November last year.

"He had that eyes wide open, 'wow, what's this' look. That day his eyes were popping out of his head in wonderment," she said. "I think it was amazement and delight."

It was a big day for Thompson too.

"It's just amazing. You go through all these mixed emotions. When we found out he was deaf we had quite a period of time where we though he might never hear.

"Just to actually see it in his eyes that' he's heard something it was like, 'wow, this is amazing'. After having a couple of months of it being really grim...it was just the beginning of a fresh start for us."

Almost 10 months later Gethin now understands basic instructions and about 80-90 words. He can say eight or nine words and is always trying to say new ones.

"We're ecstatic about where he's at now. He doesn't miss a trick. He seems pretty switched on," Thompson said.

She said it required them to be more aware of what background noise there was, focus more on repetition and give him longer to process words and instructions but they were hopeful he would be able to lead a normal life and be whatever he wanted to be.

This year, the family have thrown their full weight behind Loud Shirt Day, the annual fundraiser for the Hearing House in Auckland and the Christchurch-based Southern Cochlear Implant Programme.

Gethin is the face of this year's campaign which encourages people to hold a fundraiser and get people to dress in a beach-themed loud shirt on September 29.

The two charities are dedicated to enabling deaf children with cochlear implants or hearing aids to listen and speak like their hearing peers.

Photo / Jason Oxenham

"I'm a huge fan of The Hearing House," Thompson said. "I just can't say how much they appreciate everything they do for us. When we found out it was pretty grim but they gave us something to focus on and gave us hope."

The Hearing House's habilitation manager Alexandra Crosbie said because most deaf children were born to hearing parents, implants gave them the choice and ability to give their children the same opportunities they had.

Parents had to be committed to working with their children to teach them to hear and catch up on lost listening time in order for a cochlear implant to be effective, she said.

Photo / Jason Oxenham

Children's hearing stated to develop at 20 weeks gestation but surgery to implant the devices was generally not available to children under six months old meaning, by the time they were turned on, children were eight to ten months behind their counterparts, Crosbie said.

Children who had the device implanted at six months old could be tracking at a similar level to other children by the time they were 12-18 months, she said.

Click here to register to take part in Loud Shirt Day.

By the numbers
• 135-170 babies are born in New Zealand every year with mild to profound permanent congenital hearing loss - that's three per 1000 births.
• Three out of 100 Kiwi children reported to have hearing loss in 2012 were profoundly deaf.
• More than 260 children with hearing loss treated by The Hearing House.
• Two implants can be publically funded for Kiwi children with severe to profound hearing loss in both ears.