"Seven-Year-Old Hears Out Of Both Ears For The First Time After Life-Changing Surgery" - Diana Williams

Seven year old Teesa has been mostly deaf for her entire life; a life changing surgery at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary at Mount Sinai allows Teesa to hear clearly for the first time. Kathleen Arden adopted Teesa, after she spent the first year of her life at an orphanage in India. Teesa was never taught sign language, so she had little to no communication skills. She would only make small gestures to indicate she was hungry. "She has been through quite a lot in her seven years and has not been able to tell anyone about it because she doesn't have, right now, a very reliable mode of communication," said Maura Cosetti, MD, director of the cochlear implant center at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai. That began to change back in August when Tessa had cochlear implant surgery in one ear at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai. Four months later, Tessa had the implant surgery on the other ear. Mount Sinai doctors used a new type of implant that was just approved by the FDA. It is thinner and softer, and could help a person hear even better.

- Maura K. Cosetti, MD, Assistant Professor, Otolaryngology, Neurosurgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Director, Cochlear Implant Center, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai
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