Claire Wang is a bright and happy 9-year-old who loves drawing, watching TV, playing with her 4-year-old brother and playing music on the piano.
When Claire was born, she failed the newborn hearing screening test, however her parents didn’t worry too much until they noticed that one-year-old Claire wasn’t responding to sounds around her.
“She was a very bright child, and when we walked in the room, she would turn to face us, however we soon noticed that she wasn’t responding to our voices and thought she might be deaf,” says her dad, Andy.
At that point, Andy and his wife took Claire to the Christchurch Hospital Hearing Clinic, who confirmed that she was profoundly deaf and would benefit from cochlear implants.
“We were shocked, there is no family story of hearing loss. When we were given the news, my wife broke down and started crying,” says Andy. “But we felt glad that at least there was technology that could help her. So, we were sad but also hopeful at the same time. The cochlear implant technology is incredible.”
Claire received cochlear implants in both ears, and it wasn’t long after switch on that she started to respond.
“It was pretty magical. Pretty soon after switch on we started seeing a difference, in just a few days. She would respond straight away, and she was really accepting of the new noises she could hear.”
Today, Claire is thriving. “She just feels her implants are part of her life now. Playing the piano is one of her daily tasks, and we always make sure she wears the implant as soon as she wakes up, and we encourage her to talk more with her classmates and friends using verbal language. She is also bilingual, learning to speak and write Chinese.”
“We had great support at her school, especially when she was younger as she had a teacher’s aide. Now she’s older, the aide comes in about once or twice a week. The teacher also has a device to amplify her voice which she wears during classes.”
Andy and his family are grateful for all the support they’ve had during Claire’s journey.
“The SCIP team has been great, every time we go there to do the testing, everyone is really friendly and welcoming. We are so thankful and grateful to SCIP”.