At the age of 3, Hua, the only son in a family living in a small city along the Yangtze River in China, developed a fever. A dosage of cheap ototoxic antibiotic took away his hearing.

The doctor told Hua’s family that the only way he could hear again was to get a miracle device called a “cochlear implant.” His family quickly discovered that this “miracle device” came with a hefty price of US$30,000, which was 10 times his parents’ combined annual income. But with their son’s future at stake, Hua’s parents pooled their life’s savings and borrowed from grandparents, friends, and employers to get him this miracle device.

Today, at 10 years old, except for having an “atonal” accent, Hua is doing well as a fourth grader in a mainstream school. Hua often asks “why other families have a big TV and we don’t,” since he is too young to fully appreciate the fact that his family still owes half of the money for his implant.

I WOULD LIKE TO THANK this FDA advisory panel for the opportunity to testify regarding the cochlear implant. My name is Melody James Parton, and I am the parent of an implant child. I am also the Director of Public Education for the League for the Hard of Hearing in New York, a member of the Executive Board of the Parent Section of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf, a member of the Board of Directors of the New York Chapter of this organization, and a member of the Cochlear Implant Club International.

I am also here to represent the hundreds of cochlear implant families we have met, shared concerns, as well as achievements and joys with, over the last ten years. Strangers at the beginning, we parents quickly find our common ground: our children are deaf. We wrestle with the implant decision. Once made, we continue to face challenges regarding services, school options, and their well being each step of the way.

This network of implant families is now extensive. We meet at conferences, through cyberspace, print, and phone. All of the families I know, and speak with regularly, would tell you the implant works for their child, that it is an effective tool helping their child. It does not solve, fix, or end the challenges of raising one of our children.

GOOD MORNING. My name is Caitlin Parton, and first of all I would like to thank the Food and Drug Administration for approving the Nucleus 22 device. I have been using it since I was two and a half. In July I will celebrate my 12th birthday. I am finishing the 6th grade. I've had my cochlear implant for nine and a half years, and I love it. It's helping me a lot.

I don't remember much about my early days: what it was like to hear; and then get sick before I was two, and not hear. I don't remember having to go to therapy instead of doing other things. I don't remember much about being angry or frustrated. My Mom said it took months for me to say the word "pumpkin" because I couldn't hear or see the "K" sound. I made friends at the League for Hard of Hearing, and the speech therapists made a lot of the hard work fun. The only thing I remember about the implant operation is the big black mask they put on my face to put me to sleep. That's all.

I think it's important to have the implant as a choice for people who are born deaf or lose their hearing. It brings you into the hearing world, the world of sound. I wear this miracle of modern science, and I'm a little different, but I'm a lot like everyone else too.