It was a medical procedure that could potentially change the fate of a four-year-old boy in Saudi Arabia.
Key points:
- Wajdi Al Nasi, who has never said a word, laughs with joy after hearing it for the first time
- A four-hour cochlear implant operation allows you to hear through a headset
- Her father hopes that after six months of treatment, she will learn to speak
Wajdi Al Nasi, who was born deaf and never uttered a word, was able to hear for the first time after undergoing a delicate procedure at King Khalid Hospital in Najran.
Wajdi laughed with pleasure after hearing sounds through a headset, after undergoing a four-hour cochlear implant operation.
He underwent two years of check-ups and tests in the hospital’s otolaryngology department to check the reliability of his auditory nerve and cochlea.
After resigning himself to a soundless life for Wajdi, his cheerful father, Fadl Al-Hilali, said the family will now try to teach him to speak.
“Joy filled our hearts with the success of his operation … there is now a six-month treatment plan for his speech,” he told Arab News.
“We have actually started language rehabilitation at the hands of speech therapists at King Khalid Hospital in Najran.
“The efforts that were made ended with my son Wajdi’s suffering from severe hearing loss in both ears.”
External hearing aids were added last week, three weeks after the four-hour operation was successfully completed.
“We have gone through the most difficult stage, and now comes the rehabilitation of the four-year-old boy,” said Ahmed Al-Araqbi, the doctor who oversaw the procedure.
“The child has just begun to hear words for the first time in his life, and must continue to be rehabilitated by specialists to complete the necessary treatment.”
If the operation had not been successful, Wajdi would have been transferred to the Institute for the Deaf and Dumb in Saudi Arabia, where he would be given a certificate of disability.
Instead, her family hopes she can talk to them and her friends at the end of the year.
ABC / children