Louise and Paul Addison are witnesses to something magical every morning. Their four-month-old severely deaf daughter squeals with delight every time they turn on her hearing aid, and her priceless reaction is something they’ll never tire of seeing. Georgina, the couple’s baby girl, was diagnosed with severe deafness in September. For the first six weeks of her life, the infant couldn’t hear a single sound…
Georgina was fitted with hearing aids when she was six weeks old, giving her the ability to hear for the first time. Georgina can’t help but squeal with delight every morning when her parents turn on the device and hear her mother’s voice. The baby is immediately excited, flailing both arms up and down and shrieking at the top of her lungs.
“I’m so glad I’m not the only one who thinks about it,” she says. “She is immediately delighted and becomes much happier,” Paul, 32, told LadBible. Georgina’s reaction is so charming and heartwarming that her parents never want to forget those priceless moments. So, every morning, Paul films the moment Georgina hears her parents’ voices. He tweeted a video of Georgina’s reaction with the caption, “When our daughter’s new hearing aids are turned on in the morning.”
Georgina stares silently at the camera at the start of the video. “OK, so we’ve just turned your hearing on,” Louise says after turning on her hearing aids. “Can you please say hello to everyone?” Georgina immediately responds with a long and high-pitched “hi” of her own. Her happiness is palpable! Georgina’s condition was first revealed to Paul and Louise when she failed her newborn hearing test in Harrogate, England.
An audiologist diagnosed her with severe deafness and advised her to use a hearing aid. They followed the doctor’s advice and had Georgina fitted with National Health Service hearing aids. The infant’s reaction when she first put them on was pure delight. “It was a relief because we saw right away that they were working well,” Paul said. “A genuine sense that things could improve.”
Paul advises other parents with deaf children to be open about their situation and to reach out to people in similar situations who can assist them. “It’s such a huge comfort to engage with those kinds of people,” he said. Louise and Paul were able to learn about the stories and experiences of other families who have deaf children thanks to the viral video.