Implant lets boy enter new world of sound

SIX-YEAR-OLD Chan Hon-kuen watched intently as surgeons drilled through the bony wall of his left ear canal to insert the implant that has allowed him to hear for the first time in his life.

In August, Hon-kuen, who was born deaf, became the first child in Hong Kong - and the first would-be Cantonese speaker in the world - to receive a cochlear implant.

Yesterday, he saw the video of the operation at the Tung Wah Hospital. The implant has introduced him to the world of sound and has already begun to change his life dramatically.

His mother said: 'Having sound in his life has made him a much happier person. He makes many more noises than he did before the operation and I hope that one day he will be able to speak properly.' Hon-kuen has embarked on a long-term training and rehabilitation programme which will help him use the device as effectively as possible.

In less than three months of training, his voice has grown much stronger and he can now recognise somebody calling his name, respond to a doorbell and do his homework with less repeated instruction.

Before the operation, Hon-kuen could only speak in single words from a limited vocabulary, while he could hear very little, even with the help of a powerful hearing aid.