Implant lets girl hear Christmas for the first time

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Thamanna Nowzad was born deaf in both ears. After trying powerful hearing aids without success, doctors at St George's Hospital, Tooting, gave her a cochlear implant.

It uses a microphone to convert sound into electrical pulses which are then fed into nerves in the ear. Over time, the patient's brain learns to recognise these signals as sounds.

Doctors say Thamanna, from Hounslow, is now hearing like a newborn and will soon start interpreting and mimicking sounds.

At the moment only one electrode is switched on. In time, that will increase to 22, increasing the range of sounds she can hear.

"She cried as soon as it was turned on," said her mother Shaniba, 30. "It was a completely new sense for her.

"We have to clap in different areas of the room and introduce new sounds like a doorbell or telephone ring. Last week we played a game of musical chairs. Before, I used to clap to let her know when the music was on but now she is learning by herself."

Her parents hope she will soon be able to rejoin her playgroup and be able to speak words within a year. They say Thamanna has struggled to cope with her deafness.

Her father Nowzad, 32, said: "It was difficult at first but gradually she would point at things and I would make gestures with my hands to signal things like 'It's time for sleep' or 'I am sad' or 'We are going out'."

David Selvadurai, implant director at St George's, said children react in different ways to the device being turned on.

"Some cry, some run to their mum," he said. "One girl was so pleased she went and flushed the loo to hear the sound.

"I can't tell you the delight I feel when a child is 'switched on'."