Cochlear implants can be 'magic device'

A study Niparko and colleagues published in the Journal of the American Medical Association last year found that children who got their implants before age 18 months had significantly greater rates of spoken language comprehension and ability to speak than kids who got them later. Babies are born primed to learn language, but if they're not exposed to it early, "that window starts to close, and by 5 years of age, it's substantially shut," Niparko says.

For deaf children born into families in which they're surrounded by adults fluent in American Sign Language, acquiring language happens naturally. But nine out of 10 deaf children are born to hearing families, and for those children, there's often no opportunity for them to be immersed in a language "when the brain is hungry" for stimulation, Niparko says.

But throwing the switch on the cochlear implant isn't like turning on a light, Larky says.

People who lose their hearing in adulthood are generally able to quickly make sense of the "sound" produced by the implant. For children, it's harder.

"You have to teach them that sound has meaning," she says. "Things like going up at the end of a sentence means it's a question."

The implants aren't cheap. They cost about $100,000 each, says Larky, though for most families, insurance pays for it. Then there are hours of therapy teaching the child to listen and speak to actually get the benefit out of the device. But if you do it, "it's a magic device. It's unbelievable."

So much so that 4-year-old Krista is proud to show hers off

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