The moment when baby Aida hears her parents’ voices for the first time

Aida’s mom and dad, Melinda and Matt Little, took her to Mayo Clinic, where a team of experts diagnosed Aida with a rare genetic condition.

Geneticist Dr. Lisa Schimmenti says Waardenburg syndrome is a collection of symptoms caused by a change in a gene.

Here are the basics on how hearing works. The outer ear collects sound, which travels down the ear canal to the ear drum. The soundwaves cause the ear drum and middle ear bones to vibrate. The soundwaves then move into the inner ear, or cochlea, where tiny hair cells turn them into electrical signals that are transmitted to the brain. A cochlear implant bypasses the missing hair cells. Baby Aida, like all patients who get cochlear implants, went through 2 steps. First was surgery. Through a small incision, Dr. Carlson and his team.

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