Heartwarming moment man, 28, hears for the first time and bursts into tears – after common bug rendered him deaf
HEARTWARMING footage shows a man overwhelmed with emotion at hearing for the first time thanks to a cochlear implant.
Aric Hoffmann has moderate hearing loss, meaning he has very limited or no ability to hear sounds at all.
An emotional video shows the 28-year-old speechless and tearful after the implant was turned on for the first time on May 31.
It will take three to six months for Aric to fully understand all of the new sounds he’s hearing, during which time he will undergo auditory rehabilitation.
Aric, from Los Angeles, California, USA, said: “It felt like a very emotional moment of my life had begun.
“I was very happy, crying and overwhelmed to hear the sounds that I had never heard so clearly.
“My eyes welled up with tears after my audiologist asked me how I was feeling.
“I tried to say something to express how I felt but the words wouldn’t come.”
Aric has had a hearing impairment since he contracted meningitis – inflammation of the lining around the brain and spinal cord – at the age of six months.
Up until now, Aric communicated using sign language and by reading lips.
But as he got older, his hearing worsened and communication became too difficult, pushing him to get a cochlear implant.
Aric said: “Socialising with people was the most challenging for me before getting my implant because sometimes I don’t understand what people are saying.
“I was more often looking at their faces to be able to understand and read lips.
“I’m now so excited to hear people talking so clearly without asking to repeat and be able to keep the conversations going.”
Immediately after getting his implant, Aric planned to visit Disneyland to see his favourite princess Ariel.
He said: “When the Walt Disney Tiki Room show started, I was amazed how animatronic birds and tropical sounds came into my implants.
“I was happy to hear the whole show and it made me realise what I was missing out on.”
Aric is still adapting to all the new sounds he can hear, especially in his work as a movie entertainment facilities assistant.
He said: “When people started to show up at my work, I started to pick up more sounds that I hadn’t heard before.
“It was very challenging for me to focus on someone talking because I kept hearing something in the background.”
What is meningitis?
MENINGITIS, which is spread through coughing, sneezing and kissing, affected around 8,000 people in the UK every year before Covid.
This number has since decreased, but it remains a “global public health challenge”, according to the World Health Organization.
A 2019 study found there were 2.82million cases internationally in 2016, with 236,000 deaths.
Around 112,000 of these were reportedly in children under five.
While everyone is at risk, it is more common in babies, kids, teenagers, young adults, older people and those with weakened immune systems.
There are two main types – viral and bacterial.
Several different viruses and bacteria can cause meningitis, including:
- Meningococcal bacteria – A, B, C, W, X, Y and Z
- Pneumococcal bacteria
- Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) bacteria
- Enteroviruses
- The mumps virus
- The herpes simplex virus
Vaccines are available to protect against many of these infections.
Meningitis has several complications, including deafness. It is one of the leading causes of acquired deafness and eight per cent of survivors will experience some degree of permanent hearing loss, according to the Meningitis Research Foudation.
