It’s a most joyous moment for any parent to welcome their newborn to this amazing world. They wait for 9 months, eagerly monitoring the development & health of their fetus to welcome a new life in their universe. It’s a dream of every father to hold their newly born child in their strong & able hands to protect from the harshness of this world.
Welcome your newborn baby into the world with hope and a cure for microtia
Such dreams were also dreamt by Baby Pernika’s father…….to welcome their newly born child in July -2022. Little did he realize that they will discover their precious baby may not have EARS on her head. They had never seen anyone like this or had heard of any such condition in the past.
The pediatricians told them that it is a congenital abnormality called MICROTIA with ATRESIA & they can visit an ENT doctor to fix this problem.
Their internet search & visits to doctors started & it ended only when they met the right ENT doctor & the team who regularly treat this condition of microtia. By this time baby was three months old.
Discover the best way forward to ensure proper hearing health
Yes, they finally met Dr. (Prof) Ameet Kishore, ENT Surgeon, who explained the nature of the developmental problem to them, but recommended that the baby first get a complete hearing evaluation, to properly understand her hearing status. The baby’s hearing was evaluated by Audiologist, Ms. Neevita Narayan, who conducted a series of specialized hearing tests while the baby was asleep.
Thereafter, the family got a chance to meet with the team to discuss both the medical & audiological condition of the baby. They had an extensive discussion with Dr. Ameet Kishore & Ms. Neevita Narayan, where they understood the entire situation & the way forward.
By this time parents were convinced that baby was not responding to soft sounds and had to be spoken to loudly, to get their attention. So were the findings on the audiological tests. Pernika had a hearing loss in her both ears caused by this congenital condition of microtia and atresia, where the ears are not fully developed. By God’s grace her inner ear responses were present so she only had partial hearing loss. But this hearing loss would be enough to cause a delay in her speech & language development if not corrected early.
Pernika’s Parents wanted to give best to their child & the treatment options were discussed. Surgical intervention was out of question at this early age & it was advised that the baby would have to wear a hearing device over her head using a soft headband to allow her to hear immediately.
The concept of a BAHA on soft band was introduced & family opted for it right away. Daddy did not want his little princess not to hear for even a day.
Unlock Your Child’s True Potential with Pernika’s Story
The big day had arrived, it was January 2023, and her BAHA device was ready to be fitted. She had turned 5 months by then. The family was anxious to see her reaction. She was first fitted with the soft band to ensure that it was snuggly fitting to hold the device. Then it was the turn for BAHA to be programmed & plugged on it smoothly.
Little had anyone expected how well Pernika would respond immediately after activating her BAHA on the soft band. Yes, she responded immediately to few speech sounds that the audiologist spoke out and the reactions to the sounds were obvious to everyone present in that room.
Baby Pernika was hearing & was hearing to soft sounds for the first time !!
Tears of joy rolled down everyone’s cheeks & it was an ecstatic moment for the family. Pernika was BORN again, her father said!
“I have never seen such a beautiful response to sounds while fitting a BAHA device “ commented Ms. Neevita Narayan. This joy had to be captured for the world to see Pernika hearing for the first time! Here you can see her first response to sounds with BAHA on a soft band.
