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Deaf Girl Cries After Hearing Herself Talk for the First Time: 'Hey! I Sound Weird
May 28, 2012
"I had no idea what the sounds were."
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Sammie Hicks hasn't been able to hear for as long as she can remember. Recently, that changed. And cameras were rolling when it did, leading to a touching video that reveals the miracle that many take for granted.
The 10-year-old Hicks, from Colin County just northeast of the Dallas metroplex, has kept a video diary, and that diary captured the moment she was given back her hearing earlier this month. She visibly jumps when her hearing implant -- which was inserted in April -- is turned on, and shortly after begins to cry as she hears herself breathing and then talking for the first time.
"It sounds weird," she said aloud. "Hey! I sound weird":
"I started to cry because it was overwhelming," she told local ABC affiliate WFAA-TV. "I had no idea what the sounds were."
Hicks may only be 10, but she's mature beyond her years. Not only has she treated her hearing impairment with grace, but when she finally got her hearing back earlier this month, she offered some simple, yet profound observations.
"I asked her why she cried," her father, Brian Hicks, told WFAA. "She said, 'It was overwhelming. But the reason I really cried? I couldn't believe all the stuff I was missing.'"
"Just because you're deaf, doesn't mean you can't go and do the things you want to do," Sammie added.
Sammie has offered several video updates since her implant was turned on. Here she talks about her teacher sounding like a "robot":
And here she reacts to hearing -- literally -- that she was going to be on the news (don't let the still shot fool you -- she was pretty excited):
Sammie's story may sound familiar. In October we brought you the video of 29-year-old Sarah Churman. Like Sammie, she had never heard her voice until she was fitted with an Esteem implant from Envoy Medical.* When she heard it for the first time, she wept, too:
*The name of the implant has been updated.
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