Watch Deaf Minnesota Infant Hear His Mom for the First Time

Nine-week-old Elijah Cook overcomes his hearing loss.

ByABC News
April 15, 2015, 6:18 PM

— -- A 9-week old infant looked surprised when he heard his mother's voice clearly for the first time, thanks to hearing aids.

Elijah Cook was born profoundly deaf in his left ear and able to hear only 75 decibels on the right side, according to a description by his mother on her YouTube page.

His mother, Ahavah Cook of Andover, Minnesota, said in a post for the Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota that she and her husband, Jason Cook, knew it was a possibility that Elijah could have hearing loss because both of their fathers and mothers were deaf. Additionally, Jason had no hearing in one ear. But they were hoping for the best.

“When Elijah came back (from the first test), we were expecting good news because we have almost a dozen nieces and nephews that have no hearing issues," Cook said on the website.

After a series of tests at the Children’s Specialty Center, which is connected to the Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, doctors diagnosed Elijah with severe-profound sensorineural hearing loss.

One solution for the hearing loss would be tiny hearing aids that would allow Elijah to hear clearly as he grew up. Elijah got his first hearing aids last month at just 9 weeks old.

In a video, the infant looks slightly surprised as his mother says his name, and he starts blinking at the noise.

“The first time I saw him blink, I had a lot of emotions,” she said. “I was trying really hard not to cry. I didn’t want him to see me cry. I was trying hard to keep it together and just talk to him.”

Jason Cook said after the hearing aids were implanted, Elijah has even started making some noise of his own.

“The cooing is the big thing,” Jason Cook said on the website. “He wasn’t very talkative, but ever since he was fitted for his hearing aids, he’s cooing more, he pays more attention.”