COLUMBUS, Ohio - An 11-month-old boy who was born deaf became the youngest child in Ohio to receive cochlear implants in both ears at the same time.

The implants that Jonah Knueve received bypass the inner ear and send messages to the brain, 10TV's Heather Pick reported.

"We were told his hearing loss was beyond 100 decibels in each ear," said Meredith Knueve, the child's mother.  "He probably wasn't hearing things much softer than a jet airplane."

The implants are common in older children although doctors are now starting to offer the option to help a child develop faster, Pick reported.

"You have to have something that converts sound to energy, to stimulate the nerve that goes to the brain," said Richard Kang, a physician at Columbus Children's Hospital.  "That makes you appreciate sounds coming in and that's what the cochlear does."

The earlier a child can hear sounds, the faster their language can flourish, Pick reported.

Jonah's implants have 22 channels to process different frequencies.

He will never know he was deaf, doctors said.

More Information:
U.S. Food and Drug Administration