Louise and Paul Addison’s baby daughter was born almost entirely deaf. For the first six weeks of her life, baby Georgina was deprived of hearing the myriad sounds in the brand-new world around her.
That was until Georgina was fitted with hearing aids.
The uplifting moment that baby “Gigi” hears sound for the very first time each morning as her hearing aids are turned on was caught on camera by her mother one day. Now, Gigi’s squeals of delight are warming the hearts of millions of netizens around the world.
It’s then that the heart-melting magic happens. Gigi grins and squeals a high-pitched greeting of her own. She turns her head from side to side, taking in the many sounds of the room, affording viewers a glimpse at her life-changing hearing aids in the process.
Many parents wrote to Paul commenting on similarly moving experiences with their own hearing-impaired children.
Gigi was fitted with hearing aids by England’s National Health Service in early November 2019. “It was a relief, we saw quite quickly that they were working well,” said Paul, explaining that Gigi’s hearing aids gave himself and Louise a “real sense that things could get better.”
“It turns on and she thinks, ‘Oh I can hear myself.’”
“I think before, she was less attentive, less focused,” Paul continued. “She clearly wasn’t reacting or responding to sound. But once we had them in, we put them in in the morning, you do notice a remarkable difference I have to say, and that is the essence of the video really.”
While the Addisons have pledged to use sign language to help Gigi acquire communication skills, her ability to follow conversation using her new hearing aids will dramatically enrich the family’s lives together.
As for Gigi’s experience, her squeals of delight truly say it best.