In a game of basketball between two friends on a typical sunny day, Bobby Rule is enjoying himself.
- Bobby Rule, 10, found to have moderate to severe hearing loss in both ears
- At the age of 7, Bobby got cochlear implants
- After being afraid of the surgery, he's "glad" he went through with it
He is like any active 10-year-old boy but just with cochlear implants, which helps him hear.
Bobby’s mom, Krissy Rule shares when he was born, he didn’t pass the newborn hearing screening, and after speech therapy and a hearing test fairly early on in his life, Bobby wasn’t meeting the language expectations of babies and toddlers.
“They did a number of tests over the course of the next few months and said his hearing was fine,” said Krissy.
In the first week of preschool, Bobby’s speech therapist and teacher expressed concern about his hearing. Krissy tells Spectrum News that they joined her to meet the audiologist.
“They finally agreed to sedate bobby at 3 years old and do a hearing test. They found he had moderate to severe hearing loss in both ears and shortly after that he got hearing aids,” she said.
At the age of 7, Bobby got a cochlear implant on his right ear and later, after trying it out, he received a second one for his left.
“I didn’t really want to do all the sign language as I figured it would probably be hard to sign,” said Bobby. “I wanted to speak badly.”
He says he was afraid of getting the cochlear implant, but was happy he went through the surgery.
“I’m glad,” he said, smiling ear to ear.
Bobby says he’ll continue playing basketball with his friends and remain active.