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An orofacial (or-oh-FAY-shul) cleft is when a baby is born with an opening in the lip and/or roof of the mouth (palate). Cleft lip and cleft palate happen in about 1 or 2 of every 1,000 babies born in the United States each year, making it one of the most …

Sometimes called a “bionic ear,” the cochlear implant offers the hope of gaining or restoring the ability to sense sound for some people with significant hearing loss. What Is a Cochlear Implant? A cochlear implant is a surgically implanted device that helps overcome problems in the cochlea (KO-klee-uh). The cochlea are snail-shaped, …

Falls, blows to the head, sports injuries, and even listening to loud music can cause ear damage, which can affect hearing and balance. That’s because the ear not only helps us hear, but also keeps us steady on our feet. Kids need to hear well to develop and use their …

A ruptured or perforated eardrum is exactly what you might imagine: a tear or hole in the eardrum — the part of the ear that vibrates in response to sound waves. Eardrum injuries can be extremely painful and, in the worst cases, might lead to infections and hearing loss. Fortunately, …

Listen. Whatever you’re hearing — the hum of a computer, your kids playing, a car going by — is thanks to your ears. Hearing is their main job, but it’s not all our ears do. These delicate organs also need care and protection, so let’s take a look at how …

Enlarged Adenoids Adenoids are a patch of tissue that sits at the very back of the nasal passage. Like tonsils, adenoids help keep the body healthy by trapping harmful bacteria and viruses that you breathe in or swallow. Although you can see the tonsils at the back of the throat, adenoids aren’t …

At just three months old, a blue-eyed boy named Sam was diagnosed with profound hearing loss. His parents, Chris and Teresa, found comfort and hope as they learned that a cochlear implant could one day help Sam to hear. Cochlear implants are devices that can restore the ability to sense …

It was the day before Sam’s implant was activated and, like most days in the month after Sam’s surgery, I spent the drive home from work imagining the moment our son would hear us for the first time. Halfway through the trip, “Here Comes the Sun” came on the radio …

The audiologist rechecked the connections and made sure the earpieces were still firmly positioned in Sam’s ears. Even as the noise being pumped directly into his head became audible to the rest of us, our infant son slept. Limp lines crossed the computer screen for half an hour, and I …

In the 9 months leading up to surgery, we found comfort in the answers to virtually every question we posed. Now we were about to hand Sam over for his procedure, so any unexpected bit of information would give us pause — even what the surgeon had for breakfast. “Coffee …