Cuddling their new baby, Travis, in the delivery room in New York City, Danielle and Luke Braun felt blessed. But when they discovered that Travis had failed a state-required hearing screening, they were plunged into a world of questions and decisions about the best options for their little boy. Their choice: an amazing operation that has enabled Travis to hear everything from laughter to lullabies.

Every year, 12,000 babies -- nearly three out of every 1,000 -- are born with permanent hearing loss, making deafness the most common birth defect. Ninety percent of babies with some degree of hearing loss are born to parents who can hear. These parents then face an array of decisions about how to help their child communicate. If the baby has some hearing, a hearing aid may work; the child and parents may then also learn to sign. For children with profound deafness, a cochlear implant offers the possibility of hearing a wide range of sounds ‑- via an external sound processor and an internal receiver. Some 10,000 children in the United States have received cochlear implants since the devices were first approved in the mid-1980s. Today, as more infants are screened for hearing loss (tests are required in 37 states and the District of Columbia), implant surgery is being performed on younger and younger children, giving them the best chance of developing spoken language and skills. For more information, visit the Center for Disease Control's Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Program Website at cdc.gov/ncbddd/ehdi.

By Lily Bosch
Photo credits go to Frank Heckers