"It’s a miracle," Shelley Neal said. "She turns and responds to sound now. She never would before."

Emily Neal, who will be 3 years old in May, was born profoundly deaf and received a cochlear implant when she was 14 months old.

The basic components of a cochlear implant include a microphone, an external signal processor, an external transmitter, an internal receiver and an electrode array implanted in the cochlea.

When her daughter first began to hear sounds and motions with the implant, Shelley Neal said every sound wasn’t pleasant to Emily, but she has since learned to cope with the device.

"She actually cried when she first got it and started hearing things," she said. "She wasn’t used to sound."

Some hearing centers have started placing bilateral cochlear implants in young children, enhancing hearing in both of their ears. The procedure has not been approved by the FDA yet, but a local doctor and some hearing centers are optimistic.

"I think they will approve it, but I haven’t seen any research that shows they are going to approve it anytime soon," said B. Joseph Touma, who specializes in potology/neurotology at the Touma Hearing and Balance Center. "If the costs comes down and it’s approved, it will be great."

Shelley Neal said since Emily -- who started using sign language when she was 12 months old -- received the implant, she rarely uses sign language. Emily tested in the 68 percentile for normal-hearing children. She said her speech scores were low, but the Speech and Hearing Center at Marshall University is working on her articulations.

"I want her to know some sign languages because she can’t always wear her device," Shelley Neal said referring to the outside portion of the cochlear implant. "She’s deaf in the pool, bed and bath because she doesn’t wear it then."

Shelley Neal says it was no easy task teaching her daughter sounds after she received it.

"People think it’s a quick fix," Neal said. "That’s just where the work begins. You have to teach them what sound is. Point to them and tell them what it is. They don’t hear like you and I. When I talk to her, I over articulate so she can hear every sound. I can not stress therapy enough."

By Crystal Quarles, The Herald-Dispatch