But he couldn't hear a bird chirp. He couldn't hear the children laughing or the sounds of music lilting through the air.

Moores was born 27 years ago with a profound hearing impairment. He was born into a notable Covington family, the grandson of author Walker Percy. It was his grandmother, Mary "Bunt" Percy, who taught him how to read lips and speak as best he could.

He learned to succeed in the hearing world just as his mother, Ann, had learned: by sheer will and hard work.

"My grandmother spent hours teaching me to read lips and speak," Moores said, just as she had taught her daughter, who was born deaf.

Moores adjusted to his muffled world with the help of family, friends and teachers. He went through St. Peter's Catholic School and Saint Paul's School in Covington, then attended Mississippi State University on an academic scholarship. He graduated from veterinary school at Louisiana State University two years ago.

He now is on the staff of the Animal Medical Clinic in Covington, where he worked as a teenager.

"He was 'the deaf kid' in the back cleaning cages," Dr. Danny Daniel said. "He was super. I would just flip the lights on and off" to communicate with him.

'I have to do something'

Now Moores is a second-year veterinarian at the clinic. But despite his success after veterinary school, he began to have "more and more trouble with hearing. It became more and more frustrating," he said.

"Basic communication became more difficult," he said, especially in his work as a veterinarian.

"When I started working here, I said, 'This is it. I have to do something.' "

What he did was try a cochlear implant, an electronic device that can give the gift of sound to those with profound hearing loss. It was a decision, he said, that changed his life.

"But it didn't happen overnight," he said.

He went to Los Angeles to meet with an audiologist, choosing the House Institute because "they pioneered cochlear implants."

"I had surgery last June and for about a month didn't hear at all. I was dizzy," he said.

Once adjustments were made, his hearing improved, but there was work to be done. His wife, Celeste, was an invaluable aide, he said.

"I had to learn sounds. Some sounds are completely different now. My wife spent a lot of time, reading and talking."

Moores is still processing things he had never heard before.

"I kept hearing a sound one day," he said. He thought it might be something in his car or some appliance in the house. "Finally, I had to ask my wife, 'What is that sound?' "

The answer was simple but surprising: It was the sound of a bird chirping.

He also has discovered the sounds his dogs make while sleeping or stretching. "They are sounds a lot of people take for granted," he said.

"It made a big difference," Moores said of his cochlear implant. "And I want people to know about it."

Hearing aid alternative

Cochlear implants are becoming more common in the United States. They were approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1985 for adults and in 1990 for children. According to the Cochlear Implant Association, a national nonprofit support group for implant patients and prospective patients, more than 20,000 people have received cochlear implants in the United States, including more than 8,000 children.

The association says implants are beneficial for people with profound hearing loss who are not helped by a hearing aid. Hearing aids make sound louder and clearer, but cochlear implants transmit sound by stimulating nerve fibers in the inner ear.

Normal hearing depends on a lot of little pieces working together properly. Sound causes the eardrum to vibrate; the vibration sets three little bones in motion, carrying the vibration to the inner ear's cochlea, which is filled with fluid and tiny hair cells. The hair cells send an electrical current to the hearing nerve, which then sends the current to the brain, where it is recognized as sound.

For a person with a hearing impairment, those tiny hair cells in the inner ear are damaged and can't transmit the electrical current to the brain.

A cochlear implant bypasses that damage and directly stimulates the nerve to send information to the brain.

According to the implant association, the procedure costs between $30,000 and $50,000, which covers pre-surgical testing, medical personnel services, surgery and hospital fees, as well as the implant device itself.

The group says insurance covers the costs in most cases. The costs also may be covered by Medicare, the Veterans Administration or Medicaid.

Moores said insurance covered most of the cost of his surgery, which includes many follow-up visits for "mapping," or adjustments to the device as he adjusts to sound.

The implant consists of three devices: a receiver, which is implanted; a headpiece, which is worn behind the ear and includes a microphone and transmitter; and a sound processor, which can be worn on a belt and amplifies the sound, sending it to the brain.

A whole new world

Patients ask Moores about the device behind his ear, and he is happy to explain.

It has opened up a whole new world, he said.

"It was amazing to hear more than ever before," he said. "But it's not all fun and games."

He still can't hear the television well, and some music is hard to hear.

But it makes a big difference in his job.

"He can actually communicate with clients without them watching him," Daniel said. He can have his back turned now and still hear someone speak. He doesn't have to deal with the obstacle of someone wearing a surgical mask during a procedure, obscuring their lips.

"The implant has had a profound effect on David's life," his mother said. "It has been liberating, and he no longer seems or feels 'handicapped.'"

By Karen Baker