"As soon as we get you out of here pizza and Dr. Pepper. Ding Dongs," said his mother, Brandy Ferchau.

With "Buddy" beside him for courage, he's been through three surgeries to build an ear.

"The first surgery they took rib cartilage from over here and made this outer part here. The second surgery they made him a little ear lobe. Then the third one they made the tragus this little front piece right here," said Ferchau.

This one will allow him to hear.

"Most of these kids have normal inner ear and nerve. The hearing loss that you get with no ear canal is much worse than you could ever get by plugs, so they have hearing that is about a thousand times or more, worse than normal," said Joseph Chang, UT Medical School.

Ferchau told her son she loved him as he left for surgery.

When this surgery is over Jacob should be able to do something he's never done before, hear on the left side.

Here's an added benefit. Doctors tell us if you have a lot of sound coming at you from a lot of different directions, it's easier to filter out the noise and concentrate on the one thing you want to hear if both ears are working.

If the sound of the drill is familiar, it's because the first drills used to hollow out the ear canal were based on dental instruments.

In what can take four hours the doctor creates a canal, works on small bones in the ear, the eardrum itself and uses a skin graft to line the new canal.

And when we want to hear how well it works, ear patient Lea Campbell is happy to provide a demonstration.

"Little less loud. Can you hear that?" said Dr. Chang, placing a tuning fork to her ear. She could hear it.

Because her outer ear formed normally she was in Pre-K when what is technically called atresia in her right ear was first discovered.

She waited several years, but after getting the surgery eight months ago, her life changed.

"Phone was a little loud first time it rang and then not too long after that we were down at the gas station and this truck went by honking and it's like whoa! It was really loud," said Campbell.

Her family's life changed too.

"Just seeing the way she reacted to the phone ringing and to the truck going by and stuff," said her mother, Brandy Campbell.

In fact, talking about it for the first time with us made the emotion of being able to hear plain.

"It's ok. Don't start crying. What are you crying for? I'm just happy for you baby," Campbell said to her daughter as she began to cry.

For the rest of their lives the children who have this surgery will have to have their ears cleaned a couple of times a year.

But that doesn't seem like much for a life with the sound turned up.

By Nancy Holland
http://www.khou.com/news/local/houstonmetro/stories/khou060302_cd_earimplants.7c868f52.html