Watch the moment deaf woman bursts into tears after hearing her husband’s voice for the first time
A WOMAN broke down in tears of joy when she finally heard her husband's voice after having surgery to restore her hearing.
Cora Lutes, who lives in Norfolk, West Virginia, started losing her hearing when she was just two years old, and has relied on hearing aids to communicate with family and friends ever since.
But now, after having a cochlear implant fitted, Cora's life has been transformed.
For the first time she can hear her husband and her children - something she never thought would be possible.
After undergoing the life-changing surgery, husband James Lutes captured the emotional moment her implant was switched on.
James uploaded the video, which has been viewed more than five million times, and explained how when he first met Cora she could hear but her hearing deteriorated until she was completely deaf.
He wrote: "My wife lost her hearing when she was two and a half years old, doctors told her family she would never be able to talk.
"She was able to hear for a while with hearing aids.
"When I met her she was still able to hear, but after I joined the Navy she slowly got worse and lost her hearing completely and doctors said surgery was the only option."
In the video, Cora can be seen talking to a doctor about how voices sound "squeaky" and are hard to interpret.
The doctor explains that as she has been deaf for so long, it will take her brain a while to begin to distinguish voices and sounds again.
Then, in a heartwarming moment, James speaks to his wife for the first time.
He asks: "How's my voice sound?
"What do you think?"
Beaming, Cora laughs and says it sounds "loud".
"It's amazing," she says before bursting into tears, overcome with joy at her ability to hear.
RELATED STORIES
After sharing her experience online, Cora took to Facebook to share her story and to thank well-wishers.
She wrote that she was thankful to her husband to "cover everything for me to have the best for what I need to hear my son's voice".
Now, Cora wants to help others who are thinking of having a cochlear implant and plans to work with deaf children who are having problems in school.
A cochlear implant is a surgically implanted electronic device that provides a sense of sound to a person with profound hearing loss.
It works by stimulating the hearing nerves, which sends messages to the brain allowing it to decipher sound.
There are over 250,000 users worldwide, with 12,000 in the UK according to hearinglink.org.
WHAT IS A COCHLEAR IMPLANT?
The implant is an electronic system that stimulates the nerve of hearing in the cochlear – which converts the vibrations into nerve impulses which are carried to the brain.
It can give a sensation of sound to profoundly deaf people who have been unable to hear even when using the most powerful hearing aids available.
A microphone clips into the ear and picks up sound which is converted into an electrical signal in the speech processor.
Signals pass from the speech processor through a wire to a coil, held in place on the scalp by a magnet. Then the signal passes through the skin to the receiver package.
The receiver converts the signal into a tiny electrical current that travels via an electrode implanted in the cochlear to stimulate the auditory nerve. The auditory nerve then carries the signal to the brain to give a sensation of hearing.
What does the operation involve?
The procedure takes several hours and requires general anaesthetic.
Some hair will usually be shaved off before the surgeon makes a cut behind the ear and drills through the bone, into the middle ear and the cochlea.
The receiver and internal magnet is then inserted and the incision closed up.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368