Up until the second Griffin was born, we had no idea of his Bilateral Microtia and Atresia. Everyone in the delivery room was caught by surprise and we learned very quickly that we had one tough cookie on our hands. Griffin went without the aid of a hearing device for the first 3 months of his life as we waited on testing to confirm if he was actually deaf or just dealing with a deformity. We were inclined to believe that he could actually hear though as we found he would respond to loud noises and voices throughout those first 3 months.

When we went in for the hearing test at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, it became apparent within a few minutes that Griffin could actually hear which caused a few tears of joy for old mom and dad:) With the good news, we were immediately referred to a device called a BAHA or Bone Anchored Hearing Aid. For children with Griffin’s deformity, a great option to aid in hearing is to wear a BAHA headband. We have all come to know and love it as simply the “Headband” and Griffin has already learned how to turn it off and on as needed and even learned to let us know when one of the batteries had died. Pretty cool stuff for a then 2-3 year old…

Fast forward to July 2012 with Griffin’s newly constructed Right Ear Canal and Left Ear Canal constructions by Dr. Joseph Roberson in Palo Alto, CA. With his newly constructed left ear canal, Griffin has already experienced nearly normal (only slight hearing loss) hearing in his new canal…WOW! We found out during Griffin’s right canal surgery that his middle bones weren’t quite connected properly and he will need an “implant” type surgery in order to hear out of his right canal. Dr. Roberson was very optimistic though and Griffin can actually already hear wonderfully without his headband! He only seems to want it when watching TV.  Dr. Roberson said that after his implant surgery and over time, his hearing will continue to improve and he will one day very soon NOT EVER HAVE TO WEAR HIS HEADBAND AGAIN! Truly amazing stuff!