$50k implant lets Emily hear

Emily Robinson is turning 1-year-old this week and has just received the best birthday present she will ever get - improved hearing.

Her hearing will be better thanks to a cochlear implant.

Martinborough parents Corina Lawson and Ed Robinson were told Emily was profoundly deaf after a routine screening at Wairarapa Hospital.

"As devastating as it was, it was a grieving process, we didn't muck around," said Ms Lawson. "We just changed the way we interacted with her straight away."

The couple starting teaching Emily sign language and investigating cochlear implants. But three weeks later, Emily's parents found out their daughter had a hole in her heart and needed open-heart surgery.

While Emily was given the all clear for her heart health in October, managing her hearing disability will be an ongoing journey.

Emily had a $50,000 cochlear implant put into her ear in February, and returned to Christchurch Hospital to have it "switched on" earlier this month. Ms Lawson said having watched YouTube videos of children having their cochlear implants switched on, showing them laughing and crying in surprise at their first sounds, she was underwhelmed when it was their turn.

"I thought I would be crying and jumping up and down, but it was just more of a relief that it could work and that we would have a child who could hear," Ms Lawson said.

While still fine-tuning the four settings programmed into the implant for different noise environments, Emily should eventually hear 90 per cent of what other children do. Her parents have a lot of teaching to do.

"We're trying to get her to associate sounds with something, at the moment she's got no context for them," said Mr Robinson. Ms Lawson said she has been surprised by the level of support from Wairarapa people and connecting with other families with children with hearing disabilities has made a big difference.

She likes hearing other people's stories and sharing her own: "Just keep hope always, stay positive."

One in six New Zealanders, or more than 700,000 people, are affected by a hearing disability.

NZ Foundation for the Deaf chief executive Louise Carroll said while technology has made a big difference, many do not have access to it.

"There are still many people who can't afford cochlear implants, hearing aids or remote microphone hearing aids and either aren't funded or aren't funded sufficiently to get the equipment they require.

"One of the greatest challenges that the deaf and hearing-impaired community faces is this lack of funding for technology."

The Foundation is calling for a cross-government working group to address issues facing the deaf and hearing-impaired.