Cochlear Implant Activation Videos

About

Cochlear Implant Activation Videos contain footage of deaf individuals having their hearing restored during the activation of a surgically implanted electronic device.

Origin

On January 5th, 2007, YouTuber Kwilinski uploaded a video of a six month old deaf child hearing for the first time following the activation of his cochlear implant device (shown below).

Spread

On July 16th, 2007, YouTuber Nikki Buck uploaded footage showing her cochlear implant activation (shown below, left), garnering more than 530,000 views and 670 comments. On April 14th, 2008, YouTuber beancounterbb uploaded a video an 8-month-old boy reacting to the sound of his mother's voice after activating his hearing aid (shown below, right). In the next six years, the video received over 4.17 million views and 3,300 comments.

On July 7th, 2009, YouTuber jessiecijourney published a video showing her cochlear implant activation (shown below, left), which garnered more than 620,000 views in the first four years. On May 27th, 2010, beancounterbb's YouTube video was posted to Reddit^[2] where it received upwards of 8,700 up votes and 380 comments prior to being archived. On June 5th, 2010, YouTuber Eriskegal2008 posted footage of a young girl reacting to her cochlear implant being turned on (shown below, right). In the next three years, the video gained over 400,000 views and 100 comments.

On September 26th, 2011, YouTuber Sloan Churman uploaded a video of herself hearing for the first time at 29 years of age after turning on her hearing aid device (shown below, left), which accumulated upwards of 18.3 million views and 75,000 comments within the following two years. On May 31st, 2012, YouTuber ali manz published footage of a 2-year-old boy hearing his mother for the first time after a cochlear implant activation. In the first 14 months, the video gained over 1.75 million views and 3,300 comments.

On September 14th, Redditor daydreamingmama participated in an "ask me anything" thread in the IAmA^[1] subreddit, in which she claimed to have received cochlear implants to restore her hearing and that the practice was shunned by some people in the deaf community.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References