Jun 4, 2026

Ewa and Doug Tweedy, and Dr. Nancy M. Young, the Lillian Wells Professor of Pediatric Otolaryngology at the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago, come together to discuss bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. Nancy served as the principal investigator for a clinical trial examining the use of MED-EL’s cochlear implants in young children with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. Ewa and Doug’s daughter, Ella, was born deaf in both ears and enrolled in the trial at seven months. The procedure and device have demonstrated safety and efficacy in supporting the development of listening and spoken language skills, with some surprising results. The Tweedy family emphasizes the importance of therapy and parental engagement in achieving positive outcomes, noting that Ella is excelling in a mainstream school. 

Nancy explains, "Bilateral sensorineural hearing loss is permanent hearing loss. It arises from the inner ear. So we're not talking about temporary hearing loss from, say, fluid in the ear after a routine ear infection. So it usually arises from the inner ear, sometimes from the nerve of hearing. And it's often present at birth in certain children, but it can also have a later onset after birth."

Ewa elaborates, "So, at the hospital right after her birth, we had someone come in to perform the newborn hearing screening, and we had two of those done one day after the next, and she did not pass either one of those. So they tried to tell us it might possibly be the fluid in the ears. So we just remained hopeful. But then, after a couple of weeks, we got her retested, again, and she did not pass. And then we went in for what Dr. Young referred to as the ADR so that diagnostic testing could be done for children. And there we found out that she did have the bilateral, so both sides, profound sensorineural hearing loss. We were told she was completely deaf."

Doug continues, "I've had some passing information about it previously. I definitely was not an expert, definitely had not done the level of investigation and reading that I've done at this point. It was at least a familiarity to me. I do have a technologist background, so technology is something that has always been an interest to me, and cochlear implants are definitely a very unique technology."

#MEDEL #CochlearImplants #Pediatrics #Audiology #ENT #EarlyIntervention #HearingHealth #SensorineuralHearingLoss #NeonatalCare #ChildDevelopment

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