Cooper, thanks to a cochlear implant, was able to hear his mom speak for the first time, and his parents were able to record it all on video. That video has since gone viral, partially because of Cooper’s unusual reaction to the implant.

The Huffington Post reports that the video, originally posted in October of 2011, became an internet sensation that sparked heartwarming reactions, as the toddler hears his mom’s voice, makes a face of surprise and points to his ears.

The video was posted by the young boy’s mother, username lklascala1, who writes in the description that:

“My son just got his cochlear implants after 2 years of excruciating waiting. This is his initial response after first getting turned on. It just made us melt!”

Z6 Mag reports that Cooper’s mom also wrote to a user on YouTube that:

“Cooper was diagnosed as profoundly deaf, therefore he can’t hear a thing. What usually happens with CI implants is that the child picks up on environmental sounds first (cars honking, birds chirping, telephone ring) before understanding and processing speech sounds. Therefore, when the child is first activated usually respond to taps on a table before responding to someone speaking. We just got lucky.”

HyperVocal reports that a cochlear implant is a device that restores hearing to patients with damaged inner-ear hair cells. In this toddler’s case, however, he was born “profoundly deaf” making this the first time he has heard anything at all. When a user asked why Cooper only has one implant in the video, his mother explained that:

“Cooper was implanted with 2 CI’s. This is just his initial activation, so they test one ear at a time so he doesn’t become overwhelmed. It can be very frightening and painful to test both at once.”

Check out the video below, to see Cooper’s reaction to hearing his mother’s voice for the first time:

[Image courtesy of strollerderby]

Cooper, Deaf Toddler, Hears Mom’s Voice For The First Time [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr