2 Sisters with Hearing Loss Get Cochlear Implants on Same Day: 'There's Nothing That These Girls Can't Do' (Exclusive)

Leah and Sophie Salzberg, now 5 and 3, were born with a hearing loss disorder. Cochlear implants were "a light at the end of the tunnel" for their family

When Leah Salzberg was 2 ½, her parents Matthew and Jessica started worrying about her speech — “or lack thereof,” Jessica says.

Until then, Leah had been a typical kid in Surfside, Fla., says her mom, an education specialist.

When her speech development plateaued, the Salzbergs tried speech therapy, but the twice-a-week sessions were frustrating and disappointing.

Leah's parents also noticed that when she walked a few feet in front of them and they called her name, she didn’t respond. “We started to worry,” Jessica, 33, recalls.

About halfway through the school year, Leah's preschool teacher asked Matthew and Jessica if Leah's hearing had been checked recently. “I find Leah is looking at my mouth,” the teacher said. “And if she’s across the classroom, she’s not responding.”

Leah was taken to an ear, nose, and throat doctor who said her ears were full of fluid and suggested getting tubes to prevent fluid buildup. Doctors also tried an auditory testing booth.

But the family didn't get real answers until they tried a special sedated Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) test. The audiologist discovered Leah had moderate to severe bilateral hearing loss.

“The first words she said were, 'I’m actually surprised how much she’s speaking given her hearing loss — which is moderate to severe,'" says her dad Matthew, 38, a hematologist and oncologist.
“I’ll never forget that.”

Doctors gave the Salzburgs information about hearing aids. “It was a devastating day,” Jessica remembers. “Just devastating.”

Soon after, Leah was fitted for her devices. “She hated them,” her mother says. “She would take them out. It was a struggle.”

In the summer of 2022, the family learned that Leah’s hearing loss was caused by an extremely rare gene called MYO-15A. Both Matthew and Jessica carry the gene. According to the National
Institutes of Health, MYO15A "is the third most crucial gene In hereditary sensorineural hearing loss."

The diagnosis meant that her hearing loss would continue to get worse.

“She would be completely deaf,” her mother says. “It is a progressive hearing loss. It’s not going to get better, it’s going to get worse. You cannot stop it, you cannot prevent it.”

Related: Hearing Mom Talks Raising Two Deaf Sons and the 'Magical' Moment They Could Hear for First Time

At the time, Leah's younger sister, Sophie, was 20 months old. The couple was pregnant with their youngest daughter, Mila.

Knowing Leah's condition was genetic, Jessica and Matthew tested Sophie's hearing, too. When she was put in the auditory testing booth, she didn’t respond.

Genetic testing confirmed Sophie had the same rare gene as Leah. (Their baby sister, Mila, was born on August 25, 2022, and while she is a carrier of the gene, she has normal hearing.)

“As a parent, it kills you,” says Matthew. “The first time we heard the diagnosis, we were crushed.”

Both Leah and Sophie’s hearing rapidly declined, and soon, "Leah stopped hearing," Matthew says.

"Even with hearing aids, she couldn’t hear."

That’s when the family started considering cochlear implants.

While hearing aids amplify sounds that can be detected by damaged ears, cochlear implants bypass damaged portions of the ear and directly stimulate the auditory nerve, according to the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders.

A surgeon places the cochlear implant under the skin through a small incision behind the ear, and then an electrode is inserted into the inner ear. A few weeks later, the device is turned on.

"When people brought them up in months prior, I'd be like, 'I don't want to hear it. I can't look at them.
NO, this means my child's deaf,'" Jessica says. "It was a really difficult choice."

But, she adds, “We wanted to give them all the possible opportunities in their future."

Leah was nearly 4 and Sophie was 2 when they had back-to-back cochlear implant surgeries on January 4, 2023, at the UHealth Ear Institute Children’s Hearing Program in Miami.

“They did it together,” Jessica says. "They were superstars."

The out-patient surgery took four hours for Leah and three hours for Sophie.

The girls recovered at home for three weeks. Their classmates sent get-well cards. They had "zero sound" during that time, says Jessica.

"They couldn't hear, so for three weeks, not a sound, not a sound. They were home with me. I did everything in the world to keep them distracted and busy with other senses that we have, and thank God, the time passed."

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On January 23, 2023, the devices were activated. "Leah was giddy and happy and excited," their mother says. "Sophie was kind of scared and cried, but that's a good thing — because she was reacting. We left with four humongous backpacks full of devices, accessories and equipment. And we went home to start to navigate this new world with cochlear implants."

It took about six to nine months to fully learn how to use the implants successfully, say Jessica and Matthew. The external device charges at night, and in the morning, they twist on the batteries and Leah and Sophie wear the devices in a headband.

When the girls wake up, they put their external devices on. "We say, 'Eyes open, ears on,'" their mother says. "The way they see me put on my glasses in the morning to see, is the same way they put on their 'super ears' to hear."

Now, she says, "They are doing amazing."

Leah, 5, will start kindergarten in the fall. She loves gymnastics, dance, swimming. Sophie, now 3, also does gymnastics and plays soccer. “They love to be outside,” says Jessica, who now works with students who are deaf or hard of hearing. “They love to explore. They’re happy."

The couple are now trying to give back and help others, speaking to other parents of children considering cochlear implants.

“We tell them there is a light at the end of the tunnel, that things will be okay,” Matthew says.

Jessica adds, "There’s nothing these girls can’t do."

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