their youngest son bret is 2 and has normal hearing like his parents. but caden was born without the part of the ear that converts nerve impulses to sound. without that, a cochlear implant would be no help. so from the start, they learned sign language. they figured it would be the only way caden would communicate. then danielle heard of another option. it was random. i was just talking to a friend and she was like, i think they re doing avis in the u.s. now. it stands for auditory brain stem implant. i like calling it a bionic ear. mark krieger at children s hospital in los angeles. in conjunction with usc s school of medicine, a clinical trial was started in 2014 to perform
our senses help us perceive the world around us. a certain smell or sound can trigger some of our deepest memories. when it comes to hearing, the entire auditory system relies on tiny little hairs in your ears. they pick up the vibrations from your eardrum and convert them to nerve impulses. that s the message your brain receives. for more than 100 years, it was believed that brain tissue in this region was intended to process sound and sound only. that was until dr. laura began her work focusing not on sound and speech, but on language. and what she found was revolutionary. at first glance, it might not look like much, but what this baby is doing is changing the way we think of language and the brain. this little boy is babbling in sign language. i think we all agree there s
trigger some of our deepest memories. when it comes to hearing, the entire auditory system relies on tiny little hairs in your ears. they pick up the vibrations from your eardrum and convert them to nerve impulses. that s the message your brain receives. interpreting the impulses as sound. for more than one h up years it was believed that brain tissue in this region was intended to process sound and sound only. that was until dr. laura began her work, focusing not on sound and speech but on language. and what she found was revolutionary. at first glance it might not look like much, but what this baby is doing is changing the way we think of language and the brain. this little boy is babbling in sign language. i think we all agree there s something extraordinary and magical about human language. reporter: dr. laura is a cognitive neuroscientist. she s dedicated her life s work
that converts sound to nerve impulses and then sends them to the brain. with no cocleas, a cochlear implant would be no help. from the start tommy and danielle learned sign language. they figured it would be the only way caden would ever communicate. then danielle heard of another option. it was random. i just talking to a friend and she was like, i think that they re doing abis in the u.s. now. so abi stands for auditory brain stem implant. the main use for this is for kids born without nerves to the ears. so i like calling it a bionic ear. reporter: dr. mark kreeger is a pete trick neurosurgeon at children s hospital in los angeles. in cop junction with usc s tech school of medicine a clinical trial was started in 2014 to perform auditory brain stem implants on young children. here s how it works. similar to a cochlear implant, it has external and internal
kids pain free. chronic back pain kept her from everyday duties like cooking or cleaning for her family. it s a gnawing, sometimes burning, sometimes stabbing. it could stop me in my tracks. reporter: maria and a slew of doctors tried everything from massage to herbal medicine. i saw more than 27 specialists. i must have done physical therapy six separate times. i had tried holistic, acupuncture. reporter: in 2010, when her back pain began to turn her arm cold and blue, maria says she was forced to give up her job. for the first time in my life, i was not in control. the pain kind of controlled me. reporter: finally maria saw a doctor that suggested a spinal cord stimulator. planted near the spine, it sends electrical pulses to the spinal cord. in theory, the pulseless interfere with the nerve impulses that make you feel pain.