Two young patients share three milestones – birth, cochlear implant surgery, and hearing for the first time
Patients at the M Health Fairview Lions Children’s Hearing & ENT Clinic share a special journey – and improvements in cochlear implantation are making the road ahead a little brighter.
Toddlers Oaklyn Matson and Zera Martinson may not be related – but they sure have a lot in common.
The two girls were born on the same day, each with almost complete hearing loss.
One year later, they received cochlear implants on the same day at M Health Fairview Masonic Children’s Hospital in Fall 2021. When both families returned a month later – again on the same day – to have the girls’ implants turned on, the clinic staff noticed the coincidence.
M Health Fairview Audiologist Jennifer Ward, AuD, works with the Martinson family and supervises the Lions Children’s Hearing & ENT Clinic at Masonic Children’s Hospital. She noticed there was another patient coming in to have her implant turned on at the same time as Zera – then she saw they had had surgery on the same day, then she saw they had the same birthdate.
She and her colleagues asked the two families if they’d be willing to meet. They both said “yes.” Ward brought Zera down the hall after her implant was activated to see her “birthday twin,” Oaklyn, who was also hearing for the first time.
First experience with hearing loss for Martinson family
When Zera was diagnosed with profound hearing loss after failing the universal newborn hearing screening, it was a shock for her mother, Valerie. No one else in the family had been diagnosed with hearing loss. Doctors discovered that, in Zera’s case, it was a symptom of congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV).
CMV is a common virus and affects people of all ages, but sometimes with no long-term side effects. However, it can be more severe for newborns if the parent acquires CMV during pregnancy. Roughly one in five children born with congenital CMV will have symptoms or long-term health problems like hearing loss.
“We tried hearing aids, but they didn’t allow her to hear well at important frequencies which she would need in order to speak,” said Valerie. “One of the nurses we worked with had two children with cochlear implants. She took an hour out of her day to tell us more about the procedure and helped connect us to Jennifer Ward.”
Hearing loss and cochlear implants run in Oaklyn’s family
Oaklyn’s mother, Kristina Blasius, had her own cochlear implants put in at M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Medical Center in 2003. Twenty years ago, she had a different experience than her daughter.
Kristina was born in May 1998, months before Minnesota began requiring newborn hearing tests.
“As I got older, my mom knew something was off. She brought me to multiple doctors, but they thought it was a speech delay,” said Kristina. “I was finally tested, and we found out I had profound hearing loss when I was 3 years old.”
Kristina got hearing aids, but they didn’t help significantly. She was referred to an audiologist and received her first cochlear implant when she was 5 years old. At first, she only received an implant in one ear, which was more common at the time. She didn’t get her second implant until years later.
Two decades later, both of Kristina’s daughters have gotten bilateral cochlear implants. Oaklyn’s older sister, Aria, was also diagnosed with profound hearing loss at birth and received her implant in 2020.
A few years before her children were born, Kristina also shadowed at the Lions Children’s Hearing & ENT Clinic. She is now in school to become a physician’s assistant, inspired by her experiences as a child.
M Health Fairview Pediatric Otolaryngologist Luke Jakubowski, MD, worked with Kristina during her time at the clinic. Building off of that relationship, he went on to help evaluate both Aria and Oakyln’s hearing loss and performed their cochlear implant surgeries.
“Establishing a relationship with each family is important. The first few interactions after a child has been diagnosed with hearing loss are often difficult,” said Jakubowski. After a child receives a cochlear implant, it’s also important for the clinic to partner closely with families to support their children at home and school.
Research and technology drive improvements for new generation
M Health Fairview Neuro-otologist Tina Huang, MD, is another connection the two families share. She performed Kristina’s cochlear implant surgery two decades ago and Zera’s cochlear implant surgery last year. From one generation to the next, Huang said there have been a few key changes in cochlear implantation.
“Newborn hearing screenings have helped significantly,” Huang said. “Otherwise, families may not find out that their child has hearing loss until a year later when they still aren’t talking. Data shows that the earlier you implant children, the better they do later in terms of speech and language. The sound processing and devices themselves have also become very advanced. There’s much better sound fidelity.”
While cochlear implants may not be the best fit for every family, they can open a world of possibility for patients like Zera and Oaklyn, who will now face fewer challenges developing key speech and language skills.
