Wired for sound TWINS' LIFECHANGING OP

It's double the joy in the Cooper house as Ashe and Jett can finally hear

- Kasia De Vydt-Jillings

As seven-year-old twins Ashe and Jett's cochlear implants were switched on, mum Danielle Cooper watched something incredible quietly unfold.

Everyday sounds most people take for granted, like whispers or wind rustling through the trees, were loud and clear, and for the first time in their little lives, the boys had full access to sound.

“When their cochlear implants are on, we tell them they can hear everything – even the stars twinkling,” smiles mum Danielle, 34.

Despite no history of multiples in the family, Coromandel-based architectural designer Danielle always dreamed of having twins.

“Elated would be an understatement,” she beams of her reaction when she found out at the first ultrasound.

With a smooth pregnancy and planned induction just shy of 37 weeks, nothing hinted at what was ahead.

“We didn't know anything about hearing loss until the newborn hearing screening when they noticed something,” she recalls. “But even then, they said, 'Don't worry, it could be fluid in the ears from the induction.'”

A follow-up appointment confirmed that both boys had moderate hearing loss. Danielle remembers she and electrical technician husband Oli, 36, felt relatively calm.