The North Eastern Tribune caught up with Peters and her mother, Michelle van Zyl at her pre-school in Bedfordview.
Van Zyl said her daughter is yet to learn how to recognise and associate the sounds that she hears. She said, “This is because her sounds are electronic and transmitted by her external sound processors into the cochlear implants.”
She added that according to her audiologist, Peters needs to also learn to listen and understand what she hears which would happen sooner rather than later. “It’s not going to be an overnight process. It will take time, but it will happen,” said Van Zyl.
MUST SEE: VIDEO: Payton (2) hears sound for the first time in months
Peters underwent cochlear implant surgery on both ears on 22 July and had one of her external sound processors switched on, on 18 August.
In the article, Little Payton can hear, North Eastern Tribune week ending 29 August, this newspaper shared a video of how Peters reacted to sound for the first time.
On 23 August, her family hosted a Help Payton Hear auction at the Broadacres shopping centre.
Although most of the items were auctioned off, Van Zyl said there were still items available to interested members of the public. She said, “We still have a fair amount of items left over from the auction. These include a brand new X box 360 250GB Kinect donated by Microsoft which is selling for R2 900, its retail price is R4 500. A R10 000 tailor-made suit and shirt from Sandton’s Wedding and Suit is selling for R5 000.”
She added that on sale was also teeth whitening vouchers valued at R3 500 each. “… But we are selling them for R1 000 each,” said Van Zyl.
Peters lives with her family in Linksfield.
Her family has had to finance the surgery from their own pockets as their medical aid was not covering any of the costs.
Van Zyl said the operation cost about R750 000 excluding the costs of external sound processors which cost over R180 000 each.
Peters lost her hearing in May last year after a respiratory infection.
Click here to read previous Payton articles.
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