Breathtaking moment as Chinese deaf girl hears for 1st time

Gifted a cochlear implant, Jayde Scholl now squeals and laughs with delight as she listens to the sound of her adoptive mother Jaque Scholl’s voice.

On Tuesday the implant was switched on, marking the end of a two adoption process for Jayde after she spent the first four-years of her life in a Chinese orphanage after being abandoned in a town square at the age of eight-months.

Luckily for Jayde, the Scholl’s were looking to adopt and saw her on trip to China two-years-ago, but international adoptions take longer than domestic ones.

Once the paper-work was complete, the Scholl’s brought Jayde to the United States just before Christmas.

However, Jaque, who is a doctor of audiology at her own School Center for the deaf in Oklahoma, noticed something was wrong with her new daughter on the plane home.

She realized that Jayde wasn’t paying attention or watching the in-flight video, even when the volume on the headphones was switched up to full.

Upon landing, Jayde was diagnosed as deaf and in need of an implant – which fortuitously, her new parents could easily make happen.

‘When you have a child who is 5 years old and first getting sound, we’ve missed a lot critical time for speech and language,’ said Jaque to KJRH.Com

Once the implant was activated, Jaque spoke of her joy at her daughter’s realization she could now hear.

‘She’s never turned her head to us when we’ve talked or done anything,’ said Jaque. ‘So that’s kind of like, wow! That’s a big moment.’

Hopes are high for the little girl’s future now that she has the implant due to tests which reveal that she is blessed with high intelligence.

‘The building blocks are there. And I think she’s bright. She feels safe in the world. And I think that makes a big difference,’ said Jaque.

Indeed, when she arrived in the U.S. Jayde was unable to speak, hear or use sign language before the Scholl’s adopted her. But now she uses about 50 signs.

‘She is like a little marine,’ said dad, Eric Scholl.

‘She adapts. She modifies and she survives. It’s amazing what she can put up with and get through.’