While shopping for toys with her mom, a young girl was beyond excited to find a doll that had hearing aids like hers.
Emma Scenne, 5, was exploring a store in the Boston region when she found the doll in the bottom rack of the clearance section.
Emma’s mother, Lia, posted a video clip of Emma discovering the Barbie on Instagram, where it garnered more than 170,000 likes from viewers across the world.
“Hearing aids!” Emma says in the video, while jumping up and down and clutching the doll. “Those ones all have earrings, but this one has hearing aids!”
Increasing Awareness of Childhood Hearing Loss
Lia hopes the video will help parents and guardians learn more about pediatric hearing loss.
“I would hope that, like a mom, maybe going through the same thing would be able to see it, and early intervention is key to speech and being able to be treated early,” she said in an interview with Boston 25 News.
More than 6,000 U.S. infants born in 2022 were diagnosed with permanent hearing loss. Causes include genetics, infections during pregnancy and complications after birth.
Symptoms of hearing loss in babies and toddlers include not responding to loud noises, limited babbling and not turning toward a parent’s voice by six months.
If you are concerned that your child may have hearing loss, Hearing Wellness Center’s audiology department is here to help. Schedule a consultation with one of our compassionate providers today.