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  • Kyle Hiebert, of Fairview, shows his Chianina heifer during Oklahoma Youth Expo state championship show in Oklahoma City earlier this month. His heifer was named Supreme Champion Heifer. (Photo provided)

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March 21, 2010

Fairview teen finally can hear when he wins

By Robert Barron, Staff Writer Enid News and Eagle

Kyle Hiebert has been deaf his entire life and until recently he could only hear vibrations or certain vague sounds.

After a cochlear implant in January, Kyle was able to hear the judge announce his name as the owner of the Supreme Champion Heifer at the Oklahoma Junior Livestock Show. Hiebert, 16, is a freshman at Fairview High School.

He started at the Fairview show, went onto the county and northwest district and then continued to Oklahoma Youth Expo’s state championship show March 16 at the State Fair Arena in Oklahoma City, where his Chianina heifer was named the best in the state.

Kyle told his father, Greg, he is “very happy and kind of in shock.”

“He didn’t show any expression after they called his name because he wasn’t sure what happened, then when they picked his heifer out, he started smiling,” Greg said.

Hearing aids were only partially effective for Kyle. He could hear noise and sound but he could not understand language, Greg said.

Kyle’s family worked with him to learn speech, but he still communicated largely through signing. Now with the cochlear implant, he is hearing noises and sounds through the auditory nerve he never heard through before. The implant helps to stimulate the auditory nerve.

Today Kyle hears things most people take for granted — a bell dinging when the car ignition key is turned and the sounds of music. His father said he listens to music constantly and likes everything from country to Michael Jackson.

“I hope now that he can hear, his tastes will change,” Greg said. Kyle said his favorite music is rock.

He has not yet reached a point where he talks on the telephone, but the new implants are designed so he can hold the phone to his ear. Doctors have been enthusiastic about his progress, his father said.

The next step in Kyle’s treatment is working with his audiologist to help refine the implant to where he gets the most benefit from it. Previously, he went to the audiologist every week; now they are waiting a month to see how he progresses.

Kyle still has trouble with background noise in a crowded room and has not learned how to eliminate that yet.

Having a conversation with Kyle has not changed for Greg because he never learned to sign like his wife or Kyle’s brother and sister. However, if they ask him a question and he doesn’t seem to understand, they ask what he heard.

“That way we know what he is trying to tell us,” Greg said.

For a boy who recently began to hear plainly, one of the first things he heard was his name announced for raising the top heifer in Oklahoma.

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