TULSA, Okla. — An 11-year-old boy's emotional reaction to hearing clearly for the first time after receiving a cochlear implant has gone viral, garnering more than 5 million views on social media and an appearance on the Today Show.
Chelsea's Ryder Boen was born with severe hearing loss.
WATCH: 'It was just amazing': 11-year-old gets gift of hearing
"My mom, she had to speak out pretty loud. My sister, my dad, they usually had to repeat everything they said," Boen said.
"Everything we said, we repeated. Twice," Sarah Boen, Ryder's mother, said.
His hearing got worse as he got older, despite having the best hearing aids available.
"So he's like pretty close to the line of being deaf. So without his hearing aids, he could not hear anything," Sarah Boen said.
Ryder has been receiving care at Hearts for Hearing near 101st and Memorial for most of his life.
"He had hearing aids with us, and he had listening therapy even when he was a little bitty guy," Darcy Stowe, Hearts for Hearing CEO, said.
When his hearing aids were no longer providing enough help, Ryder underwent cochlear implant surgery in his left ear in January.
"I did a lot of research about, like, okay, this is what would happen with the surgery," Ryder Boen said.
One month later, the implant was activated, allowing him to hear without a hearing aid for the first time.
"It was all kinds of emotions. It was amazing, like cool, like I'm hearing something," Ryder Boen said.
"Not a day goes by that Hearts for Hearing doesn't change lives. So it never gets old," Stowe said.
The video of his activation went viral, reaching more than 5 million views on social media and being featured on the Today Show on April 9.
"It was just amazing. I never, I didn't even know what the Today Show was," Ryder Boen said.
"That happens to other people. That doesn't happen to us," Sarah Boen said. "I never would have even dreamed it'd be my child on there now, viral."
Now, Ryder is enjoying new sounds, including his favorite.
"Bullfrogs. We have a pond in our front yard, and I never heard a bullfrog ever before," Ryder Boen said.
He continues to use a regular hearing aid in his right ear but is scheduled for implant surgery for that ear in May.
TJ Eckert is your South Tulsa County reporter.
Is there something you think he should know about or look into?
You can email him at TJ.Eckert@kjrh.com.
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