Fergus, Ont. girl becomes first in North America to receive first-of-its-kind hearing device

A girl from Ont. is helping to pave the way for the future of hearing devices. CTV’s Spencer Turcotte finds out how.

A young Fergus, Ont. girl has experienced a lot of firsts lately, but at 10 years old, you wouldn’t expect hearing normally to be one of them.

These days, a simple sound means the world to Anabia Bilal because she knows all too well what a world with little to no sound is like.

“It was very bad and very quiet,” Bilal said.

She was born with hearing loss and has used hearing aids since she was a baby. They worked for a while, until they didn’t.

“My hearing deteriorated in 2024,” said Bilal.

Then late last summer there was a beacon of hope from Toronto’s SickKids Hospital.

Dr. Sharon Cushing, the hospital’s director of the cochlear implant program, believed Bilal would be a prime candidate for a new type of device called Nexa, which was created by an Australian-based company.

“Unlike many of the babies we implant, she’s able to tell you what it’s like,” said Cushing.

A North American first

So in August, Bilal became the first person in North America to get the smart hearing device, which was surgically implanted by Dr. Cushing.

“They had to cut open the back of my ear then implant a magnet inside,” said Bilal.

The technology was approved by Health Canada last year and includes a chip that can remotely provide the implant with updates, which was never possible before.

“If somebody dreams up some incredible algorithm for helping the hearing be better, you are going to be able to take advantage of it because we can now put that on the chip,” said Cushing, adding that it works similar to a smartphone update.

The device also has internal memory to store personalized hearing settings.

Hearing again

Weeks of complete silence followed Bilal’s surgery, which allowed her time to heal. Then, her world turned back on and she could finally hear normal sounds.

“The clock ticking, the light switches, the wind, the AC turning on,” she said, adding that at first things sounded robotic, but six months later her brain has adjusted quite well.

Bilal continues to visit SickKids for ongoing tests and adjustments.

The successful surgery laid the groundwork for others to get the new cochlear implants too.

“We have done, including the ones earlier this morning, 57,” said Cushing, during her interview with CTV News on Friday.

As for Bilal, her confidence keeps growing as she works with a speech therapist. These days, she has no trouble speaking up when things get too loud.

“If my mom is talking loud I can hear it,” she said, looking over at her mother and smiling. “And my mom talks very loud when she’s calling somebody.”