Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Anna Lyford from Dibden Purlieu started to lose her hearing in her teens due to a hereditary condition known as "sensory neural hearing loss", which is the premature ageing of hearing cells in the inner ear.

The condition also severely effects her mother and her granddad.

Julian with Anna at the implant centre

Anna gradually lost her hearing through her twenties and then nine years ago the 37-year-old suffered a profound loss of her hearing after the birth of her second child.

She wore two hearing aids, but couldn't use a normal phone or listen to music, and she had to learn to lip read so she could communicate.

Anna says that she felt like her "identity had been stripped away".

But two years ago that all changed.

Anna got in touch with the South of England Cochlear Implant Centre at Southampton University and discovered she was eligible for the special implant in one of her ears.

Since 1990, 420 devices have been implanted at the centre, treating patients from across the south in hospitals in Hampshire.

Anna had the operation six months ago at a cost of Β£40,000. Over the weeks her hearing has improved from a near zero level to having 83% of her hearing back.

Anna says she feels like her old self is returning - she can hear birds singing, the phone ringing, music and the radio. She says life is much easier and that she didn't realise just how much she was missing.

Anna's mother Chris is having the op too

Anna's mum Chris's hearing loss has been less rapid than Anna's.

The 61-year-old now hardly has any hearing. But she's now been inspired by her daughter and is having an implant of her own later this year.

Julian Clegg went along with Anna to an appointment at the University's centre, and talked to Anna and her husband Mike, and children Andrew and Christie, about their hopes for the future.

Cochlear implants are electronic devices made up of two parts: an implanted component that is inserted during an operation, and external components worn on the head or body like a hearing aid, the implant bypasses the damaged hair cells in the inner ear and stimulates the nerve of hearing directly.