WHEN little Rosannah Harris has her ‘bionic ears’ switched on today, it will be the first time she has heard sound.

The one-year-old, from Cliddesden Road, Basingstoke, was born profoundly deaf, but recently underwent a life-changing, six-hour cochlear implant operation.

Now that Rosannah has recovered from the rare procedure, her family are looking forward to today when her transmitters will be switched on for the first time.

The toddler’s mother Victoria, a nurse at Basingstoke hospital where her husband and Rosannah’s father Kevin is a general surgeon, said the operation had gone very well.

Mrs Harris, 36, told The Gazette: “Today is very exciting. Now the wound has healed over, and the implants have bedded in, the transmitters will be switched on.

"Rossanah was given the transmitters last Monday to get used to them, but she kept taking them off and I think it will only be once she starts hearing sound that she will accept them.

"The operation took six hours, which for the family was a long six hours, but in surgery the doctors tested Rosannah's brain to see how well it responded to noise, and it went very well.

"For the first few days she was quite poorly, which was difficult because she is normally such a smiley, happy baby, but she was soon back to her old self."

Earlier this year, The Gazette reported how NHS bosses gave the green light for funding for the £60,000 procedure, and it took place at Southampton General Hospital on June 12.

Rosannah will now undergo intensive rehabilitation to teach her how to talk.

Mrs Harris added: "Because Rosannah is young, her brain has more chance of learning how to communicate. We've ben told that with a lot of hard work she could have the same level of hearing as other children her age."