Andrew and Helen Geary with their sons, Calum and Donnacha. Picture Dan Linehan

The father of Calum Geary has told of how the babbling noises his son has started to make has been ‘magical’ to his family’s ears.
Andrew Geary was speaking about the impact that intensive therapy in California had on profoundly deaf three-year-old Calum following a successful operation earlier this year.
Ballyhooly boy Calum is now babbling, said Andrew — but the babbling sounds like ‘magical words’ to the family.
Calum, who was born deaf, completed the final part of his pioneering ‘bionic ear’ — or auditory brainstem implants — in Manchester in May.
Calum, who has a twin brother Donnacha and two older brothers, Matthew and Barry, had never heard a single sound before becoming the first Irish child to undergo the procedure at Manchester University Hospital. The procedure involved inserting 21 electrodes into his brain and attaching them to a unit in his ear.
Last month he was at the John Treacy Clinic in Los Angeles for three weeks of intense audio-verbal therapy to learn how to communicate and to teach him how to distinguish sounds.
His parents, Andrew and Helen, are also being trained to help him develop sound-recognising and verbal techniques. Andrew said: “Calum has started babbling and it was a magical sound for us parents. There is a long hill to climb, but we learned so much in Los Angeles.
“Donnacha was also part of the programme.
“He has only realised recently about Calum. It is the first step and we will continue the sign language, but at least he now knows what sounds are.
“The clinic gave him a renewed sense of confidence, to be surrounded by other children in the same situation.
“It was a great three weeks of intensive work and we think he will really benefit. It has given us a real lift.
“It was only thanks to the generosity of the people in our community who helped us fund-raise that we were able to do the clinic and we will be forever grateful,” said Andrew.