“The physician was able to get all of the electrodes into her cochlea,” Daniel says, “however, you have to have a sufficient or healthy auditory nerve to connect the cochlea and the electrodes up to the brainstem.”

Essentially, Jiya’s connection between the cochlea and the brainstem was too thin. There was no way for sounds to make that final leg of the journey and reach her brain.

“Surgeons in Europe have pioneered the use of the auditory brainstem implant in children who are born deaf and can’t receive a cochlear implant,”

In 2013, the FDA approved a clinical trial in the U.S. The surgery skips over the cochlea all together, and goes right into the brainstem. The Baveshi’s needed to decide about brain surgery.