Freddie Tall is nine years old, and after being born with Down’s Syndrome has struggled to hear normal speech throughout his life. Now, thanks to a new style hearing aid that transmits sound directly through his skull and into his inner ear, he is finally able to hear for the first time in his life.

Freddie underwent an operation to have the device fitted, allowing him to experience sound for the first time.

Freddie past a hearing test when he was born, but his condition caused his hearing to worsen, as he got older, meaning he never developed proper speech.

His mother, Annabel said:

He couldn’t hear most normal speech.

His speech was extremely delayed, even for a child with Down’s Syndrome and he couldn’t even say ‘yes’.

Now Freddie has had bilateral bone anchored hearing aids (BAHAs) fitted into his head. The incredible devices have allowed Freddie to discover music for the first time, which he listens to by plugging his MP3 player directly into his hearing aid.

His mother says the improvements in his hearing have been incredible since he has had the device fitted.

Now he can say ‘yes’ as clearly as you or me, and in a matter of months he has developed a vocabulary of hundreds of words he could not speak before. It’s been amazing.

The incredible technology that is the BAHA system sends signals directly through the person’s skull, into their inner ear and the cochlea.

Freddie’s school work has improved because he now hear his teacher clearly with the aid of a device that broadcasts her voice, and plugs directly into his hearing aid.

It’s Freddie’s love of music that his mother says is the best thing.

He absolutely loves music. He always quite liked it but now he loves it because he can hear singing and all the other things he couldn’t before.

At Christmas it was just lovely to see him singing, because he had never sung.

To test whether the aids are working in the morning I turn them on and put my ear on Freddie’s head so I can hear what he is hearing - it sounds like a radio.

And we can plug him directly into music systems - the first time he heard music there was such a look of wonder on his face.