A three-year-old deaf boy who underwent a pioneering operation to implant a bionic ear has started a potentially life-changing course in the US that will teach him the meanings of different sounds.

The family of the first Irish child to get a bionic ear are preparing to take him to a leading US clinic for specialist aftercare.

A three-year-old boy from Cork heard his brothers and parents yesterday for the first time.

A three-year-old boy from Cork will today hear for the first time.

A father of a three-year-old deaf boy yesterday spoke of his family’s disappointment as the activation of his son’s bionic ear has been postponed.

It was a right hooley in Ballyhooly as the country’s first “bionic ear” patient returned home armed with an award for bravery.

The parents of the first deaf Irish toddler to get a pioneering ‘bionic ear’ implant described themselves as “elated and exhausted” last night after surgeons told them the seven-hour operation “couldn’t have gone better”.

A boy from Cork is facing revolutionary surgery tomorrow as doctors try to restore his hearing.

A toddler from Co Cork diagnosed as being profoundly deaf will undergo a “bionic ear” operation in Britain tomorrow, becoming the first Irish person to have the revolutionary surgery.

As a deaf three-year-old boy prepares to fly to England tomorrow for pioneering “bionic ear” surgery his family have said they have been touched by the number of people who have donated money to a fund set up to help him.

Vita Cortex workers are not entitled to get any kind of “top-up” from the company which employed them on statutory redundancy paid by the Government, the Department of Social Protection has said.