Couple’s joy as deaf daughter hears thanks to new gene therapy

Opal now loves slamming her cutlery on the table to make a noise and enjoys playing with toy drums, a piano and wooden blocks

Opal Sandy and her family (Andrew Matthews/PA)

The parents of an 18-month-old girl who can hear thanks to a groundbreaking gene therapy for deafness have said they are delighted with her progress.

Jo Sandy, a 33-year-old secondary school geography teacher, and her husband James, 33, who works in car manufacturing, said they were “gobsmacked” when they realised Opal could hear without the need for a cochlear implant.