A woman and her beautiful baby daughter shared a very intimate and special moment together in early November 2021 and decided to post it online for the world to see. A mother by the name of Christina Pax went to TikTok on Nov. 1, 2021, to post a short clip of herself speaking with her daughter. While this may seem like a pretty standard day for most parents, this was an especially memorable moment for the pair as it was actually the first time that Pax’s daughter heard her voice.
Riley, her daughter, is deaf but was finally able to hear Pax’s voice thanks to a useful tool: hearing aids. The device allowed the little girl to experience several new sounds, including her own mother’s voice. It was an incredibly heartwarming and magical experience for both the mother and the daughter as they sat together. Along with getting to relive her own experience with her child, Pax also posted the video for an important reason.
At first, Pax was hesitant to share the video of the beautiful moment but ultimately went along with doing so in order to help raise awareness about what it’s like raising a deaf child, along with advocating for the deaf community. She also wanted to shed more light on how she viewed hearing aids.
The baby’s emotional reaction has since tugged at the heartstrings of people from all over the world, as many have found the short video and marveled at the beautiful moment between the mother and daughter duo.
According to her bio on TikTok, Pax is a mother who is currently learning American sign language and advocating for deaf awareness. On Nov. 1, 2021, Pax posted a TikTok video that showcased an important and beautiful moment she shared with her deaf daughter named Riley. Along with the video, the mother also posted a disclaimer about her previous hesitation and what ultimately led her to decide to post the clip.
Pax explained:
“I debated on whether to post this video of my deaf daughter hearing my voice for the first time. Hearing aids are not some magical ‘fix’ for deaf people. Deaf people don’t need to be fixed. They’re just a tool to access sound. But this was a pretty special moment for us.”
According to Mayo Clinic, there are several types of hearing aids that perform differently, with some helping people hear voices while others that help people read lips. In the video, Pax spoke sweetly to her daughter, who was wearing hearing aids at the time. The baby had an emotional reaction; she laughed, cried and smiled throughout the video, clearly overwhelmed by hearing her mother’s voice.
The TikTok video has since gone on to receive over 1 million views and plenty of positive comments. One person wrote, “She’s so in love with the voice she’s known in her whole soul forever.” Another said: “Oh my gosh this made me cry. What a special and precious moment.”
A third TikTok user commented: “OMG the intense way she’s taking it in and soaking you in. She is both happy and overwhelmed.” It’s clear that many people were just as moved and just as emotional watching the short clip as Pax and her daughter were while they filmed it together.
Two in every 1000 children are born with hearing loss, as per Healthy Hearing. There may be many reasons for children being born with a loss of hearing according to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). Some of them include premature and low birth weight, injuries during birth, infections such as rubella and herpes simplex, maternal diabetes and genetics among others. Currently, the most successful and effective way of treating hearing loss in babies is using cochlear implants.
Nowadays, there are multiple videos on the internet that show how emotional and powerful it can be for a child to finally hear their parent. Much like Pax, Paul Addison posted a video of how his daughter reacted when her hearing aid was turned on in the morning, and his footage went viral on Twitter when he uploaded it. CNN reported that Addison posted the video on Twitter because he wanted the world to know the joy his family experiences “when our daughter’s new hearing aids are turned on in the morning.”
His daughter Georgina was diagnosed with severe deafness soon after she was born and the doctor suggested that hearing aids would benefit her. CNN reported that she was totally delighted as soon as she heard her parents’ voice for the first time. “It was a relief, we saw quite quickly that they were working well,” Addison said. “A real sense that things could get better.” His video led to thousands of people chiming in with their own experiences as well.
Addison advised other parents in similar circumstances to just talk about it with others, specifically charities that can help offer solutions. “Engage with those sorts of people, it’s such a huge comfort,” he said.
What did you think about this heartwarming and emotional video? Let us know, and feel free to pass this along to your family and friends, too.
