Adrian Rhodes' tiny fingers bounced off the keys of the piano with the joy of a person who loves hearing music, even though she's only been playing for a few months.“She amazes me every day," Adrian's mother, Dea Rhodes, said."She practices twice a day."“It kind of made me frustrated," said Adrian while sitting at a piano at the Airshine Music School in Clairemont."I couldn't hear a single thing that people were saying.
Moyer said Adrian was originally fitted with a less-effective Cochlear Baha system, which is attached to an elastic headband, as are all patients younger than 12. Until now, she wasn’t eligible to use the more-effective Osia system, which places a magnet under the skin near the back of the head to attach the device.
Rady Children’s doctors helped Adrian get into a clinical trial using the Osia system on younger children.“I was kind of scared because I had had a lot of surgery for them,” Adrian said.The Osia system is now available to children as young as 5, which is seven more years of valuable learning for elementary students.“Every parent wants the best for their kids," Dea said,"and just seeing your child transform to what you know they could be is overwhelming.