BRADLEY Nicholas was six years old when he was diagnosed with an auditory processing disorder.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The disorder means the now eight-year-old, of George Town, struggles to hear a combination of sounds and instead can only hear one at a time.
"So if the kid next to him was tapping his foot that's what he would hear and he wouldn't be able to hear his teacher," his mother Peta Nicholas said.
But thanks to a donation from the George Town Lions Club of a new hearing device, known as an Oticon's Amigo FM system, hearing his teacher will no longer be an issue.
The system includes a microphone, transmitter, receiver and headset.
The microphone picks up the teacher's voice, which is then sent to Bradley's receiver, via the transmitter, and is amplified into Bradley's ear through the headset.
"This cuts out all the background noise, so the teacher will be the main noise Bradley hears," Ms Nicholas said.
Ms Nicholas said she was so thankful to the George Town Lions Club for donating the hearing system.
She said she had inquired about the system herself but it cost about $3000.
"It was something I couldn't provide, so I applied [to the Lions club] for it over 12 months ago."
Lions Club president Margaret Gibbons said the club received the system through a donation from the Lions Hearing Dog Association in South Australia.
"We're very pleased that we're able to do it for Bradley," Mrs Gibbons said.
"We haven't done anything this special in a long time."
The Lions club presented Bradley with the hearing system at his school yesterday.