STRONGSVILLE, Ohio — The friendly competition in a simple game of UNO is what brings 7-year-old Barrett Hovanic and exchange student Lilly Frommer to the table. But the connection they share runs much deeper.

Barrett and 17-year-old Lilly — a high school senior from Germany — both use cochlear implants, giving them a shared language and an immediate understanding of one another’s world.

Samantha Hovanic remembers the moment her world shifted: Barrett failed his newborn hearing screen.

“He would not even hear an airplane if he was sitting next to it,” she said. “The only way he would know it was there was because of the vibration.”

At 11 months old, Barrett received cochlear implants. Samantha recalls the moment the device was activated.

“They turned it on and he was like, all excite

See Full Page