After 29 Silent Years, Ex-Miss America Hears

Sept. 20 -- When the winner of the 1995 Miss America was announced, Heather Whitestone McCallum turned to her fellow finalist to see if she cried, knowing that it is almost always the winner who bursts into tears.

The fellow finalist was dry-eyed and smiling, and this was the first non-verbal cue that allowed Whitestone, who is deaf, to realize that the tiara was hers. Since then McCallum, now 29, has become a wife and a mother of two little boys.

And just yesterday she became something else — a hearing person.

With what's called a cochlear implant, a device that can restore some level of hearing for those with profound hearing loss, she has already heard a variety of low- and high-pitched sounds, including the sound of hairspray coming out of the bottle, a van door opening, and the jiggling of makeup in her cosmetics case.

It could be anywhere from three to five years, however, before she is able to hear and understand more complex sounds like voices.

After hearing water moving through the faucet and into the bathroom sink as she brushed her teeth Thursday night, McCallum became very emotional.

"In a way, God said to me, be patient. You will hear your boys' voice at the right time. Each day, I will bless you with a new gift," she said on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America.

Deaf Since She Was a Toddler

McCallum, an Alabama native, lost her hearing as a toddler. Despite her deafness, she pursued her dreams, and even made history as the first Miss America with a disability. She may not have heard heard the pageant announcer say, "… And the new Miss America 1995 is Miss Alabama Heather Whitestone," but McCallum was happy in her silent world.

But then McCallum became a mother and realized there were sounds she really ached to hear, particularly on the day that her older son, John, who is 2 years old, fell in the backyard. She couldn't hear his cries for help.

The desire to hear the voices of her two young boys is what inspired Whitestone to pursue the cochlear implant.