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In 1996, Dr. Laura Viani carried out Ireland's first cochlear implant in Dublin's Beaumont Hospital. She now heads a world class team of surgeons, audiologists, and speech and language therapists. Over two decades, the Irish National Cochlear Implant Programme has profoundly changed the lives of over 1,000 Irish patients. A cochlear implant is an electronic device that allows the deaf and those who are hard-of-hearing to experience sound, bypassing the sensory hair cells of the cochlea to send signals directly to the auditory nerve. Filmed over a year, The Sound Barrier follows a number of people who have decided to receive a cochlear implant. The cameras capture their remarkable journey from silence to sound.