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Originally published July 11, 2025
Last updated July 11, 2025
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Alexis Cruz is in his second year at Princeton University, studying civil engineering on a full scholarship —an achievement for any student. For Alexis, realizing this dream meant defeating especially serious odds.
Diagnosed with hearing loss as a child, Alexis grew up in a farm town in California’s Central Valley, more than 2,700 miles and, he says, a world away from the Ivy League university.
Yet some might say his fate was predestined. “I credit how I am now — being able to hear, being able to talk — to my parents. They’re the reason for my success,” says Alexis, 20.
Others stepped in to support the family, among them the hearing experts with the USC Caruso Family Center for Childhood Communication, part of Keck Medicine of USC.
“Alexis shows us that there aren’t limits — there are just opportunities,” says Alyssa Cook, AuD, Alexis’s audiologist at the center.
Alexis was born with some hearing, but his hearing loss progressed by the time he entered pre-school. He often wandered around the classroom as the teacher talked, prompting her to tell his parents, Margarita and Elias, that their son had behavioral problems. In truth, he says, “I just couldn’t hear her.”
At first his parents tried hearing aids for Alexis. But in kindergarten he was diagnosed with more significant hearing loss and hearing aids were no longer beneficial. His parents turned to a different technology to help their son hear: a cochlear implant.
A small, complex electronic device, a cochlear implant can provide a sense of sound to a person who has significant hearing loss.
A standard hearing aid simply makes sounds louder. The implant bypasses damaged or non-functioning parts of the inner ear, specifically the cochlea, part of the inner ear involved in hearing. From there, it directly stimulates the auditory nerve, sending electrical signals to the brain, which can interpret them as sound.
The result is essentially a new way of hearing.
Alexis underwent his first implant surgery at age six. He began working with USC Caruso Family Center for Childhood Communication specialists and other experts to interpret the sounds he heard from his implant as words.
At school, Alexis became more engaged. He signed up to play soccer, wearing a headband to protect his implant.
One night, when Alexis was in third grade, his mother stayed up late to teach him multiplication tables, initially not his favorite subject. “As she spoke, her voice was training my ear to pick up bits of sounds,” he says.
Soon after, Alexis earned first place in a multiplication table competition his teacher organized. “My interest in math continued,” he says, “and led me to engineering.”
Six years later, his parents made another decision — a second cochlear implant, this time for his right ear. Alexis’s work started anew to bring the right ear up to the left’s capabilities.
“A lot of learning to listen with that newly implanted ear involves learning to be confident — and making judgments about what you’ve heard,” says Debbie Schrader, EdD, a clinician educator with the center who helped Alexis maximize the benefits of his dual implants.
Alexis and his father made five-hour weekly roundtrips from Wasco to the USC Caruso Family Center for Childhood Communication for a year and a half for hearing tests, implant programming and auditory verbal therapy. “What is exceptional about Alexis’ story is the family commitment — the miles driven to receive care — never late, never canceling unexpectedly,” Dr. Schrader says.
After each appointment, she gave Alexis and his father “homework” so Alexis could practice various skills. His mother served as main “communication partner” at home but he credits the entire family for rallying around him, including brothers Juan and Leonardo and sister Alma.
Several months after the surgery, he says, “I was able to noticeably hear a difference.”
Cochlear implants are just one of the services provided by the center. Its otolaryngologists and pediatric audiologists use research-based testing procedures to aid in diagnosing a child’s hearing loss and developing personalized treatment plans.
“Our goal is to support the individual patient and their family and make sure they have a way to express themselves, a way to communicate,” Dr. Cook says.
Some families want to move forward with hearing devices like implants and some don’t.
“It’s not my place to decide what their path looks like—I am here to support them in whatever they decide,” she adds.
That path includes succeeding in school. Schrader assists families in navigating educational choices. “In Alexis’s case, that meant ensuring he had access to a general education classroom — a priority for his parents and him,” Dr. Schrader says.
During middle school, Alexis transferred to a college-prep charter school. By high school, he competed in cross-country, track-and-field and varsity soccer. He also joined the school band, playing saxophone and trumpet.
When his school offered community college-level courses, he signed on. In the classroom, his teachers wore special microphones that communicated directly to his implants.
At graduation, Alexis stood on stage as valedictorian, having earned his high school and Associate of Arts degrees.
“It was a great moment,” he says. “Mainly I wanted to achieve it as a thank you to my parents for their hard work, for their sacrifice and for being with me every step.”
After Princeton, Alexis hopes to work for a large engineering firm, specializing in bridges and other large structures.
He hasn’t yet been able to hear “soft sounds,” such as rain or whispers, but he expects to continue expanding his abilities. He enjoys listening to music, especially Corridos Tumbados or Latin Urban music.
To ease his transition to university, the USC Caruso Family Center for Childhood Communication team fitted him with the latest-generation cochlear implants, which connect directly to his phone.
“Taking calls has never been so easy,” says Alexis, who is grateful for the support he’s received from the center.
In addition, his implants are compatible with the newest microphone devices. He sums up his review in a word: “Awesome.”
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