'Half-Deaf' Boy Regains Hearing After Cottonbud Pops Out Of Ear After 9 Years

For nine years, Jerome Bartens had to cope with the handicap of being half deaf.

Ever since he was a toddler, the 11-year-old had been unable to hear anything on his right side and doctors said they were unable to help.

Then suddenly the reason for his problems became clear - when the end of a cotton bud popped out of his ear.

His family believe that he must have poked the bud in the ear at the age of two and the tip must have broken off the plastic stem. Link