He has never heard human voices in the way others hear them and learn to imitate them. That his voice and his conversation are now so exquisitely average is testament to the Cochlear implants he received in 2002 when he was six months old.

He was an especially newsworthy little boy - appearing on the front page of The Canberra Times as his surgery loomed - not only because he was a Canberran, but because he was going to be the second-youngest child ever to have the implants.

At the time, mother Rachelle, a nurse, helped make it a very touching story by telling the reporter: ''When I found out he was deaf, some of the things that mattered to me most was that he would never hear me say, 'I love you', and that he would never hear the name we [she and husband David] had given him, or hear the sound of running water.

''I knew he'd cope without those sorts of things, but I guess it's just a decision [to have the surgery] we've made to give him the best outcome for his life in the hearing community.''

The operation was a success and Jonah has now heard the words ''I love you'' many times - and he loves the sound of running water, too.

Being able to hear people say they love you and to hear a babbling brook seem like basic rights, and thanks to the implants and his own inner strength (''Jonah has always been blessed with a confident nature,'' his mother said on Wednesday), they are rights he now enjoys.

The Roberts family, which also includes younger brother Jonathan, live out in the bush beyond Cowra but are in Canberra for Jonah's big gig. On Thursday he will be one of 12 deaf Australasian children speaking at the inaugural Australian Power of Speech event at the press club.

The event is designed to highlight the fact that hearing loss is a hurdle that can be cleared and that it's no barrier to education, sport, or even public speaking. The event has been organised by advocacy group First Voice, which is affiliated with The Shepherd Centre, which teaches deaf children, including Jonah, to speak.

In ignorance, this reporter half expected to need Rachelle to act as a kind of interpreter for my conversation with Jonah, but it was like any other conversation with an 11-year-old boy, albeit a very polite one.

Jonah's hearing is not completely perfect, and he does have to listen with special intensity. He says high-pitched noises have more clarity than lower-pitched ones, so he finds it a little easier to hear his mother well than his father.

He does love the sounds of nature - ''I like birds and insects, the sounds of crickets chirping and peaceful sounds, and the rushing water of a waterfall'' - although it's not always clear that he's hearing exactly what the hearing-blessed are hearing. However, he says he can hear wind in the trees and it sounds very similar to what the hearing describe.

He loves pop music, and the already big eyes widen with enthusiasm when he says, ''I do like listening to rock music. I like to listen to it on full volume.''

But he also appreciates peace and quiet, and the whole family laughs when describing how, at bedtime, he takes off the external parts of the Cochlear devices (they're connected to parts implanted in his head) to enjoy utter silence, falling asleep the moment his head hits the pillow.

''He can't hear his brother snore!'' David says.

It was a suspenseful and magical time for the family in 2002 when, after waiting three weeks following the operation, Jonah was hooked up, with the fixed inner Cochlear devices (the processors) connected at last to the external pieces that fit in and over the ears, just like hearing aids. Those around him made noises and Jonah responded.

''The effect was instant,'' his mother recalled on Wednesday. ''We all just cheered and cried and said, 'This is Mummy and this is Daddy' and saw his eyes pop open.''

Today Jonah says he's '' very nervous about the press club'', but it emerges that it's just the same exquisitely average nervousness that all mortals feel about public speaking.