A boy born without ears has had a pair created from his own ribs at Great Ormond Street hospital.

Nine-year-old Kieran was born deaf and also had a rare condition which meant he did not have fully formed ears – only small lobes where his ears should have been.

Last week's procedure was primarily cosmetic but, thanks to several previous operations and a hearing aid, Kieran has gradually been able to hear. Without help he is still about 90% deaf, but, when using hearing aids, he could "hear the wind blow and the birds tweet", David Sorkin, his father, said.

Before the surgery, Kieran, from Bushey, Hertfordshire, said: "I've always wanted big ears, and now I'm finally going to have them." Following the procedure his parents helped him to take a photograph of his newly crafted ear, or a "side selfie". Sorkin said he and his wife, Louise, were "on cloud nine" after the procedure. "We could not have wished for a better result," Sorkin said.

Kieran struggled at his first school because he looked different to the other children. He has since moved to a school with a deafness unit in every year group.

"They are a little bit more receptive to deafness and to a child looking different. But this will boost his confidence no end," Sorkin said. "His reaction was just a 'wow', he is very happy." The 44-year-old IT manager added: "It's been heart-wrenching for us and we've had the moral dilemma all along of whether it's right to change the features that Kieran was born with. But Kieran has talked about having ear surgery ever since the age of six when he saw a TV programme about it.

"It was very important that this was Kieran's decision, and I think it's happened at exactly the right time for his development."

He also described Kieran's difficulties at school, saying: "He had problems at school in that he didn't gel very well in the groups because he looked different to other kids and he only had one or two friends at his previous school. He has now moved to a different school now and they have a deaf unit in every year so they are a little bit more receptive to deafness and to a child looking different."

Kieran was born with bilateral microtia, a congenital deformity where the external ear is underdeveloped. It affects one in 100,000 babies.

Medics, led by Neil Bulstrode, GOSH consultant plastic and reconstructive surgeon, have now turned his fortunes around.

During the six-hour operation Bulstrode harvested the rib cartilage from both sides of Kieran's chest and then carved and shaped it into frameworks for Kieran's ears. When designing them he used an outline of Mrs Sorkin's ears as a "family template" to make them as close as possible to the ear shape that he might otherwise have had.

He then grafted the ears on to Kieran's head under pockets of skin and then used a vacuum to shape the skin to the contours of the new ear.

"Bilateral reconstructions are sometimes done one at a time, but for Kieran we have created both of his new ears at the same time," Bulstrode said. "This allows us to ensure the ears are balanced and achieve the best result

"It's a major operation but it brings a significant improvement in quality of life for children with microtia. Their confidence improves exponentially and their performance at school improves," he said. "If you can improve a young person's confidence, you can alter their whole trajectory in life."

Kieran will have a follow-up operation in six months' time, and hopefully he will not need to have any more, Mr Sorkin added.

"These should last because they are cartilage and not prosthetics," he said

A hospital spokeswoman said that researchers were working with the University College London Institute for Child Health to try to perform ear reconstructions for children like Kieran by growing new ear frameworks and other skeletal structures from a child's own stem cells.

They hope to be able to use stem cells from a child's own fat to create a new ear. Experts say that the approach would be far less invasive than the current treatment.

• This article was amended on 12 August 2014. The original headline stated: "Boy born without ears can hear thanks to pioneering procedure". As the story says, Kieran could already hear "thanks to several previous operations and a hearing aid". The headline has been corrected.