got the hearing aids today

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iowaboy

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My 3 month old daughter got her hearing aids today. They said they may or may not work for her. I haven't really noticed any difference yet. Anything anyone would look for besides the obvious startling, etc.
 
It will take some time. Over the next few weeks you should start to notice that she is startling to noises, or if getting really good access, turning towards sound (when developmentally ready!) Don't expect huge signs yet, but they will come.
 
iowaboy said:
My 3 month old daughter got her hearing aids today. They said they may or may not work for her. I haven't really noticed any difference yet. Anything anyone would look for besides the obvious startling, etc.
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what kind of loss does she have and what kind of aids? You may notice that she pulls them out.. either cause she doesnt like the sounds (which means she IS hearing) or because she doesn't like the feeling. Either way keep putting them back in.

*EQL*
 
They're not sure yet what kind of hearing loss she has. The ABR did not show any response at all for the frequencies and decibels tested.

She doesn't mind the aids being in- she acts like she doesnt even know they are there. So far, I haven't noticed much. I thought she turned her head towards me earlier tonight in the car seat, but her mom quickly pointed out that she had turned them off to keep them from squealing in the car seat. So hard to tell...

Thanks for the links, I've been browsing them :)
 
My son used to be super sensitive to noise. When someone made a noise, he would wake up and cry. It was very hard because he was a very high need child. I learned to tiptoe to keep him asleep. So some babies tend to respond to noise when they start waking up to it. My son always did. As long as it is quiet, he stay asleep.
 
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iowaboy said:
They're not sure yet what kind of hearing loss she has. The ABR did not show any response at all for the frequencies and decibels tested.

She doesn't mind the aids being in- she acts like she doesnt even know they are there. So far, I haven't noticed much. I thought she turned her head towards me earlier tonight in the car seat, but her mom quickly pointed out that she had turned them off to keep them from squealing in the car seat. So hard to tell...

Thanks for the links, I've been browsing them :)
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An ABR with no response would indicate a profound hearing loss (greater than 90 db across all frequencies). I think that audiologists are going to recommend a cochlear implant for your daughter in the next few months. She will need to wear her aids for 6 months and they will test her response, but it is very likely.

I would recommend reading up on audiograms so you understand exactly what she can and can not hear with her aids and then if you decide you want to pursue the CI, join the yahoo group CI Circle.
 
They're not sure yet what kind of hearing loss she has. The ABR did not show any response at all for the frequencies and decibels tested.
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It's possible she has a deep profound loss. Which means that there's NO hearing for the hearing aids to amplify. Or even auditory nereopathy. (they can hear but not understand speech) In which case a CI would be absolutly perfect.
 
deafdyke said:
It's possible she has a deep profound loss. Which means that there's NO hearing for the hearing aids to amplify. Or even auditory nereopathy. (they can hear but not understand speech) In which case a CI would be absolutly perfect.
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i thought auditory neuropathy was retrocochlear, and therefore a CI would NOT help (they would need a ABI)... care to clarify?

Also, consider raising your daughter as Deaf. Why give your child surgery at such a young age (and yes, i realize you get better benifits to younger CI recipients). Do you have the resources near you to begin learning to sign? even with a CI, your daughter will be a visual learner. Maybe speak to Miss Kats parents? They went through a similar situation i believe.


*EQL*
 
There aren't many resources in this area. Our hospital has an ASL interpreter on call, but has never used her. The Deaf community here seems pretty non-existent. The one thing we have going for us is that my aunt is an ASL interpreter. She lives over an hour away, but has been sending us good books and resources, and is going to try to stop in once every couple of weeks.

My first thought is to learn signs and use Signed Exact English, thinking that we will try to enhance her hearing by whatever method to the point where she will be able to have speech. Seems SEE would make communication easier in rural Iowa where she is unlikely to be around other deaf people on a regular basis. Those are just my initial thoughts though. I'm still mulling all of this over.

Still can't tell if the hearing aids are doing anything. All I know is that they are very LOUD. You can hear them across the room. My family was up over the weekend and begged me to take them out of her ears as they were sure they must be hurting her. I left them in, and am not popular with my family for doing so...
 
I don't know anyone who uses SEE and I'm in a huge city. You might want to consider ASL in case your daughter wants to join the deaf community later. Many deaf kids want to go to deaf school or join in the deaf community as teenagers. I know that seems far away but it'll go faster than you think. It would give her more options. You can learn ASL from videos. Deaf people will drive FAR to see each other, too.

Most importantly, enjoy your baby girl!
 
Do not subject your daughter to surgery until she is older. Let her have deaf identity, she is deaf, treat her as a deaf baby. Bombard her with signs and deaf culture. Not hearing will not affect her language. Sign is a form of language and with that, she will do well.
 
sallylou said:
I don't know anyone who uses SEE and I'm in a huge city. !
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I am in a moderate city, and I know quite a few people who use SEE. But they are younger.

My older daughter is one. It does confuse me sometimes, but she picked up a lot in school from deaf friends, and that was taught in the dhh program in the public schools.

A lot of kids stuck with it.
 
Hello, Iowaboy and welcome to this site. Let me get something out of the way for myself: With the hearing test results on your daughter, how was the conclusion to get her hearing aids arrived at?


P.S. Hi, Botti!! I've been away for about 4 days and now I see you are back! Hope you are back to par!
 
If you can hear her hearing aids from across the room, you might want to check the fitting. Is it feedback you're hearing? Properly fitted hearing aids should make no sound for anyone but the wearer.

My daughter was aided about the same age and we began signing as much as we could as soon as we knew. Right now I am mostly using Pidgin sign as my proper ASL develops (getting there!). I'm letting the schools deal with SEE when it's time to learn English because, IMHO, it's quite tedious and lacks the personality of ASL.

Also, you're not quite there yet, but in a couple months, when she discovers flinging/disassembling/chewing on hearing aids is fun, you might want to look into a few pilot caps from Hanna Andersson. Katie wore these from about 6 months until she was nearly 2 whenever we weren't working directly with her. LIFE SAVER! (and they help keep the oatmeal out of the hearing aids)

I'm curious. What services have you been offered by your county early intervention folks, if you don't mind me asking?
 
Tousi said:
Hello, Iowaboy and welcome to this site. Let me get something out of the way for myself: With the hearing test results on your daughter, how was the conclusion to get her hearing aids arrived at?


P.S. Hi, Botti!! I've been away for about 4 days and now I see you are back! Hope you are back to par!
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Hi Tousi! I am recovering . Missed you all. :)
 
iowaboy said:
There aren't many resources in this area. Our hospital has an ASL interpreter on call, but has never used her. The Deaf community here seems pretty non-existent. The one thing we have going for us is that my aunt is an ASL interpreter. She lives over an hour away, but has been sending us good books and resources, and is going to try to stop in once every couple of weeks.

My first thought is to learn signs and use Signed Exact English, thinking that we will try to enhance her hearing by whatever method to the point where she will be able to have speech. Seems SEE would make communication easier in rural Iowa where she is unlikely to be around other deaf people on a regular basis. Those are just my initial thoughts though. I'm still mulling all of this over.

Still can't tell if the hearing aids are doing anything. All I know is that they are very LOUD. You can hear them across the room. My family was up over the weekend and begged me to take them out of her ears as they were sure they must be hurting her. I left them in, and am not popular with my family for doing so...
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hearing people are not suppose to hear hearing aids, or at least i don't think it suppose to. Something is wrong with it if you are hearing it
 
i thought auditory neuropathy was retrocochlear, and therefore a CI would NOT help (they would need a ABI)... care to clarify?
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Hmmmmm, I thought that CI was used for AN. There was a big bit about it in Volta Voices.
Iowaboy,
how far away from the Deaf School are you? Is there any chance you could move? It's very common for parents of dhh kids to move to cities where there are better schools.
 
If you are hearing her hearing aid it means that its feedbacking and there is something wrong with the earmolds prolly
 
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