Hearing parent here.. just a question about HA's

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Andrew012

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Hi
im a parent to a 8month baby with mod /seve bilat HF loss~
He has had HA since he was 11 weeks old.

I hope this question isnt too silly but i was wondering if there are any people here who have had hearing but then lost it...who are using HA's

I would just liek to know what my son would be hearing with his aids..

Does it sound just the same?? as it did when you were hearing?? could you describe??
would really love to know... would be greatful if someone could share there experience.


thank you
 
HI :welcome: to AD!

I wore HAs since I was 7 months old. That was the age I was when my parents found out that I had a profound severe bi-lateral deafness.

This is what I hear with my HAs

Environmental sounds but unable to localize the sounds. People's voices..I dont understand speech but I do rely on my HAs when lipreading. Sometimes if there is no background noise and the person speaks one word at a time, I can understand the words without lipreading but in a natural conversation, I need to face the speaker to be able to understand what they are saying.


Was your son born hearing? Since u said he wore his HAs since he was 11 weeks old, I am assuming he was born deaf. Since I was born deaf, I dont know what it is like to be hearing and cant compare what I hear with my HAs to what hearing people can hear.
 
I had a moderate loss diagnosed when I was 5, that progressed to a profound-severe loss by middle school and is now (I'm 20) a severe loss. So I've gone through a lot of Describing a change in your senses can be really hard, because you're trying to put something into words that really doesn't fit. On top of that, my severe loss is going to be different from the next guy's severe loss. Plus, things sound very different with different kinds of hearing aids - the hearing aids I used to wear were an incredibly different experience from the ones I'm hearing now. (Example: I was in a crowd tonight, and I've only been wearing these hearing aids for a month or two. I noticed that although, like with my old hearing aids, it was too noisy to understand anything my brother said, the crowd wasn't nearly as noisy as it would have been with the old aids, so I was more comfortable. I had not expected that, although I'm glad that feature exists.)

There are various simulations online of what it sounds like with hearing aids and a loss of various types, and your audiologist might be able to describe it for you more specifically to your son, since he/she has your son's audiogram.
 
I'm profounded deaf since birth that includes nerve damage bilateral as well 95 and 82% loss. My mom is deaf since age of 4 years old from german measles so this is a possibility why I'm deaf since birth. I think I was really young getting my HAs but I can't really remember but I've worn hearing aids since 18 months old with speech therapy up to Grade Nine which did help alot since my time there was no sign language services available. I wore FM system in public school until grade 10, I stopped using it. I was in special class mainstreamed into hearing class fully at grade 5 through to a regular High School then to College I picked up some sign language so I'm both fluently either way as well an expert in lipreading. I now have two digital hearing aids that helps me with every setting.... I have to get new hearing aids every three years cause technology makes better hearing aids ... I do can talk and listening like a hearing person but not in a group I get lost abit as I'm sure that's normal for everyone. I love listening to music as well. Most people don't believe I'm hearing impaired cause I thanked for my family and my speech therapist for all their hard work helping me out..

Like the others say it's based on his audiogram to be able to know what kind of HA is available. My new hearing aids, I was able to get it programmed to have it the way I want to hear most of the time since I can't really hear high pitch sounds normally but with my hearing aids I was able to abit more of it.

Never stop pushing what you want best for your child as we are the best critics for making it work for the vendors... I can never thanked my family's support and my speech therapist for helping through all these years that was very beneficial to me in the long run. As it took me about five different kinds of hearing aids to use on trial basis to get the feeling of it. Remember be patient with your child as sometimes it's too early what they can know as I know a friend of mine, her lil daughter age 3 has HAs and signs the same time or sometimes she doesn't... Also, everyone is different how the approach with their hearing loss.

Have Faith and Patience... Take care... smile
 
I had normal hearing and lost it in nearly an instant. Just like everybody else, the significance of loss at particular frequencies will determine the potential benefits of HA's. NO, hearing is nowhere near normal for me as when I was hearing. But what should I expect, I have profound loss and I realize what I can and can't expect. I also realize when, where, and what I expect to be able to understand what I just heard. I know my limitations and have adapted as everyone else does.
 
They do have special doctors for that. They can determine something.
 
I was use old fashion FM system when I was 6 months old baby till age 4 yrs old change to hearing aids till still now hearing aids :)

Maybe the clinic will help with this?
 
hohDougRN said:
I had normal hearing and lost it in nearly an instant. Just like everybody else, the significance of loss at particular frequencies will determine the potential benefits of HA's. NO, hearing is nowhere near normal for me as when I was hearing. But what should I expect, I have profound loss and I realize what I can and can't expect. I also realize when, where, and what I expect to be able to understand what I just heard. I know my limitations and have adapted as everyone else does.
Click to expand...

I agree with you about to be able to adapt it like everyone else oppose to someone needing glasses to be able to see... the best thing is having a good night sleep lol.. smile.. All we can do is do the best we can overcome anything as sometimes we are just as good as anyone that's hearing in alot of ways....
 
Question on Hearing Aids

Hi Pepse01,

Like hohDoug, I too lost my hearing rather suddenly, (I went from mild loss to Severe overnight then to Profound a couple months later again overnight) so I have a very good appreciation for what I had lost and what I was able to get from Hearing Aids, and there is NO COMPPARISON! Hearing Aids are just that Aids, they DO NOT restore hearing aids simply amplify sound (true some of the new digital aids do process sound somewhat but it is still no where near natural hearing). I think the thing you really need to keep in mind is your child is growing and learning with the hearing they have, aided or not that is their norm, so they will not know what you or any normal hearing person hears, they will not feel the sense of loss that a late deafened person feels so there will be no emmotional baggage.

Kids are wonderful creatures and adapt well to almost anything, the best thing for you to do is support and encourage your child with any and all options avaliable to you, Aids, Speech Therapy, ASL & Speech Reading and if approprate consider evaluation for medical intervention, be it surgery or something like a Cochlear Implant.

There are so many options today and the best thing you can do is look at and carefully consider whatever will suite your child, don't get caught up with "Comparing" what they might not Hear, concentrate on what they (and you) CAN do and support those goals. There is a wide range of options today and hearing loss is not the Major disability it once was.

Best of luck to you and your little one.

Regards,
Mike "Ears Hopin" P.
 
Gigabyte said:
Hi Pepse01,

Like hohDoug, I too lost my hearing rather suddenly, (I went from mild loss to Severe overnight then to Profound a couple months later again overnight) so I have a very good appreciation for what I had lost and what I was able to get from Hearing Aids, and there is NO COMPPARISON! Hearing Aids are just that Aids, they DO NOT restore hearing aids simply amplify sound (true some of the new digital aids do process sound somewhat but it is still no where near natural hearing). I think the thing you really need to keep in mind is your child is growing and learning with the hearing they have, aided or not that is their norm, so they will not know what you or any normal hearing person hears, they will not feel the sense of loss that a late deafened person feels so there will be no emmotional baggage.

Kids are wonderful creatures and adapt well to almost anything, the best thing for you to do is support and encourage your child with any and all options avaliable to you, Aids, Speech Therapy, ASL & Speech Reading and if approprate consider evaluation for medical intervention, be it surgery or something like a Cochlear Implant.

There are so many options today and the best thing you can do is look at and carefully consider whatever will suite your child, don't get caught up with "Comparing" what they might not Hear, concentrate on what they (and you) CAN do and support those goals. There is a wide range of options today and hearing loss is not the Major disability it once was.

Best of luck to you and your little one.

Regards,
Mike "Ears Hopin" P.
Click to expand...

Hey Mike, I totally agree with your comment about how children are wonderful to adapt to almost anything... and ditto that on the last paragraph as well smile.. I know the best thing is to KEEP ASKING ALL KINDS OF QUESTIONS TILL YOU ARE TIRED of it...
 
My turn,

I wear 2 aids; on the left regular old BTE digital, on the right i wear a BAHA vibrating processor. I have worn aids (2 BTE until recently) since I was 2, would probably have worn them since 14 days but I am on that cusp of being able to wear them with any results, so my parents had to wait to see for a while. My loss is "moderately-severe to severe, bilateral, sensorineural".

I never did hear everything and still don't with new tech. I hear most things but can't place the sounds. My parents got extremely frustrated with me when I would go around the whole house before being able to find where they were!

One thing I find is that I have lots more troubles in noisy rooms and big groups. I just can't process all the sounds. This inability seems to be constant with anyone with a hearing loss.

I prefer a 1-on-1 conversation or I bring my FM to "zoom in" on the person/people I am talking to.

If the baby gets cranky in large groups I would look into that!

I alos agree with Mike, concentrate on what your kid CAN do and don't worry about what they can't hear. Plus - from personal experience - give your kid the choice to be involved in Deaf/HoH world if they want! I never got that chance and now I'm playing catch-up with my signing skills and having anger issues about not having that exposure.
 
missLsej said:
My turn,

I wear 2 aids; on the left regular old BTE digital, on the right i wear a BAHA vibrating processor. I have worn aids (2 BTE until recently) since I was 2, would probably have worn them since 14 days but I am on that cusp of being able to wear them with any results, so my parents had to wait to see for a while. My loss is "moderately-severe to severe, bilateral, sensorineural".

I never did hear everything and still don't with new tech. I hear most things but can't place the sounds. My parents got extremely frustrated with me when I would go around the whole house before being able to find where they were!

One thing I find is that I have lots more troubles in noisy rooms and big groups. I just can't process all the sounds. This inability seems to be constant with anyone with a hearing loss.

I prefer a 1-on-1 conversation or I bring my FM to "zoom in" on the person/people I am talking to.

If the baby gets cranky in large groups I would look into that!

I alos agree with Mike, concentrate on what your kid CAN do and don't worry about what they can't hear. Plus - from personal experience - give your kid the choice to be involved in Deaf/HoH world if they want! I never got that chance and now I'm playing catch-up with my signing skills and having anger issues about not having that exposure.
Click to expand...

I know how u feel. I went thru the exact same thing about 7 years ago at the age of 28 years old. I remember those anger issues at my family for not exposing me to the deaf culture and sign language.
 
I was born deaf, causes unknown at the time -- found out my family's deafness is caused by Connexin 26 only about 5 or 6 years ago. I've never heard anything. I'm only saying this just in case your 8-month old is as profoundly deaf as I am -- I was never able to get any benefits from HAs and the sounds I heard didn't mean anything to me as they sound all the same.
 
Thank you all for your words of support and advise.

I just wanted to know how he felt... if you know what i mean. Its still a bit of a shock and unexpected for me. I hope i have offended anyone, This site seems to be a great resource and i am game i have found you. Thank you
 
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