Miss-Delectable
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Hearing him call - The York Daily Record
About five years ago, the expensive devices Michelle Bitler used to hear must have looked instead like toys to her 2-year-old son, Demetrius.
And you know what happens when kids play with toys near the toilet.
And Bitler hasn't been able to afford new ones.
Her son, now 7, sat playing video games about two weeks ago at Clear Choice Hearing Aid Center in West Manchester Township, trying to avoid what must have been the 100-millionth time he heard the story.
His eye roll rivaled that of most teenagers.
But his mother, and grandmother, Faye Shoff, couldn't have been happier.
Bitler of Red Lion won an essay contest earlier this year, sponsored by Clear Choice and advertised through the Deaf Center, aimed at giving a person in need in the community new hearing aids.
The one-time office employee and now stay-at-home mom would soon be fitted with new, state-of-the-art devices that would help her hear sounds for the first time in years -- although not perfectly.
But, an accomplished lip-reader, the ability for Bitler to hear any noise is a battle. Once someone or something gets her attention, she does fairly well communicating from there.
Bitler said that most importantly, she'll be able to hear her son calling out if he needs her.
Because of her son, Bitler's need jumped off the pages of her essay to Gordon Sacks, owner of Clear Choice.
Others who responded to his first contest had a hard time competing with Bitler's reason for the hearing aids: She wanted to hear her son.
That narrowed down the field considerably, Sacks said.
The hearing aids Bitler needs, Sacks said, are state-of-the-art Oticon SUMO XPs, the best on the market today. They can list for several thousand dollars, but anything less would be useless.
Bitler is almost too deaf for any other hearing aid to help, Sacks said.
"If we put it in our ears, we would have hearing loss," he said.
As for why he started the contest in the first place, Sacks said he does a good business in the York community, so it's only fair he gives something back. Sacks said he plans to make the contest an annual event, and is planning the next round later this fall.
The opportunity was a gift on an already long road for Bitler, who was born mostly deaf.
From what doctors have told her, Shoff suspects the cause was a case of German measles she had while she was pregnant. Some doctors, Shoff said, believed Bitler would never be able to speak because of the severity of her hearing loss. Shoff didn't believe them.
"I said, 'Yes she will,'" Shoff said.
And, with a lot of help from speech therapists, and a lot of frustration, Bitler learned to talk.
"I refused to give up," Bitler said.
Other than when people need to get her attention, one of the hardest things for Bitler is ordering in a fast-food line.
Ordinarily, after a minute or two of talking to Bitler, people get used to the idiosycracies in her voice, Shoff said.
But situations when a conversation only lasts a few seconds, like the quick ordering of food, are hard.
Hopefully, with her new hearing aids, she will be able to speak more clearly; hearing yourself talk is an important way we control how our words sound, Sacks said.
Demetrius, for his part, is already mastering communicating with mom.
He is learning sign language, but like most kids, both his mom and grandmother need to tell him to talk slower.
His fingers move too fast, they joke. But even that does no good if mom is in the next room.
So the first test of the hearing aids was whether she could hear Demetrius calling from down a hallway.
"Mom!" he called. She tilted her head a bit. Something was getting through. "Mom!" he called again. And Bitler smiled.
Sacks said that's what it's all about.
About five years ago, the expensive devices Michelle Bitler used to hear must have looked instead like toys to her 2-year-old son, Demetrius.
And you know what happens when kids play with toys near the toilet.
And Bitler hasn't been able to afford new ones.
Her son, now 7, sat playing video games about two weeks ago at Clear Choice Hearing Aid Center in West Manchester Township, trying to avoid what must have been the 100-millionth time he heard the story.
His eye roll rivaled that of most teenagers.
But his mother, and grandmother, Faye Shoff, couldn't have been happier.
Bitler of Red Lion won an essay contest earlier this year, sponsored by Clear Choice and advertised through the Deaf Center, aimed at giving a person in need in the community new hearing aids.
The one-time office employee and now stay-at-home mom would soon be fitted with new, state-of-the-art devices that would help her hear sounds for the first time in years -- although not perfectly.
But, an accomplished lip-reader, the ability for Bitler to hear any noise is a battle. Once someone or something gets her attention, she does fairly well communicating from there.
Bitler said that most importantly, she'll be able to hear her son calling out if he needs her.
Because of her son, Bitler's need jumped off the pages of her essay to Gordon Sacks, owner of Clear Choice.
Others who responded to his first contest had a hard time competing with Bitler's reason for the hearing aids: She wanted to hear her son.
That narrowed down the field considerably, Sacks said.
The hearing aids Bitler needs, Sacks said, are state-of-the-art Oticon SUMO XPs, the best on the market today. They can list for several thousand dollars, but anything less would be useless.
Bitler is almost too deaf for any other hearing aid to help, Sacks said.
"If we put it in our ears, we would have hearing loss," he said.
As for why he started the contest in the first place, Sacks said he does a good business in the York community, so it's only fair he gives something back. Sacks said he plans to make the contest an annual event, and is planning the next round later this fall.
The opportunity was a gift on an already long road for Bitler, who was born mostly deaf.
From what doctors have told her, Shoff suspects the cause was a case of German measles she had while she was pregnant. Some doctors, Shoff said, believed Bitler would never be able to speak because of the severity of her hearing loss. Shoff didn't believe them.
"I said, 'Yes she will,'" Shoff said.
And, with a lot of help from speech therapists, and a lot of frustration, Bitler learned to talk.
"I refused to give up," Bitler said.
Other than when people need to get her attention, one of the hardest things for Bitler is ordering in a fast-food line.
Ordinarily, after a minute or two of talking to Bitler, people get used to the idiosycracies in her voice, Shoff said.
But situations when a conversation only lasts a few seconds, like the quick ordering of food, are hard.
Hopefully, with her new hearing aids, she will be able to speak more clearly; hearing yourself talk is an important way we control how our words sound, Sacks said.
Demetrius, for his part, is already mastering communicating with mom.
He is learning sign language, but like most kids, both his mom and grandmother need to tell him to talk slower.
His fingers move too fast, they joke. But even that does no good if mom is in the next room.
So the first test of the hearing aids was whether she could hear Demetrius calling from down a hallway.
"Mom!" he called. She tilted her head a bit. Something was getting through. "Mom!" he called again. And Bitler smiled.
Sacks said that's what it's all about.