my baby and his phonaks

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Ashli

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My 8 month old wears Phonak Nios S H20. Bilateral. He has a moderate-severe sensorineural loss.
According to an attempt at a booth test his unaided threshold for speech was pretty conclusive at 60db and was a definite according to the testers at 75db.
One aid was working at the time of the test, and with one, his threshold was 40db. I am not sure how good it would then get with two.

This kid does not seem to respond to our voices at home at all though. He sure responds to sign language but not sound. Are these HAs helping him or not? So confused.

What does aided severe loss sound like anyway? I know it differs from person to person. I just wish I knew what was going on in his little head:hmm:
 
He needs more time with the HA's. keep using them but also keep using ASL. He needs both if HA help him. You may not know until he is old enough to talk if it's helping. But you know ASL works so keep up with that as well as saying the words as you sign.
 
I'm only guessing but maybe as he is still young, try tapping on surfaces or clapping your hands or something else that is a awareness sound instead of trying to see if he would response to your voice. Might give you a better response?!

Keep on using your voice, as well as ASL.
 
Don't expect him to be able to associate sounds with actions unless he can see that "when daddy taps on the counter, it makes a noise".
Maybe try showing him cause and effect (action causes noise) when he is attentive and focused (or as focused as an 8 month old can be).
Once he associates an action with a sound (you have to think about it from his point of view- he probably hears noise and with hearing aids the noise is just LOUDER. It still is just noise) you can work on speech sounds.

And with speech sounds, talking to your baby at all times (whether he is wearing his aids or not) and using sign language will likely be helpful to him. Vision (signs) combined with imperfect hearing can make things understood.
 
ecp said:
Don't expect him to be able to associate sounds with actions unless he can see that "when daddy taps on the counter, it makes a noise".
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That makes sense and is something I have considered, thanks for reminding me of that!
I realize he is not going to be like the other babies I know, for example when I pick him up at daycare and use my voice, every baby looks at me except for mine. He doesn't know I am there until he sees me... I would just think with his type of hearing loss, wearing hearing aids, he should show some response to sound. His actions tell me he hears nothing.
 
Ashli said:
What does aided severe loss sound like anyway? I know it differs from person to person. I just wish I knew what was going on in his little head:hmm:
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This might help a bit - although everyone is different. Some people get a lot more distortion with hearing loss (versus just a volume drop).

Hearing loss simulator

I also have APD (Auditory processing disorder) so for me, even though my "hoh side" is mild/moderate (flux) I get HUGE distortion (more typical with severe-profound) even if I'm able to hear volume wise.
 
Anij said:
This might help a bit - although everyone is different. Some people get a lot more distortion with hearing loss (versus just a volume drop).

Hearing loss simulator

I also have APD (Auditory processing disorder) so for me, even though my "hoh side" is mild/moderate (flux) I get HUGE distortion (more typical with severe-profound) even if I'm able to hear volume wise.
Click to expand...

I'm very different, I don't really get that much distortion (I do get some) even tho I'm very profound in both ears.
 
NaidaUP said:
I'm very different, I don't really get that much distortion (I do get some) even tho I'm very profound in both ears.
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I hate using percentages, but it might be the easiest way to explain it here.

For me, with mild/moderate flux loss and APD, I might have a between 20%-30% decrease in volume. However, because of the APD what I hear is about 60-80% distorted.

Because I have no hearing at all on the other side, it also means I have no way of using my other side to help filter what I hear.

I hope that makes sense?
 
I have a profound loss and only hear my mom's dog barking within 5 feet of me, a man yelling within 5 feet of me, eighteen wheelers near me, lawn mower in my yard if I'm outside. That's all I can think of. I have 0% speech discrimination aided. I'm getting a CI soon.
 
DeafAlex said:
I have a profound loss and only hear my mom's dog barking within 5 feet of me, a man yelling within 5 feet of me, eighteen wheelers near me, lawn mower in my yard if I'm outside.
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Would you describe those sounds as faint? I know he can detect sounds that are at certain levels, just trying to get a grasp on how they sound when heard by him.

His audiogram is from 60-70 in a jagged line as the frequency goes up (instead of sloping) with one shooting up to 45db, at a higher frequency which everyone thought was odd in addition to it being up and down from low to high freq. He was 8 weeks at this ABR though and is 8 months now. All we've done was a booth test since, and it was really just for shiggles because I went through the local school for the deaf as part of my EI services, we did it kind of "just to see" before a more official test at our audiologist.
 
Yeah all those sounds are faint. They're very noticeable though because otherwise it's silent in my head (aside from tinnitus).

My loss is straight across except for a 5dB difference at 500 and 8000 hertz. I'm no response at every frequency but those two, those are 115dB. Yeah, deaf as a stone over here lol.
 
Google Audiogram and click images. One of the first results is a standard Audiogram with pictures all over it at that sound's specific frequency and decibel level. Anything above his 60-70dB loss can probably be heard by him. Likely not understood but he's only 8mos old.
 
DeafAlex said:
Google Audiogram and click images. One of the first results is a standard Audiogram with pictures all over it at that sound's specific frequency and decibel level. Anything above his 60-70dB loss can probably be heard by him. Likely not understood but he's only 8mos old.
Click to expand...

Thank you - that is how his audiogram has been explained to us by several people. How the hearing aids should bring him up into that speech banana range, for the most part. But it is so concerning that he is not displaying any obvious reactions. We did the booth test and have played some 'games' to elicit reactions when we've had our sessions with EI but it is like we are trying SO hard to get any little thing out of him. I guess he seems way deafer than he is on paper. And then I wonder maybe something else is going on. The professionals want to give him a little more time but I just wish there were some way to figure this out now.:confused:
 
Does he qualify for a CI or is his loss still in the moderate range? He sounds like a good candidate based on what I've read, but he has to have a severe loss.
 
I am not sure if he qualifies. They are saying he is on the border to severe, and we need a little more time to see...Our EI advisor strongly encourages us to wait it out and not feel pressured to get him a CI just yet and that he will have plenty of time still to benefit from it. I was really hoping he'd do well enough with the hearing aids so that it would not even be a choice for us.
We may begin some speech therapy at the local oral school where they tell us they would probably know within a number of sessions if he is hearing enough to be helped by their services, or if he is just not getting it...
 
And if he is deafer than his tests say, it is fine, I just want to know. We are hovering in this "well, he is moderately severe and should do pretty well with hearing aids" but just not really sure what is going on with him or how he will due. They tell us by age 1 they will clearly know his path though. In the mean time as a family we are learning sign and using it with him because we feel strongly that it can only help him.
 
Thank you for posting the Hearing Loss Simulator, Anij. I posted it on my FB page, asking those who care about me to listen to the moderate audio recordings and realize that my hearing loss is quite a bit worse. Maybe then they will slow down and look directly at me when speaking.
 
for me, I do well with the hearing aids ;D but for me, I'm almost deaf in my right though lol
 
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