Some children who are born deaf recover from their deafness

B

Banjo

Expelled
Premium Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2003
Messages
11,620
Reaction score
6
Prof. Attias then found another five children who had been referred to him for pre-operative testing who had begun to hear. At the end of his clinical research, he identified a "window of opportunity" of 17 months during which deaf children may begin to hear. "A child whose deafness is caused by a malfunctioning connection between hair cells and the auditory nerve should not have a cochlear implant in the first 17 months of life. Research results show the possibility that at least some of these children undergo the procedure for nothing," explained Prof. Attias.
Click to expand...

http://www.news-medical.net/?id=25272

This is something I've been concerned about for years due to the issues with hearing tests for babies not always being accurate. Now it turn out that there's a possibility that some babies are born deaf only to start hearing within a year or two.

So, how do one truly determine if a baby is deaf or not?
 
Banjo said:
Some children who are born deaf recover from their deafness

This is something I've been concerned about for years due to the issues with hearing tests for babies not always being accurate. Now it turn out that there's a possibility that some babies are born deaf only to start hearing within a year or two.

So, how do one truly determine if a baby is deaf or not?
Click to expand...

No its more a problem with the testing procedures. They are extremely subjective. Actually a newborn hearing screening will not tell you much more in the way of diagnosis than the baby did not respond to a particular sound. The REASON the baby did not respond could conceivably be one of many.
 
That's what we r going thru with our 19 month old son. He had an infant hearing test..passed it but at his 18 month old check up, his dr was concerned about a few things so he got referred for a 2nd hearing test. Took that one last Wed..they came back inconclusive and he needs to retuirn in 6 months. So that shows that they aren't as valid as they claim to be?

Imagine that latened hearing babies becoming deaf due to the CI?
 
shel90 said:
That's what we r going thru with our 19 month old son. He had an infant hearing test..passed it but at his 18 month old check up, his dr was concerned about a few things so he got referred for a 2nd hearing test. Took that one last Wed..they came back inconclusive and he needs to retuirn in 6 months. So that shows that they aren't as valid as they claim to be?

Imagine that latened hearing babies becoming deaf due to the CI?
Click to expand...

WOW! That's a question that I never considered. Wouldn't that be ironic--the CI surgeons actually creating more deaf people instead of curing them!
 
This would be sad (a latened-hearing child being implanted,) but I would like to point out that CI's do not CURE deafness! When the CI is taken off, the child is still deaf. CI's allow a deaf person to function better in a hearing environment, but they don't MAKE them biologically hearing. Just clearing that misunderstanding/misconception up.
 
neecy said:
This would be sad (a latened-hearing child being implanted,) but I would like to point out that CI's do not CURE deafness! When the CI is taken off, the child is still deaf. CI's allow a deaf person to function better in a hearing environment, but they don't MAKE them biologically hearing. Just clearing that misunderstanding/misconception up.
Click to expand...

Believe me, I never subscribed to the idea that CI cures deafness, but was simply referring to the medical model used by the medical community to define deafness as a disease, i.e. pathology, to be treated.
 
jillio said:
Believe me, I never subscribed to the idea that CI cures deafness, but was simply referring to the medical model used by the medical community to define deafness as a disease, i.e. pathology, to be treated.
Click to expand...
Oh, show me....

in your post; http://www.alldeaf.com/hearing-aids...516-books-about-deafness-ci-3.html#post778910

you said
Those pushing for the implantation of babies have one goal in mind--to "cure deafness".
Click to expand...

so who is "Those" parents or medical community?
 
Banjo, thank you! Part of the reason I'm not all whole hog about the CI for babies, is b/c it's too hard to tell how well a baby actually hears! Depending on technology to do the job, isn't the answer b/c technology is imperfect, and can really mess up too easily. I know of a little boy who got dx as having severe loss as a baby. He hated hated his hearing aids. Then they tested him with some newer test..........and it showed he was HEARING!
And then I've heard of kids who test as profound on ABR but who test as having more hearing on more tradtional tests.
 
deafdyke said:
Banjo, thank you! Part of the reason I'm not all whole hog about the CI for babies, is b/c it's too hard to tell how well a baby actually hears! Depending on technology to do the job, isn't the answer b/c technology is imperfect, and can really mess up too easily. I know of a little boy who got dx as having severe loss as a baby. He hated hated his hearing aids. Then they tested him with some newer test..........and it showed he was HEARING!
And then I've heard of kids who test as profound on ABR but who test as having more hearing on more tradtional tests.
Click to expand...

Owwwwww! Poor baby who is hearing only to get HAs making the sounds soooooooooooo loud for him!!!

I tested my HA on my kids and my daughter hated it and gets mad at me for doing that but my son laughs and wants it back on him. Maybe my son is HOH..who knows?
 
IslandGal said:
Yea, this is one of the reasons why I am not for implanting CIs on babies.
Click to expand...

Yea I know...oh well. Parents will continue to implant their children as long as there are some success stories. What can we do? :dunno:
 
Boult said:
Oh, show me....

in your post; http://www.alldeaf.com/hearing-aids...516-books-about-deafness-ci-3.html#post778910

you said

so who is "Those" parents or medical community?
Click to expand...

"Those" refer to both the medical community that views deafness as a pathology to be cured, and to those parents who subscibe to the medical view that these professionals have pushed on them. I personally, do not believe that deafness is a disease, nor do I see it as pathological in hte sense of being deviant. It also applies to those educators (vast majority hearing) who sacrifice education for the sake of speech as they, as well subsribe tothe view of deafness as pathological, and address the needs of the deaf child as if to become a closer resemblance to a hearing child is all that is needed for success.
 
I´m not surprised because I KNEW it a for long time.... My posts in the past were being ignored... Oh well!!!
 
jillio said:
"Those" refer to both the medical community that views deafness as a pathology to be cured, and to those parents who subscibe to the medical view that these professionals have pushed on them. I personally, do not believe that deafness is a disease, nor do I see it as pathological in hte sense of being deviant. It also applies to those educators (vast majority hearing) who sacrifice education for the sake of speech as they, as well subsribe tothe view of deafness as pathological, and address the needs of the deaf child as if to become a closer resemblance to a hearing child is all that is needed for success.
Click to expand...

Hearing is one of the 5 senses, so is sight. Why is it completely exceptable to find ways to 'fix' sight but it's not exceptable to find ways to 'fix' hearing. As you all probably know by now they are now 'fixing' lazy eye with surgery. maybe the medical establishment should quit trying to find ways to make peoples lives easier. :rollleyes:
 
shel90 said:
Owwwwww! Poor baby who is hearing only to get HAs making the sounds soooooooooooo loud for him!!!

I tested my HA on my kids and my daughter hated it and gets mad at me for doing that but my son laughs and wants it back on him. Maybe my son is HOH..who knows?
Click to expand...

If your daughter has normal hearing Ill say OUCH for her. My adult daughter with HA's tried mine and said they hurt her ears cause they were to loud.

The abr done on babies is a tool to help catch hearing problems early. Is it 100 % accurate? no. It's one reason they put HA's on the babies to see if they help. The same daughter who tried my ha had an ABR done and tested in the mild range of hearing loss, a pure tone hearing test put her in the moderate range....wonder which was right? also to note, in her case she supposedly hears well according to the brain stem response, yet she needs the hearing aides that are programmed for her loss according to the tone tests to actually hear speech. In her case the abr is inaccurate on the side of making it seem she hears more then she does?

a babies responses to the sounds around her will also give parents some idea as to if she's hearing anything. It will be interesting to see a more in depth study done. It does sound like they have already found which type of loss is the one the might eventually lead to the child regaining some hearing.
 
jag said:
Hearing is one of the 5 senses, so is sight. Why is it completely exceptable to find ways to 'fix' sight but it's not exceptable to find ways to 'fix' hearing. As you all probably know by now they are now 'fixing' lazy eye with surgery. maybe the medical establishment should quit trying to find ways to make peoples lives easier. :rollleyes:
Click to expand...

Loss of sight does not result in adaptation through different language. Lazy eye is not a conditionthat results in one being classified as legally blind. I had a blind roommate in college, and I currently work with a blind student, both whom have told me that if they could be given sight, they would choose not to have it as they function quite well as they are. And yes, the medical establishment should concentrate on curing illness. Anything else?
 
jag said:
Hearing is one of the 5 senses, so is sight. Why is it completely exceptable to find ways to 'fix' sight but it's not exceptable to find ways to 'fix' hearing. As you all probably know by now they are now 'fixing' lazy eye with surgery. maybe the medical establishment should quit trying to find ways to make peoples lives easier. :rollleyes:
Click to expand...

I understand that and I understand their view but lazy eye wont interfere with language development. That is what makes deafness a completely different category than from other disabilities or senses. Language development and the impact it has on it and how we address it.
 
As you all probably know by now they are now 'fixing' lazy eye with surgery.
Click to expand...
Um so? That's the vison equalivant of surgery to correct conductive deafness. They can correct MANY eye conditions that can be corrected to 20/20 vision with glasses, but they still can't do that with conditions that cause blindness and low vision. (with the exception of cateracts, and some conditions that happen in adulthood)
jillo is right. My best friend is legally blind and he says that it's not really the disabilty that gives him problems..........its the way people treat him because of it. I'm deaf but SO what? I don't know what "normal" hearing is.........I am perfectly happy being hoh!
 
deafdyke said:
Um so? That's the vison equalivant of surgery to correct conductive deafness. They can correct MANY eye conditions that can be corrected to 20/20 vision with glasses, but they still can't do that with conditions that cause blindness and low vision. (with the exception of cateracts, and some conditions that happen in adulthood)
jillo is right. My best friend is legally blind and he says that it's not really the disabilty that gives him problems..........its the way people treat him because of it. I'm deaf but SO what? I don't know what "normal" hearing is.........I am perfectly happy being hoh!
Click to expand...
there's emergeing technology called vision implant.. there was a documentary of blind brothers getting vision implant. One succeed and one didn't although only one was qualified to get it did succeed. the other one didn't qualify but begged to have one to experience what his brother went thru. the unqualified one did get glimpse but didn't perform well as his brother did.

there you go..

oh here's PDF about vision implant
http://www.cmc.ca/news/success_stories/documents/bionic-vision-implant-jan11-07.pdf

this one is about retinal implant; Retinal implants may soon restore lost vision | CNET News.com

And there's another one that is not for blindess but is a implant called "Total Vision Implant" which use Crystal Lens. I was told that my step mother may go for it if other options didn't pan out.
Intraocular Lens – Dallas / Fort Worth, Texas – FAQs from Dr. Gary Tylock
 
shel90 said:
Yea I know...oh well. Parents will continue to implant their children as long as there are some success stories. What can we do? :dunno:
Click to expand...

Some?? Any numbers to back that up....

You might see a lot of children that did well and now thrive with ASL, but have you ever taken a look outside your school....????
It might be difficult to find these children that thrive with CI because they do not stick out, they do not have the problems that you see in your daily life...

Here in Norway, someone researched the first 100 children that got CI in Norway, and where they are now.
 
Back
Top