 My last blog was about the big decision of whether or not you should buy or not buy a hearing aid. Now, you have made the decision that it is time for you to buy one. Now what? Where do you go?What do you buy?
There are many types of hearing aids made from many different hearing aid companies. You can buy a Behind The Ear (BTE) hearing aid, In The Ear (ITE) hearing aid, Cross hearing aid, In the Canal hearing aid....the list seems endless. First and most importantly, you need to find an audiologist that you are most comfortable with. It is important that you find a pediatric audiologist if you have children or a good audiologist for adults if you are an adult. Next, you need to understand your type of hearing loss. You might have a sensorineural hearing loss ,which is in the inner ear, or a conductive hearing loss, which is a middle ear hearing loss. Different type of hearing loss require different hearing aids. Please respect the professional and follow her suggestion. It may be hard for you to accept your hearing loss and you might not be quite ready for hearing aids,but you are making an investment. it is important that you choose wisely. Why buy something that won't last or won't be helpful? My personal and professional opinion is that In the Ear hearing aids might be ne invisible,but they are not very successful for many kinds of hearing aids. Think wisely before you purchase those. Today, you can have so much fun accessorizing your hearing aids! Hailey's Cherished Charms are great charms purchased for your hearing aids to jazz them up. I would love you to share your pictures of your hearing aids and how you decided on the type,color and size.
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There are so many confusing questions around buying hearing aids. Let's start, however, at the beginning. How do you know if your hearing loss even warrants a hearing aid? You go to the expert,right?
Sure, adults and kids alike go to to the audiologist who tests their hearing. They depend on this audiologist to explain the hearing test results , called an audiogram, and explain whether or not they have a hearing loss. General public also relies on the audiologist to recommend if they need a hearing aid or not. Here is where the trouble begins. I have had students with moderate to severe hearing loss in both ears be told by their audiologist that they do NOT need hearing aids. I have seen adults who have a mild high frequency loss be told that they do need hearing aids... How do you know what is right? In general, I would suggest you listen to the audiologist. You can even consider getting a second opinion. Ask why the audiologist thinks you do or do not need them. This is the important part. For children, language learning and concept mapping takes place during the early years of life. If you are wanting your children to become listeners and speakers, then it is important to get them aided early. In quiet, in a booth, children might be able to understand sounds and even words. It is more important to have your child tested in noise. This is when hearing and understanding breaks down. Many audiologist are not educational audiologist or pediatric audiologists. I encourage you to take your children to someone who has a good understanding of not just hearing loss, but also how hearing loss affects learning in a noisy classroom. As for adults, again, if you can hear well in a quiet booth, have your audiologist test you in noise. Can you understand? Think about your job, your hobbies, your life..what do you do? If you are often lecturing in a quiet setting or working alone or even 1:1, you might not need hearing aids. However, if you enjoy dining out, attend conferences with many people, are a part of a large corporation where numerous staff sits at a table and "takes turns"(ie, interrupts each other) talking, you might need hearing aids. Hearing aids are a big decision. Take time to think it over, ask for second opinions, and read up. Let me know what you decided.  Transitions can be really hard for all of us..change is the unknown, the unforseen,the never been done before.. We might think we know what to expect,but often it is better or worse than we imagine. For children with hearing loss, transition can be very difficult.
There are many types of transitions kids go through. It is the end of a school year-that is a huge transition. Changing to all day daycare vs home or school is a big transition. Changing from home to camp to swim lessons are littler transitions,but still have impact. Children with hearing loss often need information broken down, repeated,and rephrased in learning new information in school. The same goes for talking about transitions. Without extra prep on your end, transitions can become quite scary. What can we do to help ease the fears and worries that go with these transitions? It is really important that families and staff working with children who have hearing loss talk alot about upcoming transitions. Create visuals-have a calendar to count down the days. Have a calendar to show the new events-are swim lessons weekly, twice/week, will day care be daily, half a day, twice/week? The options are endless. Sometimes children with hearing loss don't understand the full message-they might think they are going to day care or swim one time and that that event is over. Having discussions, preplanning,and having visuals lessens the confusion. Try to keep some routine and some comfortable parts of the old routine mixed into the new-maybe they will use their school backpack to go to daycare, maybe they will take a stuffed animal from home for nap time at day care, maybe they will always get picked up for swim lessons at the same time of day. Try to incorporate things that give your children comfort when you are planning transitions. Most importantly, remember, you were young once, too. Slow down and try to picture the world from their eyes. What may seem silly or inconsequential to you might be the biggest fear of these little guys' lives-give them the attention and love you know they deserve. A hug and a smile go a long way. |
Allison Schley is a teacher of deaf and hard of hearing children. She took her passion for kids with hearing loss and became an author. She wants all children with hearing loss to know they are amazing and that hearing loss will not keep them from following their dreams.Archives
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