I have been thinking about this post for a few weeks now. I have not yet felt that the time is right for it and I am not sure I feel the time is right now. But I have some time and am feeling positive about things it seems like as good a time as any.
When Georgia was a little older than three I took her to TU to have her speech evaluated. At the time I understood her, and other family members understood her but strangers had a hard time. Part of the evaluation was a hearing test which she refused to cooperate with. The speech part went fine and the therapist said she was “normal” for her age and development. Within three months after that her speech cleared up and she was much more understandable.
Some time around Nov. or Dec. I noticed when we were in the car she had trouble hearing me talk to her but I assumed it was because she sat behind me and sometimes the radio was on and a car is a noisy place to begin with. Then I realized she would often times say “what” when I addressed her and my back was to her or I was in another room. Now lots of kids say “what” but hers was not the distracted, “you just interrupted my thought”, kind of what. It was the “I really didn’t hear what you said,” kind of what.
I talked to my mom about it and to my husband and they agreed she seemed to say “what” more now that she was really conversational and speaking to us in a more complex way. I had to have both girls hearing tested at the Health Dept. as infants because G would not be still enough to pass the hearing screening at the hospital and Darby was born at home. Both girls did pass the newborn hearing screening. I made an appt. at the Health Dept. to have G tested since I knew insurance wouldn’t really help and the health Dept. would be priced reasonably.
I totally expected them to tell me she had fluid or wax in her ears, send us to an ENT and get the whole thing cleared up. The hearing test was on a Wed. and during the test I was in the sound booth with her and she was so good about wearing the ear plugs and head band. She played the games but after about 30 minutes, I could tell she was done. I could also tell during the test, she was not hearing everything.
Once we got out of the booth the audiologist, Casey, set G up with some toys and I looked at Casey and said, “She didn’t hear everything.” I was told that was correct and that there was no blockage in the ear or damage to the middle ear which meant her hearing loss was sensorineural. In other words permanent and inoperable. The audiologist wanted me to bring her back the next week to re-test and make sure the results were accurate.
Matt and I both went with her the next Tuesday and had her re-tested. The results were very similar and in line with a “mild” hearing loss. With this type of loss she misses out on perhaps a faucet dripping or the birds singing and has a hard time if there is any background noise. Her speech has not been assessed in the last two weeks since we found out but I feel like she has done really well for having such a hearing loss. She speaks clearly and has the ability to converse using seven and eight word sentences.
The only treatment for this kind of hearing loss is amplification, or hearing aids. We have 3-months in which we can try out the aids free of charge and see if she will wear them and how much they help. She got to pick them out herself and they will have a purple behind the ear part and a pink and purple swirl with sparkles ear piece. We are hoping to start using them in a little over a week, after her birthday and party. Georgia has already started calling them her “princess ears” and asking when she will get them.
There is so much more involved with this in regards to emotions and how Matt and I are feeling and how we have made some of the decisions we have made and what decisions we have put off making, but that will be a different post. I just wanted to get this out there. I don’t know of any other children that wear hearing aids and have a minor hearing loss. I have grabbed as many books as I can, joined as many message boards as I can, and called as many local organizations as I can. If there is one thing I CAN do about her hearing loss, it’s be knowledgeable.
