RE: Help on Hearing

January 8, 2008

Dawn and group,

Yes a second opinion would be a good thing. Our , 8, has bilateral

aids. We confirmed her hearing loss, at the age of 4, with putting her under a

general anes. and doing an OAE, ASSR & ABR. There might have been one other

test in there but those test are the ones I remember right off. I know one of

them required them to put something on the mastoid bone (bone directly behind

ear) and do bone conduction hear tests. These tests are neurological tests that

are very accurate. The ABR test is the one they do as infants. I don't care

what anyone says, you need more tests. kept failing her ABR as an infant

and no follow-up was ever done. She was just able to cooperate (a little) as a

4 year old, in the booth, enough to see that they needed these other tests. Let

me explain what I know about the ABR. As an infant, that test does one " beep "

that covers low, middle and high frequencies all at once. If the infant passes,

they passed the

one beep. The ABR that was done on under a general, tested low, middle

and high frequencies separately. See the difference? Those tests showed our

had hearing loss in the middle/high range. This is speech sounds like

sssss, sh and ch. If you do wind up with hearing aids, make sure they give you

some kind of lanyard that hooks to both behind the ear (BTE) pieces and then

hooks to the clothing. We have found that the Oticon (hearing aid company) one

works the best and stays on the best. The other aftermarket ones don't do so

hot. Hopefully the state will also pay for batteries and cleaning supplies.

You'll want to make sure and put it in a dry case to keep all the moisture out

of it. Hope this helps.

Rebekah

www.nailnwirecrosses.com

Handmade w/horseshoe nails

and wire in Oklahoma

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Never miss a thing. Make your home page.

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January 8, 2008

In a message dated 1/8/2008 11:13:16 AM Eastern Standard Time,

fourgivenfish@... writes:

Hopefully the state will also pay for batteries and cleaning supplies.

Cleaning supplies?? They told me to use a bent paper clip! What kind of

supplies are you supposed to use?

Jean

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and good

With ketchup!

**************Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape.

http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489

January 8, 2008

Westone makes a cleaning kit for hearing aids. It has the dry storage container

in it, cleaning solution and the little pick thing that has a " U " shaped wire on

one end and a brush on the other end. It also has a listening device in it and

a small little blower to blow out any particles you see in the ear molds. The

listening device is good because you can actually see if the hearing aids are

working. Oh, and it also has a little battery tester in it. You put the

battery on it and it will tell you whether the battery is good or not. That is

crazy for someone to tell you to clean with a paper clip. What if there is

something up further in the curved part of the pressure vent? That is where the

little blower comes in handy. My goodness. Hope you can find one of these

kits. It is very important to store the BTE piece in the dry storage thing

without the battery in it. This takes out all the moisture. Moisture can

damage the BTE piece. I store

the ear molds in there too b/c sometimes the tubing has moisture in it from her

ears sweating. Hope that helps.

Rebekah

An extra little chromosome,

that's all it is, you see.

Where all of you were born with two,

She was blessed with three!

www.nailnwirecrosses.com

Handmade w/horseshoe nails

and wire in Oklahoma

Re: RE: Help on Hearing

In a message dated 1/8/2008 11:13:16 AM Eastern Standard Time,

fourgivenfish@... writes:

Hopefully the state will also pay for batteries and cleaning supplies.

Cleaning supplies?? They told me to use a bent paper clip! What kind of supplies

are you supposed to use?

Jean

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and good

With ketchup!

Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape in the new year.

________________________________________________________________________________\

____

Never miss a thing. Make your home page.

http://www./r/hs

January 8, 2008

Dawn-

One more thing....if your son ends up needing aids, make sure you ask them for

ear molds with a helix lock and a pressure vent. These are two key components

to the ear mold that our has to have. The helix lock helps you, as the

parent, line up the mold better in the ear. It is a little extra piece that

goes in that little top crease of the outside of the ear. It is attached to the

ear mold itself. The pressure vent lets air into the ear. could not

stand just having the regular molds in the ear without the pressure vent. She

had such problem getting used to the hearing aids to begin with and when they

forgot to put the pressure vent in, it was even worse. It helps with their

equilibrium, from what I understand. Keep in mind also that you will be getting

ear molds every 9-12 months as growth continues. As you can tell, we have been

through this a few times. The molding process takes about 5 minutes once the

putty is in their ear.

That is another challenge! YIKES! No touching the ear or putty while it sets

up or the mold will be NO good. :\