Hearing aid for 2 yr old with unilateral hearing loss?

Alisondrago

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Would anyone be able to share their experiences of using a hearing aid for unilateral hearing loss in a pre-schoolers?

My daughter is 2 1/2 years old and we have known for year or so that she has a moderate/severe hearing loss in her right ear. The hearing in her left ear is 'borderline normal'. Until recently we have just monitored it, as she seems to be able to hear at home and her speech is developing normally. She started pre-school in January, however, and the teachers have noticed that she often cannot hear them if they are on her right hand side or behind her. They then have to tap her on the shoulder or get in front of her to get her attention. She then appears to hear them fine as long as they stay in front of her and on her level.

I am wondering if a hearing aid would be helpful at this stage, to help her hear better at pre-school? Has anyone else been through a similar situation to this? We are seeing the audiologist in a few weeks for a routine hearing test and I would love to get some insights from other people before this.

Any comments would be really appreciated!
Thanks in advance
 
Check it out with audiologist or ear doctor

I would say the earlier the better for her to keep up with others as it will get harder and harder for her to keep up the older she gets.
 
Actually, you don't have to go as far as an HA if she is doing well at home without it. HAs are SUPER expensive. A much better idea would be looking into an FM device or a soundfield set up. The "good" thing about unilateral loss is that it is very easily educationally managed with HOH style minimal interventions....but the key is to put the HOH interventions into place. Unilateral HOH kids are eligible for HOH style classroom accomondations... I'm unsure how a unilateral kid would get educational access to an FM device.
Contact Hands and Voices: http://www.handsandvoices.org/ They have a lot of info on unilateral losses. The thing is...traditionally unilateral kids haven't really gotten a lot of aggressive HOH style management, as it was thought they had one good ear, so they could just cope. But it's a good idea to pursue educational intervention with an FM, since those kids are in essense hearing children.
You may also want to contact your state's School for the Deaf's Outreach and see if they might be able to help you.
Word of advice (especially if her loss might be progressive) Keep an open mind and look into every and anything. I even know of some parents of unilateral loss kids who have pursued ASL with their kids! (Some of them wanted to be proactive in case the losses were progressive, others wanted to give them a full toolbox, as even unilateral kids can be lost in a noisy setting)
 
Thanks so much for taking the time to reply to me. This is really helpful information. Much appreciated!
 
rehab may help with the cost the a hearing and some insurance may pay for a child too. I wanted a purple HA and my audi did not tell me he was getting a kid friendly HA . It has a red flashing light on it that let you know the battery is going dead it also 'beep ' to let the child know this too . It beeped for everything and the battery door can be locked so a child can't take the battery out .
 
rehab may help with the cost the a hearing and some insurance may pay for a child too. I wanted a purple HA and my audi did not tell me he was getting a kid friendly HA . It has a red flashing light on it that let you know the battery is going dead it also 'beep ' to let the child know this too . It beeped for everything and the battery door can be locked so a child can't take the battery out .


that's what I have on my right side ATM but I might replace that with a Nera2 maybe this summer.
 
Would anyone be able to share their experiences of using a hearing aid for unilateral hearing loss in a pre-schoolers?

My daughter is 2 1/2 years old and we have known for year or so that she has a moderate/severe hearing loss in her right ear. The hearing in her left ear is 'borderline normal'. Until recently we have just monitored it, as she seems to be able to hear at home and her speech is developing normally. She started pre-school in January, however, and the teachers have noticed that she often cannot hear them if they are on her right hand side or behind her. They then have to tap her on the shoulder or get in front of her to get her attention. She then appears to hear them fine as long as they stay in front of her and on her level.

I am wondering if a hearing aid would be helpful at this stage, to help her hear better at pre-school? Has anyone else been through a similar situation to this? We are seeing the audiologist in a few weeks for a routine hearing test and I would love to get some insights from other people before this.

Any comments would be really appreciated!
Thanks in advance

I had a very similar unilateral hearing loss when I was her age (severe loss in my right ear and a mild loss in the left), but my hearing loss wasn't discovered until I was 6 years old (the first time my hearing was tested). I had some of the same issues she's having (not being able to hear well if someone is standing to my right or behind me, people having to get my attention before speaking to me, etc.).

I can only tell you that based on my experience with not wearing a hearing aid at all throughout school, I feel now that having one would have been a great help to me. A hearing aid wasn't recommended for me because I heard so well in my "good" ear and because I had normal speech/reading skills and did well in school. However, in addition to learning new things like everyone else was, I also had difficulties - at times - with hearing what was being said by my teachers and by my classmates. People sometimes thought I was ignoring them because I didn't always hear them. When I was outside playing, I often had to rely on my friends to tell me when my mother was calling me in to dinner because I couldn't hear her. I had trouble understanding people in noisy environments or when lots of people were talking at once, such as the school lunchroom or recess.

It's great that you're thinking about a hearing aid or an FM system for her so early. Some kids with unilateral hearing loss can do very well without hearing aids (I managed to), but some don't do so well, so my feeling is why make school and learning harder for children than it has to be? If a child has perfect eyesight in one eye but is nearsighted in the other, no one says, "Oh, they don't need glasses because they still have one good eye," so it seems a bit baffling to me that some doctors still believe children with unilateral hearing loss won't benefit from having a hearing aid.

FYI: Sometimes unilateral hearing loss will also progress to include the "good" ear, but there's no way to know for sure whether that will happen, or when. My unilateral hearing loss stayed pretty much the same until I was in my 30s, and then I started losing hearing in my left ear, too.
 
that's what I have on my right side ATM but I might replace that with a Nera2 maybe this summer.

How do you like all the beeping? I hated it, My HA beeped when I turned the volume up or down and played a horrible song , I had most of the beeping turned off and I kept the beeping to let me know when my battery going dead.
My HA is starting to look beaten up , the purple color is chipping off it. I do like the size of it not as thick as my last HA . I think I will try to get red one the next time .
 
Crickets

Very helpful to have a insider view from someone who has experienced what my daughter is experiencing at the moment. Many thanks for replying!
 
Actually, you don't have to go as far as an HA if she is doing well at home without it. HAs are SUPER expensive. A much better idea would be looking into an FM device or a soundfield set up. The "good" thing about unilateral loss is that it is very easily educationally managed with HOH style minimal interventions....but the key is to put the HOH interventions into place. Unilateral HOH kids are eligible for HOH style classroom accomondations... I'm unsure how a unilateral kid would get educational access to an FM device.
Contact Hands and Voices: http://www.handsandvoices.org/ They have a lot of info on unilateral losses. The thing is...traditionally unilateral kids haven't really gotten a lot of aggressive HOH style management, as it was thought they had one good ear, so they could just cope. But it's a good idea to pursue educational intervention with an FM, since those kids are in essense hearing children.
You may also want to contact your state's School for the Deaf's Outreach and see if they might be able to help you.
Word of advice (especially if her loss might be progressive) Keep an open mind and look into every and anything. I even know of some parents of unilateral loss kids who have pursued ASL with their kids! (Some of them wanted to be proactive in case the losses were progressive, others wanted to give them a full toolbox, as even unilateral kids can be lost in a noisy setting)
Actually, a HA (CROS or BiCROS) is important in many cases, because it keeps the brain processing sounds. There are a number of new HAs that will be specifically suited for SSD, and "complex HL" in the next few years ... so stimulating the hearing nerves for this young child now, could be very very important.

Uni-loss is actually one of the most complicated types of HL to manage in a classroom - because it changes so much depending on ever changing variables.

A CROS, or BiCROS hearing aid is often helpful for SSD (with FM). Soundfields can help - but the issue is that every time we turn our heads the entire hearing scenario changes!

One of the most important things is making sure that the teachers (and students) understand that SSD is extremely variable - that we often rely on speechreading and visual cues far more than even *we* realize.

It's important that during instruction the environment is as quiet as possible, and that there's a visual cue (e.g.: teacher raising a hand) prior to speaking so that we can know to focus on them and "get ready to hear".

It's worth noting that APD (Auditory Processing Disorder) is also much higher in those with unilateral losses ... so it's something to be aware of and monitor because it can greatly impact what might be beneficial in terms of assistive devices, and educational assistance (many SSDers with APD find learning ASL extremely important not because we "need it" in all environments, but because it makes better sense to us and is helpful in a wide variety of settings)
 
Thank you for popping up Anji!
I didn't mean to seem to appear anti or " She doesn't need it" with the hearing aid.
Maybe a good idea might be to trial use of an aid to see if it might help her. I think the benifit from a HA in the case of unilateral loss where the kid is otherwise doing well is probaly going to be hit or miss. It could help her a LOT, or she might not really find it helps a lot. It IS worth it to try it thou.
My thinking was based on " Oh she's doing really awesome without it!" and the fact that HAs here in the states are super expensive. Like b/c she's doing really well without it it might be better to spend the money on something that could otherwise enrich her/give her an edge somehow......
 
Crickets, thanks for putting up that link about the HA coverage.
 
alto I not American I still find it helpful on here as always be someone to help and I think what ever help you get it good have insiders view
 
How do you like all the beeping? I hated it, My HA beeped when I turned the volume up or down and played a horrible song , I had most of the beeping turned off and I kept the beeping to let me know when my battery going dead.
My HA is starting to look beaten up , the purple color is chipping off it. I do like the size of it not as thick as my last HA . I think I will try to get red one the next time .

the beeping, it's always a good thing to have especially for volume change and low battery warning :D

overall love the wind chime/piano jingle, makes every day and peeps happy.
 
My thinking was based on " Oh she's doing really awesome without it!" and the fact that HAs here in the states are super expensive. Like b/c she's doing really well without it it might be better to spend the money on something that could otherwise enrich her/give her an edge somehow......

I will say if you asked my parent, family, teachers etc when I was younger - they would have said "I was doing really awesome without it" too ... the problem was that it's a HUGE amount of work to hear, and I was "faking" a lot - meaning filling in a lot of pieces that I didn't hear, but everyone *thought* I had.

CROS and BiCROS hearing aids have come a LONG way since I was younger (when there wasn't really anything at all for kids likt myself). The understanding of what SSD and how it impacts education and social situations has also come a long way (thankfully).

90% of kids with SSD will fail at least one grade - not because of "smarts" but because of everything we miss and have to make up for. I'm in the 10% ... but it was a struggle every single step of the way because everyone was sure I was "just like a hearing kid" ... nothing in life has handicapped me more than that.
 
I will say if you asked my parent, family, teachers etc when I was younger - they would have said "I was doing really awesome without it" too ... the problem was that it's a HUGE amount of work to hear, and I was "faking" a lot - meaning filling in a lot of pieces that I didn't hear, but everyone *thought* I had.

CROS and BiCROS hearing aids have come a LONG way since I was younger (when there wasn't really anything at all for kids likt myself). The understanding of what SSD and how it impacts education and social situations has also come a long way (thankfully).

90% of kids with SSD will fail at least one grade - not because of "smarts" but because of everything we miss and have to make up for. I'm in the 10% ... but it was a struggle every single step of the way because everyone was sure I was "just like a hearing kid" ... nothing in life has handicapped me more than that.

Well indeed that's why I suggested at least trialing a HA.....I definitely think it's worth it to try it......the only downside is, as I've said the out of pocket cost, since HAs aren't generally covered by insurance.
 
We're lucky as we live in the UK, so in theory the NHS will cover the cost of a HA. I might just need to persuade the audiologist to try it, so it's really helpful to have some stories of personal experience from other people to give me the confidence to push for it.

Many thanks to everyone who commented!
 
Feel free to P.M. me here if you want to chat :)

They may find it very helpful in some settings, and a hindrance in others - don't be discouraged by that (I only wear mine when it helps).

BiCROS and CROS aids tend to do much better, especially in noise, if they can use them (I can't, it does very odd things with my APD). I'd give both a try.
I'd also ask for a "softband" trial of a BAHA (bone anchored hearing aid) as they've been found to be especially helpful for many with SSD (or mainly SSD)
 
To the op
Have you looked into.BSL for you and your wee en?
 
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