Parent of HOH son

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andreav

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My son, he's 11, has been SSD since birth. We recently discovered that he has some hearing in the deaf ear. We're getting a HA - a Photak Ambra - soon.

The audiologist immediately jumped to BAHA. I was not comfortable w/surgery being her first suggestion. More importantly, my son was not comfortable with it. He tried the test head band and did not like it all. I've also stressed that if he doesn't like the HA, he doesn't have to wear it. I figure he's old enough to decide these things and he has been HOH his entire life, he may not like hearing. I did say he has to try the HA out for 1 month, to give it a try.

So, that's me. Any suggestions/experience w/BAHA would be appreciated. I guess I don't want to force him to be hearing unless he wants to be.
 
I'd just suggest taking it slow and easy with him. No one would like being bombarded by sound after a life of silence.

Has your audiologist given you some guidelines on this adaptation period? Probably the idea will be to start off with the volume turned to a low level, and perhaps only wear the HAs for a short time (an hour or so) and then gradually increase both the volume and the time wearing it.
 
Good idea to follow his lead. Also, 11 YO is a hard time for a kid to make a huge adjustment. He just started middle school, right? So many developmental issues at that time. Lots of social issues. Good luck and welcome to AD!
 
I started wearing my first hearing aid when I was almost 9 years old. I did not like the hearing aid on my right ear. (Full Deaf) But I was surprise to hear some sounds (had severe to profound hearing loss on my left ear) with the hearing aid on my left ear. It was amazing but still I don't care much for hearing otherwise it was not clear to me. I really like the silence better because I was born deaf. You are right that it is up to the individual like your son who can make the decision if he want to try out the hearing aid. As for BAHA, if it is surgery like CI (don't know much about that) which is not an emergency. Most hearing parents and also other authorities wanted deaf children to hear like them. That was the problem with them and still is. We have been trying to explain over and over many times for many years that we can not hear like you and other hearing people hear. Our hearing is different than what you hear. Also if you lose your hearing late, then your hearing loss is not going to change back to normal hearing. It will be like that for the rest of their life as late deafened.

:welcome: to AllDeaf forum. I hope you enjoy reading and posting all the threads here. See you around here. :wave:
 
U mean Phonak Ambra and good luck with them. if your kid's not comfy with BAHA, well it's his body and he has a right.
 
I started wearing two hearing aids again last Dec. Things sounded loud!! It is a huge adjustment getting used to hearing sounds.

If he gets overwhelmed from all the sounds he hears let him take them out for a while. Then he can put them back on.

It is overwhelming how loud things sound when you first wear hearing aids.

He is old enough to tell you how he feels with them on.

Hope it all works out for him! :)
 
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