Hearing Aids: A New Beginning

Katelyn got her hearing aids on April 6th. Many people have asked how she is doing. Overall, I would say she is doing well with the adjustment. Her instant reaction was silence. She stood silently in the Audiologists office and held my legs. Katelyn seemed in awe and quite perplexed by the new things she could hear. After about 30 minutes of exploration, she was blowing bubbles in the office. At one point, something fell off the chair behind her onto a carpeted floor. She heard it fall and turned around. This is how I knew they were working. 

As the day went on, there was a power struggle between Kate and I. She took her hearing aids off several times and had to be disciplined. This is the non-exciting part of the hearing aids. By the end of the day, they are painful. Similar to wearing new glasses or a headband, the skin spots become sore from the movement. After dinner, whenever her hearing aids came off (or were pulled off) she covered her ears with her hands to try and prevent me putting the aids back in.

The biggest misunderstanding is that although she is physically 2 years and 2 months old, her language development is that of a newborn. Words that have been spoken to her in the last two years have been muffled and distorted. What she knows as her name without her hearing aids, does not sound like "Kate" with her hearing aids. This brings us back to Day 1. Many years of speech therapy are ahead of us.

Other frustrations include the feedback noise when the hearing aids are bumped into. As Kate rubs her ears or jolts the hearing aid microphones around while playing, a horrible noise occurs. The noise sounds like a microphone when it is first turned on in a concert hall near a speaker. It's an extremely loud screech. This is also causing unhappiness and headaches for her.

We are still moving forward with sign language due to the fact that hearing aids cannot be used at the pool, in the bathtub, a water park, the ocean, etc. So far, tantrums have been the same in number. I am hopeful that as we all explore the new hearing world together, that she will begin to understand more each day and the tantrums will subside. Below is a photo of Kate with the hearing aids on. 

Please continue to keep her in your prayers!

New ears!