Trey making sushi for lunch
Yesterday we spent 3 hours at the audiologist. Trey was okay because he got to change it up a bit I think (he got to go have a hearing test and the other kids only got to play :0), but Ave and Sadie were a mess by the end… the time when I needed to concentrate on learning to use Trey’s new hearing aids and his hearing test results. Fortunately another woman was able to come back and play with the kids while I listened.
Back in October Trey lost one of his hearing aids and because they were getting to the outside of how long hearing aids and their technology are considered “good”, we were recommended to get new aids. Unfortunately, we’d just spent our insurance (which is $600 every 5 years, which is how often you need new hearing aids, which doesn’t even cover 1/3 of the cost of new aids and doesn’t include any kind of repair… yikes!) max on fixing his old aids about 2 monthes before, so would have to pay out of pocket (about $2,500) for the new aids. Trey’s audiologist felt bad, so lent us aids until now.
The new aids are pretty cool. They have speech recovery, which I don’t understand completely, but if Trey’s hearing goes down, it will help him hear the more difficult to hear sounds (like ‘s’). They also have telecoil, which helps him hear when speaking on the phone, which is big for us. And I can control the volume with this remote so that if Trey has a cold and his hearing is down, I can bump the volume up a bit. And they’re smaller, which is cool. And there’s a little light at the back of the aid to tell me if the battery is low. Trey wasn’t as thrilled with the colour as me (the colour of his hair) because Trey wanted red and blue aids, but I figured that since they’re so expensive and we’ve got them for the next 5 years or more, he can add stickers if he wants color!
Trey’s hearing test results were a little more… vague, frustrating. I don’t really like hearing test results. Trey’s hearing can go down and back up due to colds, but they can also go down permanently, and it is not clear when that is happening (because hearing can be affected for monthes after a cold is over). And if he’s bored, the results may not be as accurate because Trey may not be paying as much attention to the really quiet sounds.
So when you get hearing test results, you never really know if the loss is permanent. In the past, Trey’s hearing has gone up and down a bunch. Many times Trey’s hearing has gone down and over the course of monthes, come right back up. However, there was one period for about 9 monthes when Trey’s hearing was down and in the summer of July/08, when Trey hadn’t had a cold in monthes, it was decided/realized/assumed, that Trey’s hearing had permanently gone down.
Then yesterday’s results. His high frequency hearing loss, where his loss is moderately severe, stayed the same, but in the lower frequencies (especially at 250 Hz), where his loss is mild, his hearing seems to have gone down between 5-15 decibels (dB). 5dB of difference can mean boredom and lack of listening… it can just be testing variability, but 15dB usually means something.
Trey’s audiologist tested his high frequency hearing first and she said that by the time she got to the low frequencies, he was starting to get bored. But, she said she thinks the results are accurate. She said she tested all the sounds two times each. Before, when he was hearing low frequency sounds at 25 dB (normal for a kid is 15 dB and normal for an adult is 25dB), now he’s hearing them at between 25-40dB, depending on the frequency.
Bummer. I think. But then again, you never really know, right? When we go to UNC at the beginning of April, Trey will have another hearing test, so I will wait to get those results before officially being bummed.
Two good things that came as a result of the tests were that Trey tested great and with aids he hears well. He was in testing booth for about 45-60 minutes and Christine, his audiologist, said he was super cooperative. I think I annoy him in these situations a bit, so this time I let him go in on his own (plus, he’s now pretty much at the age where he’s fine on his own and parents are just a distraction), and he did great. Then afterwards he came out to tell us he was done, but that he was going to help Christine program his new aids. He didn’t even want to come out and play with the toys. It seemed like he was proud to go in on his own and apparently he did great with that. So maybe in UNC we’ll let him test on his own.
And, with his new aids, he can hear at 20dB (as I mentioned above, normal for a kid is 15 dB and normal for an adult is 25dB). I was in the booth with him this time and he could hear the quietest sounds, which was great for me to hear.
Long winded, but that’s all for now!!
Deb