Hearing Aids Benefits for Children

hearing-aid

The Benefits of hearing aids

If the hearing loss is only mild to moderate, hearing aids will be able to help your child rely on his or her hearing in all but the noisiest For children with profound hearing loss many sounds will still be distorted and “blurred”, even with hearing aids.
Hearing aids can be of real benefits. But to get the best out of them takes time and patience. How much they can help depends on the degree of hearing loss. It also depends on the kind of support your child gets – from family.

Family-Hearing-aids

Getting Used To Hearing Aids

It takes the time to get used to wearing hearing aids. Although they might seem strange to wear at first, they should never be uncomfortable, or cause any pain. If you suspect that they do, contact your child’s audiologist as soon as possible.
If it is possible, talk with your child about the different sounds – what they are and where the come from. This gives your child a chance to talk about what he or she is experiencing and lets you know how helpful the hearing aids are.
The best way to make sure that your child is doing well, and that the hearing aids are fitted correctly, is to make a note in the Oticon Family Notebook. You can show these to your audiologist, who will use the information to make any necessary adjustments.
Your audiologist doesn’t see your child every day, so the information you provide will be really useful Also, children aren’t always able to express themselves clearly, and it can be hard for them to judge how they are performing. With the help, the audiologist can make sure that the hearing aid is adjusted to give the best possible performance.

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Looking After The Hearing Aids

As children get older they should learn how to look after their hearing aids themselves. But until then, you need to check each day that the hearing aids and batteries work.

  • Use the stethoclip to check that the instruments are working.
  • Check the batteries with the batter tester.

If the hearing aids seem dead or sound strange after you having changed batteries, have them checked by your audiologist or technicians.

  • If they make a whistling sound (acoustic feedback) in the ear, try to find out why. With BTE’s you might need to clean the earmolds, check whether the tubing needs to be replaced, or have new earmolds made. The most common reason for feedback in young children is that that earmolds have become too small.
  • Learn how to clean the hearing aids and earmoulds, and when and how to get that tubing replaced between the earmould and hearing aid.
  • The hearing aids are often wet for some reason, either because of sweat, humidity or because the child gets wet when wearing them. Therefore it is good idea to store the hearing aids in the drying kit at night.

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FM listening Systems

Hearing clearly in a classroom is difficult even for children with normal hearing. This is partly because the teacher’s voice has to carry a long way but it mostly due to back – ground noise – such as feet shuffling, chairs being moved around and students talking. The way the room in built, and the way the furniture is placed can also cause poor sound quality.

FM systems

These function along the same lines as a commercial radio station – picking up the sounds of the teacher’s voice through a microphone and transmitting it directly to those wearing hearing aids.
FM systems are perfectly for the classroom because they reduce the “distance” between the student and the teacher. The help to combat the effects of background noise and poor acoustics.

Types of Speech Therapy for Children and Adults

Types of Speech Therapy for Children and Adults

Speech therapy is the assessment and treatment of communication problems and speech disorders. Speech is producing distinct forms of sounds that convey a message to a listener. Certain types of speech disorder can affect an individual’s ability to produce sounds to create words. A specialized speech therapist can minimize or eliminate the effects.

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