Garv was born with normal hearing. This is what the family believed till the time he was 5 years old, when it was discovered that he has a chronic middle ear condition causing a slow but progressive hearing loss.
Garv started to miss fine lines when spoken to, both at home and at school.
He was simply too young to even understand what was happening with him, let alone expecting him to voice his concerns !
A mother is always a mother, and she felt very early on that Garv was missing sounds and having trouble in understanding people around him.
Garv was fitted with high quality hearing aids as a part of conservative treatment, along with several medical & surgical procedures that he needed to treat his ear & hearing condition.
He, however, continued to struggle to the extent that it began to affect his studies. He had become a lost child in his classroom, with his friends & family completely unaware of what was actually happening with him. After all, he was supposed to have been treated for his hearing loss, but something was missing!
What a dilemma for the family, that inspite of doing best for their child, Garv was still struggling and only trying to COPE UP !!
Looking at his pain, the agony of his mother and perplexity of the whole family, we once again introduced the concept of a Bone Conduction Implanted device to Garv’s family. This was always an option given, but was not considered in the beginning.
At the trial of the Bone conduction device at the clinic, Garv’s facial expression the moment it was tried on, made very it clear to everyone around him that there was no other way forward. That boy, without saying anything said everything through his eyes.
The gleam in eyes were speaking of how much better he was hearing through the device. Mom’s eyes could not hold the tears rolling down her cheeks.
Further assessment through Device assisted audiometry confirmed that he could hear at normal levels.
The decision was made – Garv was going to get the OSIA BC device implanted ! Hey, why compromise? He’s been compromising till now—so lets go for bilateral OSIA Implants , said the family. The surgery was scheduled at Apollo Hospital, New Delhi and Garv got the devices implanted on both sides at the same time successfully, said his surgeon Dr(Prof)Ameet Kishore, Director, Adventis ENT & Cochlear Implant Clinics, New Delhi
The D-Day has come – it’s a few weeks following surgery and Garv is all set for his OSIA devices to be switched on. Hearts are pounding, excitement beaming through everyone’s eyes – be it Garv, his parents and the entire Audiology team at SpHear Speech and Hearing Clinics.
Finally Garv’s devices are switched on and he can hear so clearly !! He was absolutely supportive and compliant during the activation process said his Audiologist, Ms Neevita Narayan, Director, SpHear Speech and Hearing Clinics, New Delhi.
He was able to hear the wall clock ticking, foot steps from outside the room & many more sounds that he had never heard before. He was obviously confused & was wondering how he could hear so much!!
His eyes started to roll in the direction of smallest sound, he was suddenly feeling empowered & started to talk. We were all seeing a NEW GARV !!
It was an enthralling experience to see the entire family rejoicing like never before!!
Also read about: Pure Tone Audiometry
