That is a question that is asked a little more than frequently around here. If there is such a thing as a little more than frequent anyway.
Our eldest child has hearing issues. Perhaps, if you know her in person, you have noticed that you have to repeat yourself several times before she catches everything you say.
Perhaps you have noticed that she watches your lips when you talk rather than watching your eyes.
Perhaps you have noticed while talking to her on the phone that she says 'huh' a lot.
Perhaps you've noticed that she says many words incorrectly.
Perhaps you don't know her and didn't know any of that. Or perhaps even if you do know her you didn't notice it.
Trust me. It's all true.
For a long time we thought we just had a severe case of selective hearing. A case of "I'll listen if and when I want to".
It wasn't until I started teaching her kindergarten last fall that I realized that we might have a legitimate hearing problem.
Her desk perches neatly in one corner of our office-school-sewing-toy room. (Sounds huge, huh? It's not. Maybe eight feet square.) It's the only corner that was empty and it fits perfectly. There is only one problem with the location. It makes it so her 'bad' ear is toward me.
The first few weeks of school I got so frustrated cause I would tell her what to do and she would just sit there. When she would finally hear me, she had to turn her head to look at me before she would know what I was saying. I realized then that she was watching my lips.
The second sign I had was when I was teaching her the sounds for the letters. D, B, P. All three of them sounded exactly the same coming out of her mouth. She had to watch how I formed them with my mouth before she caught on that they weren't the same sound. Makes learning a little difficult when you can't hear the difference between sounds.
The third and final straw was when she got a cold last December. She could not hear at all. At all. Just like this weel. I could talk to her in a normal tone of voice while standing directly beside her and she didn't hear a thing.
To say it is frustrating would be an understatment.
We took her to the doctor for a hearing test two weeks before we left for Russia. It was amazing. Her right ear works pretty well. Her left? Not good. I was standing about two feet behind her during the hearing test and could hear the buzz buzzing in her ear long before she did.
We were referred to a specialist...and today is that appointment.
She's nervous. Very nervous. I don't know what she thinks is going to happen, but she must be expecting the worst....like them cutting her ear off or something.
We can't wait to find out what the problem is. Hopefully it's simple and within a week or so she'll be hearing out of both ears.
3 comments:
Oh how I hope and pray it is fixable. If she starts hearing properly you will probably think you have a different daughter!!
Emma has a 'bad' ear and there is nothing we can do about it. It started after a really bad ear infection. I think the eardrum was damaged durring her illness. But there is no way for them to tell. thankfully, her teachers at school never noticed that it was a problem. So it isn't terrible. But it does make things a little difficult sometimes. Like when she needs the volume on the radio UP to hear it and the rest of us would prefer it a little lower.
Addie's a great little girl, she will come through like a champ!!
We are going through a similar problem currently with Lydia. She is full of fluid (in her ears) and has mild conductive hearing loss. She has been on steroids in an attempt to drain, but will probably need tubes. She goes to Dr. Patel, Laban goes to his partner Dr. Dietz, hope all goes well
DANYAL
My left ear is 80% deaf and has been since I was 10. BE REALLY NICE TO HER, SHE CAN'T HELP IT! It's such a pain. I've learned to read lips and do a lot of uh-huh-ing. I hope they can help her. Mine is a nerve deafness and cannot be fixed or helped with a hearing aid.
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