Re: hearing aids in a teenager

[Guest guest]

Convincing a teenage girl to wear anything is almost impossible! I wish I had

a simple solution. Our " teenage girl " is now all grown-up and married, but I

remember that age and I dread when my now 9-yr-old reaches it.

My son was aided at 9 and he wanted aides, so we did not have a problem

getting him to wear them. However, some of his excitement at getting them was

because he could get them in colors. I don't know if this would help as a

selling

point, but she can get the BTE aides in just about any color including

metallic. Each manufacturere seems to have a selection. Plus the earmolds are

softer

now and can be made in colors as well. Ian's molds are swirls of red-white-blue

with a blue aide. For a nominal fee he can change the aide color whenever we

send in the aide for service. My 9-yr-old daughter thinks that colored aides

are cool, but she is only 9, not in high school and is just beginning to get

into clothes and hair and all that. Remembering our Tracey at 15, I'm not sure

that a color selection would be enough to convince her, but I'd have tried it.

I don't know if your other daughter is aided or if you already know all this.

So pardon me if I've stated the obvious.

Best of luck - Jill

______________________________________________

In a message dated 12/3/2003 9:31:12 AM Eastern Standard Time,

soccrnurz1@... writes:

> Hi everyone,

> I know I have posted a few times in the past few months about my

> daughter, but here we go again. My daughter is 15 1/2. It is now definite

> she has an

> auto-immune hearing loss. In one ear she has a mild to mod (35-50dbl) loss

> and

> now she has lost another 20-30dbl (priopr to prednisone) in her other ear

> she

> is now moderatly severe with a 50-70dbl loss. In both ears the low freq are

> the worst. In the worse ear she had negative pressure so they are not sure

> if

> some of it may be that she has a cold but it was definetly a snhl. I never

> thought she could drop so quickly, her sister had a progressive loss but it

> was

> very slow until the end. She has dropped 20-50 dbl in 1 month of coming off

> prednisone Somehow she is doing well hearing with this loss, but I know

> she

> is missing things and it is probably only a matter of time before that gets

> worse also.

> So here is my question, needless to say they are now recomending aids.

> This is going over like a lead ballon and she is saying no. She is a

> sophmore

> in high school with a good group of friends, very active very athletic, cute

>

> ect, and this was just not in her plans.

> Any suggestion as to how to get her to go along with this. I know most

> people

> on this list have younger children, or hearing loss from the time they were

> babies, Where can I go to get help for this age? Any help or advice you can

>

> give would be great.

> Also I know there is something recently about the connexin 26, she has 1

> mutation in that gene, her doctor though you need at least two hor a hearing

>

> loss, any thoughts on that, and can someone give me the connexin web site

> again as I did not keep it (her sister was negative for connexin)

> Thanks,

>

>

[Guest guest]

Check with the audi. but maybe the solution is an in the ear modle of hearing

aid. You can hardly see those things so that may be the answer.

Gail.

[Guest guest]

-

The main Connexin website is http://www.crg.es/deafness/

There is also a hereditary hearing loss site at http://www.crg.es/deafness/

Harvard's site is http://hearing.harvard.edu/index.htm

All of these sites have links to others, but these are the three I have

bookmarked.

Also, AG Bell has a mentoring program for hearing impaired teens that matches

them with adults (college age and above). AG Bell membership is free to parents

in the first year following diagnosis. www.agbell.org Other organizations

(like SHHH) have similar programs or resources specifically for kids who are

diagnosed later in their school years.

Kerry

hearing aids in a teenager

Hi everyone,

I know I have posted a few times in the past few months about my

daughter, but here we go again. My daughter is 15 1/2. It is now definite she

has an

auto-immune hearing loss. In one ear she has a mild to mod (35-50dbl) loss and

now she has lost another 20-30dbl (priopr to prednisone) in her other ear she

is now moderatly severe with a 50-70dbl loss. In both ears the low freq are

the worst. In the worse ear she had negative pressure so they are not sure if

some of it may be that she has a cold but it was definetly a snhl. I never

thought she could drop so quickly, her sister had a progressive loss but it

was

very slow until the end. She has dropped 20-50 dbl in 1 month of coming off

prednisone Somehow she is doing well hearing with this loss, but I know

she

is missing things and it is probably only a matter of time before that gets

worse also.

So here is my question, needless to say they are now recomending aids.

This is going over like a lead ballon and she is saying no. She is a sophmore

in high school with a good group of friends, very active very athletic, cute

ect, and this was just not in her plans.

Any suggestion as to how to get her to go along with this. I know most people

on this list have younger children, or hearing loss from the time they were

babies, Where can I go to get help for this age? Any help or advice you can

give would be great.

Also I know there is something recently about the connexin 26, she has 1

mutation in that gene, her doctor though you need at least two hor a hearing

loss, any thoughts on that, and can someone give me the connexin web site

again as I did not keep it (her sister was negative for connexin)

Thanks,

[Guest guest]

, I am 23 and medically hoh. I have worn aids since I was 3 yrs old. I

think u need to educate ur daughter on how the aids would benefit her instead of

'making' her wear them. It has been said that the older the person is the harder

it is for them to use the aids often. They have gone so long without them and to

put them on it like turning the volume on LOUD.

The way I explain it to someone whom is curious about my aids and how they work.

I just say my aids are like speakers with a microphone. Whatever is louder is

what my aids pick up the most. If I am having a converstation on the street

outside and a big dump truck passes. I will miss everything that person was

saying while that dump truck passed. Bec it was louder than the person's voice.

One question-- Does ur daughter know signs?

So, slowly but often let ur daughter know she will benefit from these

aids. Let her know all the positive outcomes she will recieve wearing aids. Good

luck..

Cammy

Where can I go to get help for this age? Any help or advice you can

give would be great.

Thanks,

Sign up for Internet Service under $10 dollars a month, at

http://isp.BlueLight.com

[Guest guest]

Here's the connexin website: www.crg.es/deafness/. My son has two connexin

mutations resulting in a severe loss; my daughter has only one mutation and

a mild loss, but we're not sure if that's the cause of her loss.

My kids are young, so can't help with the teen thing...

Stefanie

mom to Ben, 5, and Isabella, 8

on 12/3/03 9:18 AM, soccrnurz1@... at soccrnurz1@... wrote:

> Hi everyone,

> I know I have posted a few times in the past few months about my

> daughter, but here we go again. My daughter is 15 1/2. It is now definite she

> has an

> auto-immune hearing loss. In one ear she has a mild to mod (35-50dbl) loss and

> now she has lost another 20-30dbl (priopr to prednisone) in her other ear she

> is now moderatly severe with a 50-70dbl loss. In both ears the low freq are

> the worst. In the worse ear she had negative pressure so they are not sure if

> some of it may be that she has a cold but it was definetly a snhl. I never

> thought she could drop so quickly, her sister had a progressive loss but it

> was

> very slow until the end. She has dropped 20-50 dbl in 1 month of coming off

> prednisone Somehow she is doing well hearing with this loss, but I know

> she

> is missing things and it is probably only a matter of time before that gets

> worse also.

> So here is my question, needless to say they are now recomending aids.

> This is going over like a lead ballon and she is saying no. She is a sophmore

> in high school with a good group of friends, very active very athletic, cute

> ect, and this was just not in her plans.

> Any suggestion as to how to get her to go along with this. I know most people

> on this list have younger children, or hearing loss from the time they were

> babies, Where can I go to get help for this age? Any help or advice you can

> give would be great.

> Also I know there is something recently about the connexin 26, she has 1

> mutation in that gene, her doctor though you need at least two hor a hearing

> loss, any thoughts on that, and can someone give me the connexin web site

> again as I did not keep it (her sister was negative for connexin)

> Thanks,

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Can you get a pair of loaner aids from the audie and see if she'll wear them at

home first -- or maybe a free trial period with a prospective purchase? My

thought is that, once she sees the benefit at home, she may independently make a

choice to wear them at school also.

It's hard because you want to grant a teen as much independence in

decision-making as is realistic and safe -- because when you say black, most

teens will say white. Is she close to driving age in your state? If so, you may

want to discuss wearing aids while driving for safety reasons.

Good luck...I don't envy the position you are faced with!

Pam

Convincing a teenage girl to wear anything is almost impossible! I wish I had

a simple solution. Our " teenage girl " is now all grown-up and married, but I

remember that age and I dread when my now 9-yr-old reaches it.

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

The very scarry part is this is a new loss. To our knowledge she always

had normal hearing, She passed all her school exams, It was only this summer

that I began to notice some problems. Her first real test was in august and her

word recognition in quiet was still 100%. I don't know how long she can

maintain that with this loss. She mentioned her new loss to her friends and some

of

them think she is kidding, because it is still very small changes that I am

noticing. But unfortuanatly it seems to be dropping fairly rapidly. She does not

know asl as her sister with the profound loss was also progressive and is

totally oral.

[Guest guest]

The thing that I don't understand is why now? I don't understand why they

would not have recomended aids when she was younger with only a mild loss.

Children with only a mild loss have troubles hearing to the point of

delaying language skills. With amplification they usually do really well.

So I don't understand why they wait until the loss is moderate-severe to

recomend aids. Is she a signer? I can understand if she was a signer why

she would want to continue in that direction, but if her primary language is

English then aids could help a lot. What I would recomend is if the audi

has any loaner aids or if the company which you plan to buy the aids from

has loaner aids. This way you get them and you tell her she at least needs

to try them for a month and if she doesn't like them you can talk. That's

what I would recomend. They often also have aids for rent so check into

options like that where she can wear them without you having to commit to

them and that way when she sees how much they help she very well may like

them. I have one other question, do her friends know she is HOH? Perhaps

if they don't that is why she doesn't want the aids maybe she doesn't want

them to know.

-- hearing aids in a teenager

Hi everyone,

I know I have posted a few times in the past few months about my

daughter, but here we go again. My daughter is 15 1/2. It is now definite

she has an

auto-immune hearing loss. In one ear she has a mild to mod (35-50dbl) loss

and

now she has lost another 20-30dbl (priopr to prednisone) in her other ear

she

is now moderatly severe with a 50-70dbl loss. In both ears the low freq are

the worst. In the worse ear she had negative pressure so they are not sure

if

some of it may be that she has a cold but it was definetly a snhl. I never

thought she could drop so quickly, her sister had a progressive loss but it

was

very slow until the end. She has dropped 20-50 dbl in 1 month of coming off

prednisone Somehow she is doing well hearing with this loss, but I

know she

is missing things and it is probably only a matter of time before that gets

worse also.

So here is my question, needless to say they are now recomending aids.

This is going over like a lead ballon and she is saying no. She is a

sophmore

in high school with a good group of friends, very active very athletic, cute

ect, and this was just not in her plans.

Any suggestion as to how to get her to go along with this. I know most

people

on this list have younger children, or hearing loss from the time they were

babies, Where can I go to get help for this age? Any help or advice you can

give would be great.

Also I know there is something recently about the connexin 26, she has

1

mutation in that gene, her doctor though you need at least two hor a hearing

loss, any thoughts on that, and can someone give me the connexin web site

again as I did not keep it (her sister was negative for connexin)

Thanks,

[Guest guest]

Oh on the note of colors, I was wondering before if your daughter may be

embarrassed by her impairment. Let her know BTE's are not the only kind of

aids available, they also have aids that fit inside the ear and are fairly

well concealed. If that is a soar point with her she may like the idea that

she doesn't have to wear a BTE.

MIchelle

-- Re: hearing aids in a teenager

Convincing a teenage girl to wear anything is almost impossible! I wish I

had

a simple solution. Our " teenage girl " is now all grown-up and married, but I

remember that age and I dread when my now 9-yr-old reaches it.

My son was aided at 9 and he wanted aides, so we did not have a problem

getting him to wear them. However, some of his excitement at getting them

was

because he could get them in colors. I don't know if this would help as a

selling

point, but she can get the BTE aides in just about any color including

metallic. Each manufacturere seems to have a selection. Plus the earmolds

are softer

now and can be made in colors as well. Ian's molds are swirls of

red-white-blue

with a blue aide. For a nominal fee he can change the aide color whenever we

send in the aide for service. My 9-yr-old daughter thinks that colored aides

are cool, but she is only 9, not in high school and is just beginning to get

into clothes and hair and all that. Remembering our Tracey at 15, I'm not

sure

that a color selection would be enough to convince her, but I'd have tried

it.

I don't know if your other daughter is aided or if you already know all this

So pardon me if I've stated the obvious.

Best of luck - Jill

______________________________________________

In a message dated 12/3/2003 9:31:12 AM Eastern Standard Time,

soccrnurz1@... writes:

> Hi everyone,

> I know I have posted a few times in the past few months about my

> daughter, but here we go again. My daughter is 15 1/2. It is now definite

> she has an

> auto-immune hearing loss. In one ear she has a mild to mod (35-50dbl) loss

> and

> now she has lost another 20-30dbl (priopr to prednisone) in her other ear

> she

> is now moderatly severe with a 50-70dbl loss. In both ears the low freq

are

> the worst. In the worse ear she had negative pressure so they are not sure

> if

> some of it may be that she has a cold but it was definetly a snhl. I never

> thought she could drop so quickly, her sister had a progressive loss but

it

> was

> very slow until the end. She has dropped 20-50 dbl in 1 month of coming

off

> prednisone Somehow she is doing well hearing with this loss, but I

know

> she

> is missing things and it is probably only a matter of time before that

gets

> worse also.

> So here is my question, needless to say they are now recomending aids.

> This is going over like a lead ballon and she is saying no. She is a

> sophmore

> in high school with a good group of friends, very active very athletic,

cute

>

> ect, and this was just not in her plans.

> Any suggestion as to how to get her to go along with this. I know most

> people

> on this list have younger children, or hearing loss from the time they

were

> babies, Where can I go to get help for this age? Any help or advice you

can

>

> give would be great.

> Also I know there is something recently about the connexin 26, she has

1

> mutation in that gene, her doctor though you need at least two hor a

hearing

>

> loss, any thoughts on that, and can someone give me the connexin web site

> again as I did not keep it (her sister was negative for connexin)

> Thanks,

>

>

[Guest guest]

,

2 selling points might be hearing music better and talking on the telephone.

Also, Whetstone, former Miss America (sorry if not spelled correctly)

recently received a CI. Perhaps seeing adults and teenagers with aids would

help.

Remember, she is also going through the grief cycle and perhaps talking or

having her read about that might help.

Kay has some excellent information on her website that may help her understand

what she is missing because of her hearing loss. I agreed with others who said

you can't force her but help her to make a smart decision for herself.

Keep us posted.

Mom to 11, 6 (n24 4/00) and 3

This is going over like a lead ballon and she is saying no. She is a sophmore

in high school with a good group of friends, very active very athletic, cute

ect, and this was just not in her plans.

[Guest guest]

Teenagers ... I kept thinking about teenage girls and not teenagers in

general. I mentioned this topic to my son tonight and he reminded me of a recent

dinner we'd attended. One of the moms approached me because her son has recently

lost a good deal of hearing due to an illness. (I'm not sure of the details).

He is a friend of my son's and is 14. She asked me how I was able to get Ian

to wear his aides because she cannot even convince hers to do a trial period,

let alone be subjected to extensive testing. I said I was lucky because my son

wanted aides, anything that would help him keep up. So I drew both boys into

conversation about their recent camping trip and then I was rather blunt and

asked her son why he wouldn't try aides -- he knows Ian has and likes them.

Ian took his cue and popped out an aide and showed it to the boy -- pointing out

all the details, how it worked and the color choices -- which was a big hit.

(Later he came back to me to confirm that Ian was not making that color part

up.)

Then they disappeared into the kitchen and the adults talked a bit more. When

they came back Ian was drying a newly washed earmold/aide and asked the mom

if his friend could stick it in his ear -- just to try it. Permission granted

and he helped the friend try it on. When my son turned on the aide, the boy

literally jumped -- he suddenly heard his father and my husband talking about 5

feet behind him. He had the stunned " aha " face and the boy has since mentioned

to my son that they are going for the needed testing (yuck) and he's going to

do a test period with one aide -- their compromise.

Don't know that this story helps .. but this is a 14 year old who is just

beginning to deal with the reality of a hearing loss that is not coming back.

Once he heard what he had been missing, he was more ready to accept the hearing

aide as an option.

Jill

[Guest guest]

,

I'm sorry to hear that this is all fairly new. I see now why she is

reluctant to wear aids. Most likely she is still doing well and doesn't

want to wear something that may look a little odd (I don't think so but she

may) when she doesn't think it is necessary, because she is doing well.

What she doesn't realize is that she has probably lost quite a bit but it

happened slowly so she didn't notice. I read on all sorts of websites that

if a child who is developing language looses hearing it can have a profound

effect on their language development even a small loss. But I also read

that they consider a hearing loss 16 dB for children but 20-25 dB for adults

because typically we don't start noticing a problem until it is around that

point and even then it is small things like it's hard to hear when there is

background noise, it takes more to notice a big difference which is probably

where she's at but she has become good at compensating for it. My

suggestion would still be to see if you can get loaner aids or see if you

can get a trial period with the company you plan to buy from and have her

wear them to see how she likes them. In the end she is really old enough to

make the decision but what she needs to be aware of is that if her sisters

loss is progressive her's may be too which means it may very well continue

to get worse until she doesn't understand most of what she hears and you don

t want to wait until that point to start wearing them. Now may also be a

good time to consider signing. I'm not saying she will use that as her main

language but it may prove useful in the future if she does loose more

hearing and has a really hard time undersanding people. Anyway enough about

that, I think if you mention that hearing aids can be very small and

conceiled and that she can try them before you actually buy them she may be

willing to. You could also tell her she doesn't have to get aids but you

insist that she at least try them and get used to them before deciding she

doesn't want them.

-- Re: hearing aids in a teenager

Hi ,

The very scarry part is this is a new loss. To our knowledge she always

had normal hearing, She passed all her school exams, It was only this summer

that I began to notice some problems. Her first real test was in august and

her

word recognition in quiet was still 100%. I don't know how long she can

maintain that with this loss. She mentioned her new loss to her friends and

some of

them think she is kidding, because it is still very small changes that I am

noticing. But unfortuanatly it seems to be dropping fairly rapidly. She does

not

know asl as her sister with the profound loss was also progressive and is

totally oral.