Re: Intro/Mild Hearing Loss

[Guest guest]

His loss is only in the middle frequencies and is mild (25dB) yet he really

seems to be struggling.

,

Many of the speech sounds are in the middle frequencies. It is hard to only

hear part of the words. It is hard for people to even imagine what it

sounds like to not hear a whole word. I've heard several examples and it is

really hard. He is having to work extra hard trying to fill-in what he is

missing and missing more while he is doing that.

Missing 25% makes it hard to keep up. I t ink of t l ke eav ng ut ett

rs. I is ard r t o r ad. R ght?

(It reads, I think of it like leaving out letters. It is harder to read.

Right?)

Kay has some helpful information on http://www.listen-up.org/haid/mild.htm.

You may have to do some advocating and educating. If his loss is

progressive it will only get harder for him.

Good luck,

Mom to 10, 5 (n24 4/00) and 2

[Guest guest]

<<His loss is only in the middle frequencies and is mild (25dB) yet he really

seems to be struggling.>>

In her book, Facilitating Hearing and Listening in Young Children, Carol Flexer

states: " An adult is considered to have normal hearing sensitivity if his or her

hearing threshold...is no poorer than 25 dB HL. A child, however, needs better

hearing sensitivity than an adult to hear and develop the crucial word-sound

distinctions of language. To be able to detect the complete speech signal even

at soft conversational levels, a child's hearing sensitivity must be 15 dB HL or

better at all frequencies in both ears (Dobie & Berlin, 1978). " She goes on to

discuss how a child may hear well in the audiology booth but once you add

background noise, that's a whole different story. Unfortunately, most people

(including our pediatrician and my daughter's school) still buy into the " up to

25, you're okay " theory.

My son's loss has been progressive. We will never know what it was at birth but

at age 2 he was able to imitate multi-syllable dinosaur names and then by age 4,

he could not put together a two-word sentence or pronounce anything but vowels.

After being identified as mild to severe and aided, and after two years in a

private total communication school, he is nearly at age level again in his

language skills--even though his loss has continued to progress. This to me is

evidence that a loss, even a mild one, is not to be trifled with and that quick

action is key.

The section of Kay's website which someone else referred you to has wonderful

information...hopefully enough to convince the school district that your son

does need services, beginning with teacher education. I applaud you for being

sensitive to what's going on with your child and looking for information. I

think that's why most of us ended up here on the list. (Thanks for the

umpteenth time, Kay!)

Carol - mom to , 6.7, mod to profound, EVAS

[Guest guest]

-

These were my thoughts exactly! (Thanks for the good example.)

Educating (ourselves and others!) and advocating seems to be a recurrent theme

.

Best wishes-

Re: Intro/Mild Hearing Loss

His loss is only in the middle frequencies and is mild (25dB) yet he really

seems to be struggling.

,

Many of the speech sounds are in the middle frequencies. It is hard to only

hear part of the words. It is hard for people to even imagine what it

sounds like to not hear a whole word. I've heard several examples and it is

really hard. He is having to work extra hard trying to fill-in what he is

missing and missing more while he is doing that.

Missing 25% makes it hard to keep up. I t ink of t l ke eav ng ut ett

rs. I is ard r t o r ad. R ght?

(It reads, I think of it like leaving out letters. It is harder to read.

Right?)

Kay has some helpful information on http://www.listen-up.org/haid/mild.htm.

You may have to do some advocating and educating. If his loss is

progressive it will only get harder for him.

Good luck,

Mom to 10, 5 (n24 4/00) and 2