Search Results for: blog if your child is diagnosed with a hearing loss

Special Needs Podcast Roundup – Week of October 4, 2011

Be sure to check out the weekly Special Needs Podcast Roundup each and every week to stay up to date with the latest episodes of podcasts that discuss issues that are relevant to parents of kids who have special needs. You can find new episodes of your favorite podcasts, as well as some that may be brand new to you. The Coffee Klatch has an episode that was released on October 2, 2011. This episode is called “Dr. Art Bonde – Is it ADHD/Dyslexia or a vision problem”. Dr. Bonde is has been an optomitrist for over 40 years. The … Continue reading →

Tennessee Insurers Must Cover Hearing Aids for Kids

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As of January 1, 2012, health insurance companies in Tennessee are required to cover the cost of hearing aids for all children who need them. This will help parents of children who have hearing loss to be able to afford new hearing aids when their child needs them. The new law connects to a previous law that involves determining how well children hear. Health insurance is strange. In the past, some health insurance companies were refusing to provide coverage to children who had a pre-existing condition. Recently, regulations were made into law that requires all health insurance companies to cover … Continue reading →

Communicating with an Infant with Hearing Loss

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According to the March of Dimes, 3 in 1,000 babies each year are born with congenital hearing loss or deafness. This hearing loss can be caused by genetic and non-genetic factors. Genetic factors are thought to cause up to 50 percent of hearing loss in infants and young children due to the mutations of as many as 400 genes. Non-genetic causes include illness or injury such as rubella during the mother’s pregnancy. In many cases, the cause of an infant’s hearing loss is unknown. If your baby has been diagnosed with hearing loss or deafness you may be frightened about … Continue reading →

Virus Linked to Hearing Loss in Children

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A new study in the Archives of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, has found that the virus cytomegalovirus (CMV) is to blame for hearing loss in some babies. Nine% of Children with hearing loss ranging from partial impairment in just one ear to complete deafness were found to also have CMV. CMV is a common virus that usually causes a small, harmless infection. However, women who contract CMV during their pregnancy have a higher chance of having a child with some degree of hearing loss according to this study. In addition, children with both CMV and hearing loss had a more … Continue reading →

Staying One Step Ahead of Your Teens

If there is one bit of advice I would give to every parent of a teenager, it is to stay one step ahead of your teen. That means you have to be knowledgeable of what teens are facing and going through. Keeping up on teen fads, fashions and trends will help. All you have to do is Google something like “dangerous teen trends” and you will find a wealth of information at your fingertips. I also suggest watching Dr. Phil who often has shows on the latest teen trends. It is very eye-opening. I recently read a Consumer Reports list … Continue reading →

Finding Out Your Dog is Deaf

Last night Wayne and I played volleyball with a group of folks who regularly meet on Tuesday nights at this one school gym. We’d had a little hiatus due to the holidays so everyone was excited to see each other and there was a lot of catching up going on. One of my friends, Lyn, who I also play volleyball with in another league, had gotten a dog shortly after Thanksgiving. Princess Sophia. I want to say she’s a Jack Russell but I’m not one hundred percent on that. I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting her in person. I’ve … Continue reading →

What Is a Cochlear Implant?

For people with severe or total hearing loss, a cochlear implant can help make it possible to hear! If regular hearing aids don’t help you at all, you may be a good candidate for a cochlear implant. A small device is placed under the skin, with electrodes that connect to the cochlea. This is the cochlear implant. You’ll also wear a microphone behind the ear, to pick up sound, and a speech processor that may be worn behind the ear or elsewhere on the body. Here’s how it works: the microphone picks up sound and sends it to the speech … Continue reading →

Make Life With Hearing Loss Easier

Living with hearing loss can be challenging. Some situations are easier than others — it will be far easier to talk to one friend or family member in the quiet of your home than to try to have a conversation in a busy restaurant! It takes a lot of effort to hear, sometimes, and that can be very stressful. You may be tempted to avoid certain social situations and/or worry about your safety — if you can’t hear a fire alarm or police car’s siren, for example. Hearing aids may be an obvious choice for improving your hearing. However, they … Continue reading →

Hearing Aids

Basically, a hearing aid is a device that makes sound louder. They do not restore normal human hearing but can help people with hearing loss communicate more easily. All hearing aids have certain basic parts in common. There is a microphone, to pick up sounds. There is an amplifier, to make that sound louder. There is a speaker, to send the sound to the ear. Finally, there are batteries to power the hearing aid. Size, look, and placement can differ; size does not indicate sound quality. Analog adjustable hearing aids are made based on your hearing tests. These are the … Continue reading →

If Your Child is Diagnosed with a Hearing Loss

What will happen if my child has a diagnosed hearing loss? Your child will meet regularly with a pediatric audiologist and may have repeated tests to get a very accurate understanding of the level of deficiency. Then, the most likely course of treatment is that your child will receive hearing aids in either one or both ears. Hearing aids come in a variety of styles and can be worn in different ways, inside or outside the body, depending on the age of your child and tolerance to wearing them. It also depends on your child’s level of hearing loss and … Continue reading →