We received the same warm welcome and Prisha was asked to sit and make herself at home, which she did with all the toys kept for the kids.She got me the kaleidoscope and was so fascinated by it.She asked me what it was called and I helped her to learn the new word.To this ,we got a "wow" from Mrs. Zellhorst as she said it was wonderfully corrected and she said it very well.I have to see still how speech therapy,a very important part of hearing impairment, is done in Germany.She is amazed at how quickly Prisha takes corrections,responds to sounds while doing pure tone and audiograms and is so well conditioned that she is able to tell how she wants her settings and is sensitive to changes immediately.I thank Alaka ma'am for it!!
Prisha was then taken for her pure tone test again and we started with the test.She performed very well and responded to all frequencies very well.First it was decided not to change the settings but on 2nd thoughts some more adjustments were made.Her binaural aided audiogram now is at 40 db at 1K and 2 hz , 50 db at 4K and at 60-75 db for higher frequencies, which is great.We need not strain.She responded to all of it Audiologist is now suggested us to change the left HA as it is tuned to its full capacity but more changes are given in that ear, it would support her right ear better.As of now it only helps in directionality.So she is going to make changes slowly.A new HA from Phonak would be tried on her this Friday where it would give her more amplification in higher frequencies.That would give her more clarity and eventually we would see the change of both HA , maybe to Phonak as they are programmed specially for kids.We are going slowly as too much change would affect Prisha too much.
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| The new pipes are conical from inside |
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| The entry is smaller and the side into the ear bigger |
Very interesting article Rouchi!! I fully support your speech therapists point of view that the only way to a developed speech is through more and more of reading and using the new words repeatedly in conversation more often.
ReplyDeleteKeep Walking!!
How interesting that the tubing shape can add extra dB! That is wonderful! We notice that Nolan forgets new words, too. He can learn a word, but then lose it a few weeks later if it is not constantly reinforced. He was calling our remote control a "Zamboni" (the ice-clearing machines used at ice skating arenas). And he was calling the skateboard a diaper (they sound the same to him)! We just work on it a lot, and read lots of books, too.
ReplyDeleteI've heard the Phonak Naidas are amazing- is that was Prisha is getting? I've only heard good things about Phonak.
Honestly, those high frequencies are NOT good enough to understand spoken language without lipreading. PLEASE consider a CI if you wish to continue on the oral only path. It isn't fair that you are denying her access to sound that she could have, and then require that she learn spoken language. 40 db means that she is missing out of low frequency sounds, and 60 db in the highs means that even conversational (fairly loud) speech can NOT be heard or understood. With a CI your daughter could be hearing WHISPERS! 15 db all the way across all frequencies is COMMON.
ReplyDeleteI just don't understand...don't you want her to hear the best she can?
CI may be good , I do not deny that, but honestly an intrusive procedure with so many restrictions is not for us.We have seen many cases in India which were enough to convince us that we are not made for CI.Prisha is doing well and with required HA would do better.We are trying out all ways to make sure she is able to pick up the best sound possible.
ReplyDeleteI just don't understand why you would want to limit your daughter. If you want her to be able to hear and speak, why not give her the best hearing available? You are CHOOSING to give her LESS, less hearing, less access, less clarity. You are requiring that she live without: Z, V, P, CH, H, G, K, T, SH, F, TH.....that is the majority of the speech sounds and she can't hear them! With that aided audiogram she can only hear vowels and very loud low frequency consonants. Can you imagine trying to learn a language with all those sounds missing???? Why force her to struggle when there is a solution?
ReplyDeleteAs for "limitations", the only limitation on a CI users is that they can not deep sea scuba dive. Everything else is a myth.
Thank you so much for your concern.Here I would like to tell you that Prisha has been able to pick up all these sounds WITH the hearing aids well.You could hear her speech I have put on the side bar of my blog.When I went to get her tested here, I was told her speech is very clear and everyone has been able to converse with her, she speaks on the phone without any repetitions required too.
ReplyDeleteEven if she speaks well, that is from therapy, not because she can hear the sounds.
ReplyDeleteHere is an audiogram with the sounds of speech. Plot her aided scores on it, anything ABOVE the line she can NOT hear. http://www.hearingprofessionals.co.nz/Images/Audiogram-with-Speech-Sound.gif
i hope phonak works for her..it definitely has worked beter for me than siemens and i made the shift of brands after 12 years :)
ReplyDeleteThat's very interesting, thank you for sharing your audiogram! I'm planning to get a copy of mine to share, too.
ReplyDeleteaudiogram Merrimac Ma