Another visit for aided audiogram

   Friday was the 2nd visit to Geers for tuning Prisha's hearing aids.I explained to Prisha that she needed to pay attention to sounds so that Mrs.Zellhorst could tune her aids better and she would hear well.Fortunately Prisha's autumn break started and so she needn't be rushed from there to school.She loves going to school and hates it if we miss it.
   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.

The new pipes are conical from inside

The entry is smaller and the side into the ear bigger

    Another change is the ear mold. Prisha's impressions were taken for new molds, where there is scope for more ventilation in the ear leading to fewer infections.I would get them this Friday hopefully.She is also putting special tubes which are conical, thinner at the HA side and bigger in the ear canal, so that would give her additional 5 db raise in the hearing, which is great too. I am very excited about this change and look forward to her better hearing. I have to now work on increasing her vocabulary. She forgets the new words and needs to be reminded more.This is normal in HI kids.Normal kids can learn 10-12 new words everyday, it is as low as 5 words for HI kids.This was told to me by Ma'am and she said just work on her reading, it would eventually show in her speech.Yesterday she wrote a small summary of the book she read 2 times with by husband.That was very encouraging.Need to just help her so that she can express herself more.She does get stuck sometimes at what she needs to say. need to get back her fluency back that she had.It is so true, the regression is very quick in these kids and they can't be left without the environment of language and learning.Lesson learnt.

Ear molds

2 Years back I got Prisha's molds made and made sure I pressed in the soft dough [ if I may call it that] well into her ear canals as earlier they were not made properly. Now they needed to changed and so I was off to my audiologist to get them made. Impressions were made and Prisha really had things been stuffed into the ears and wailed a lot.I wanted to take a video of it so that I could post it on my you tube account for people to see.But hearing her cries, the mum in me forgot everything. The impressions were taken, bribe was paid [ she bought things she wanted , which she does after all doctors visits] and we waited for the molds to be ready. I was told I would be intimated when they are ready. I waited but no calls. And so I called and they said they were ready but could not inform as they couldn't find the receipt which had the number.Gosh, I was quite bugged, its so typical here.

I went and saw the molds looked different.Earlier, the molds had removable "U" shaped pipes which could be replaced when they got discolored.This time, the mold had a little L shape hard pipe where the long pipe that joins the hearing aids . This hard pipe does not go completely till the end of the mold, but has another illshaped extension till the inside of the mold. When I questioned them, I was rudely told that they were the experts and knew more than me.When I said I prefered the other kind of molds, I was not even entertained and was told I was still a hyper mum.Is it wrong to question something that is wrong. Trust is built on services provided sincerely. I was not allowed to complete my problems, disgusted I walked out. Prisha wore the aids and I was so excited as she was going to wear both aids after one full year. She wore the aids and the 1st reaction was-"mumma, it is so loud". I reduced the volume and she wore the aids for a few hours. The aid made lots of sounds the next few days. Her response was fantastic, she heard better and within 24 hours, the speech was better too. I was happy one one end and the other side, she was complaining of continuous feed back. there was no doubt that the mold in the left ear was not fitting well.I decided to call the audiologist and she was again very rude on the phone.She told me that if it was giving feedback that means she would need to shorten the mold's length and if that did not solve the problem, she would re-programme the aid. I said I did not want to do that.[The last time she spoilt her programme completely and we really suffered] She was again rude and said if I did not know something, I should not question her.I was asked to trust her , but with that rude behavior, past bitter experiences, how could I? I even told her that the old mold did not give any feedback inspite of being  2 years old, but I was not heard out. I was feeling so helpless. I have decided to use the old mold as of now, keep my patience and look for better mold in Germany when I go this summer.I hate to be made to feel like dirt. Is it because i go for therapy to Mrs. Hudlikar and Prisha is speaking well? Or is it that she has read my blog and guessed something from my mail? There is something definitely wrong.I for sure know that she does not like me and nor is she interested in my benefit.There are so many like me who suffer from the mal-practices. I am aware and so am on my guard all the time.Others don't know their rights and are not literate enough to question.I have lost the money i paid for the mold but I am sure I will find solutions after a bit of waiting.