With bilateral cochlear implants (both ears) in Ireland’s news recently, here’s some information that may answer readers’ and families’ questions. Read: Who is a cochlear implant candidate? Some unilateral (single-ear) implant-wearers keep a hearing-aid in the other ear, and can recognise speech by listening through two ears. Others choose to ‘go bilateral’ with 2 cochlear
A teacher asked about using an iPad with a pupil who’s partially hearing: What apps for reading and English did the Sound Advice team recommend? How can the student listen to audio files and Skype, from their iPad? The student wears Phonak hearing aids and uses a FM system in school. This list suggests apps
Chicago-based ENT surgeon, Dana Suskind, who oversees pediatric cochlear implants, is researching a thirty-million-word gap she sees among implanted children from lower socio-economic backgrounds. By age 3, these children hear 30 million fewer words than peers from more affluent backgrounds. With babies known to hear in the womb before birth, Suskind has a point. Read
This poem was shared by a family whose son changed primary schools last September. He needed a snazzy way to tell his schoolmates and teachers about his hearing, and how to communicate with him. Here’s the result: I am Deaf and it’s Okay I am deaf, and it’s okay It’s not my fault – I
Some families turn a child’s hearing issues into a chance to find and learn language in all situations and environments, according to blogger mum, Kristen Johnson (“No Small Thing“), whose third child has hearing issues. Read SpeechBuddy: How To Help A Child With Hearing Loss Kristen’s top tips for parent-child communication at home: Turn off appliances
“Hearing-aids are the avenue through which a child can listen [and learn]”, says US-based pediatric audiologist Jane Madell. Children who hear only what someone says directly in front of them, receive just 10 to 15 per cent of the information they need for incidental learning and language acquisition. Read: Helping Families Accept Hearing Technology Madell
After this post, families in Ireland organised via the Sound Advice Facebook group, into the ‘Happy New Ear’ campaign for bilateral implants. At end-2013, the HSE announced that bilateral pediatric cochlear implants in Ireland would be funded. Despite the progress of Ireland’s national newborn hearing test programme, parents have concerns about the lack of two (bilateral) cochlear implant
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