For All Hearing Aid Users!

[Pluto.AuD]

Some of you may know about this already, but I wanted to post this anyway:

There's a product called Ear Gear which is made of nylon/Spandex that covers behind the ear hearing aid(s), bone anchored hearing aids, and cochlear implants to protect against moisture, sweat, and dirt. These can also come with cords to attach to clothing to protect against loss on those E-Ticket rides.

http://www.gearforears.com/

Of course, hearing aids should still be removed when swimming and bathing, but now Splash Mountain can be ridden worry free!

Has anyone used these before? How have they worked for you at the parks?

 

[jmartinez1895]

A child that my son plays ball with in the miracle league has a set of these and uses them at the games because of sweat. I do not personally know if they work well, but he has them on at every game game so I assume they work for what he needs or else he would not use them all the time.

 

[Talking Hands]

Good to know as my husband will be getting a bone anchored hearing aid in the near future.
Has anyone has experience with this type of hearing aid. Mine have been BTE so I am not familiar with the BAHA. BTE is not longer an option for him as the prosthesis in his middle ear in no longer functional.

 

[sarahkate60120]

Good to know as my husband will be getting a bone anchored hearing aid in the near future.
Has anyone has experience with this type of hearing aid. Mine have been BTE so I am not familiar with the BAHA. BTE is not longer an option for him as the prosthesis in his middle ear in no longer functional.

My daughter has one cochlear implant and one bone anchored device. We went with a Sophono that is attached by a magnet rather than the traditional abutment. She has very fragile skin and tends to take forever to heal so having a magnet and a closed site over the abutment, which is essentially an open site and leads to more infections was a big deciding factor. She got her bone conduction implant in January and hears much better with that than with her cochlear implant.

As to the ear gear, we haven't used it, but several students at Anna's school do with good results. I'm looking into getting some now that she willbe moving to the mainstream in the fall.

 

[Pluto.AuD]

My daughter has one cochlear implant and one bone anchored device. We went with a Sophono that is attached by a magnet rather than the traditional abutment. She has very fragile skin and tends to take forever to heal so having a magnet and a closed site over the abutment, which is essentially an open site and leads to more infections was a big deciding factor. She got her bone conduction implant in January and hears much better with that than with her cochlear implant.

As to the ear gear, we haven't used it, but several students at Anna's school do with good results. I'm looking into getting some now that she willbe moving to the mainstream in the fall.

Just to expand on this post: Bone anchored hearing aids are for use with either conductive hearing loss, where something is blocking the sound getting to the inner ear, or unilateral hearing loss, hearing loss in only one ear. Cochlear implants are for use with a different kind of hearing loss, sensorineural, where the hearing loss is in the inner ear. A bone anchored hearing aid will not work for someone who has sensorineural hearing loss and a cochlear implant would (should) not be fit on someone with a conductive loss and healthy outer and middle ear. The two also work VERY differently and comparing them is like comparing apples to rabbits. Your audiologist and ENT should give you all your options that are appropriate for your hearing loss.

 

[sarahkate60120]

Just to expand on this post: Bone anchored hearing aids are for use with either conductive hearing loss, where something is blocking the sound getting to the inner ear, or unilateral hearing loss, hearing loss in only one ear. Cochlear implants are for use with a different kind of hearing loss, sensorineural, where the hearing loss is in the inner ear. A bone anchored hearing aid will not work for someone who has sensorineural hearing loss and a cochlear implant would (should) not be fit on someone with a conductive loss and healthy outer and middle ear. The two also work VERY differently and comparing them is like comparing apples to rabbits. Your audiologist and ENT should give you all your options that are appropriate for your hearing loss.

Yes, my daughter's hearing situation is very unique. She has microtia/atresia on the right side. Anna has a profound loss in her left ear and a severe/profound mixed loss in the right ear with microtia. (She has many differnent middle ear malformations on both sides as well.) We have been thru so many different configarations with hearing aids and implants. What works for Anna shouldn't and what should doesn't. But a cochlear implant on her left ear and a Sophono on her right ear work and work well. The two of them together have been amazing.

From what Anna's audiologists and doctors can figure out she is currently the only person in the US wearing a cochlear implant for one ear and using a bone conduction aid for the other, because people that benefit from one should not gain benefit from the other and vice versa. I had to really push her audiologist to even let us try out a baha with her implant. But to everyones surprise it was just what Anna needed.

 

[sixkristy6]

Yes, my daughter's hearing situation is very unique. She has microtia/atresia on the right side. Anna has a profound loss in her left ear and a severe/profound mixed loss in the right ear with microtia. (She has many differnent middle ear malformations on both sides as well.) We have been thru so many different configarations with hearing aids and implants. What works for Anna shouldn't and what should doesn't. But a cochlear implant on her left ear and a Sophono on her right ear work and work well. The two of them together have been amazing.

From what Anna's audiologists and doctors can figure out she is currently the only person in the US wearing a cochlear implant for one ear and using a bone conduction aid for the other, because people that benefit from one should not gain benefit from the other and vice versa. I had to really push her audiologist to even let us try out a baha with her implant. But to everyones surprise it was just what Anna needed.

DD has right side microtia as well. Thankfully her hearing is fine in her left ear. She is almost 4, and we are in the process of exploring rib graft reconstruction.

I wanted to know, what do you use on the plane to help with pressure in her ears? (or do you drive?). I am going to ask the ENT when we go in August, but it's always helpful to hear from others as well.

 

[sarahkate60120]

DD has right side microtia as well. Thankfully her hearing is fine in her left ear. She is almost 4, and we are in the process of exploring rib graft reconstruction.

I wanted to know, what do you use on the plane to help with pressure in her ears? (or do you drive?). I am going to ask the ENT when we go in August, but it's always helpful to hear from others as well.

Fly, we definitely fly. Not sure I could take a drive from Chicago to Orlando. We once drove from Oklahoma to Chicago and it was the longest 13 hours of my life. We have never had a problem with flying. She chews gum on flights, but other than that nothing. She has never complained that her ears hurt her on the flights.

Right now Anna is dead set against ear reconstruction. I'm thinking when she is a bit older she might change her mind. But she is at the age where she has very definite opinions and since it is not an easy set of procedures, I'm going to follow her lead on when or if she wants to get it done.

Do you kno who you are suing for the reconstruction yet?

 

[Pluto.AuD]

What works for Anna shouldn't and what should doesn't. But a cochlear implant on her left ear and a Sophono on her right ear work and work well. The two of them together have been amazing.

Fascinating! Glad to know she's doing so well!

 

[sixkristy6]

Do you kno who you are suing for the reconstruction yet?

We are using Dr. Doerr in Rochester, NY.
http://www.timothydoerrmd.com/

I actually spoke with Dr. Eavey (from Nashville) by phone a few years ago. He was amazing, just too far away. The Children's Hospital in Buffalo has an MD who can do the surgery, but I do not like him for many reasons. I did some research and decided on Dr. Doerr. I love the practice where he works and I was so impressed the the Drs. there. It's only 90 minutes away too! We go back in August. DD is so tiny, that she is a few years away from the surgery. I don;t think she will even be 40" by Disney!

ETA: I think we're going to take some gummy bears with us for the plane.

 

[disneyobessed]

My son is suppose to get a cochlear implant this summer through Boston Childrens.. He is 12 and is so DEAD against it. He has sensorineuro hearing loss. He is concerned about feeling the device in his head. Can anyone help me with this...??

 

[sarahkate60120]

My son is suppose to get a cochlear implant this summer through Boston Childrens.. He is 12 and is so DEAD against it. He has sensorineuro hearing loss. He is concerned about feeling the device in his head. Can anyone help me with this...??

I asked my daughter about this this morning in the car. She said she doesn't really feel anything strange. She knows it is there, but she said it is comfortable. She was referring to the inner magnet part of the implant. As for the electrodes they are there and she has no real sense of them being there. They are just a part of her now.

Anna loves her cochlear implant and asks to put it on first thing every morning. Her Sophono (bone conduction) is much newer and took her more time to get used to. She has always loved wearing her devices because she knew they gave her access to sound. When she was only two she wore a BAHA on a headband and other parents we knew couldn't keep them on their children. Anna always wanted to keep it on and never tried to rip it off.