Newborn Daughter with Hearing Loss

In my medical research I have come across data to support the fact that hearing loss is many times caused by ALDOSTERONE ...either high or too low. Aldosterone is a hormone put out by the adrenal gland.
Please look up "hypoaldosterone and hearing loss" on google.

My oldest has moderate to severe hearing loss in both ears. We didn't have hearing aids for her because we were told they would be $4000, and insurance won't pay for it (most don't). It wasn't until our daughter was around 12 months that we found out we could get hearing aids for her through the school system for free. So, if you decide to get some type of hearing aid, be sure to look to your school district for help if you need it.

We couldn't get her to wear her hearing aids until she was 18 months old. She is now 8 years old. She has been consistently 18 months behind when it comes to speech and communication because she rarely heard anything without her hearing aids. She's closer to a 6.5 year old in the comprehension area. In all other areas (except her tiny size), she is equivalent to an 8 yr old.

If I could redo it, we would have gotten her hearing aids as a baby through our school district. I know she would have ended up going through a phase of taking them off, but at least she would have had months of wearing them prior...and months of hearing and learning to help her be closer to her age with that. I felt really annoyed for a while at the lack of help and knowledge from doctors who should have known to tell us to look at the school district. She was our first, so we didn't know we could do that!

I know it's a little different with your daughter, in that she has a good ear, but I would seriously consider getting her some type of hearing aid. There is a lot of natural learning they do as babies that she can benefit from.

My daughter also has problems hearing endings to words, differences in certain letters, and directional hearing. It affects her ability to speak as normal as others. But, I think since your daughter has a good ear, it might compensate for that problem where her other ear is lacking.

I know it must seem really hard right now! It's hard to not know what to do. So, if it helps at all to have my opinion, I would get her a hearing aid, and I would look to the school district to provide it. They can also do early childhood education where they come to your home and see how she's developing (at least they do in many states). But if you don't want their help like that, I think you'll be just fine getting the hearing aids from them. You don't have to have more than that.

My daughter's hearing loss isn't really a big worry to us. It definitely causes some issues in many other areas (comprehension, ability to understand well enough to learn, communication, etc), but they are awesome kids and you kinda get used to it:-) You'll do great...even though there will likely be times that are a bit more difficult. I sometimes feel my heart break a little when she's talking with other kids, and they have no idea what she is saying (she also has a cleft - only on her soft palate, so it's not visible, but it makes it even harder for her to speak).

(((hugs)))

Hope that helps!

I would not wait to see if there is a problem. The earlier the better for any
help. Maybe get a second opinion for your peace of mind. It is hard to hear
that your baby has a problem, but know there are ways to help. Thank goodness it is 2011. Good luck.

My oldest brothers has complete hearing loss in O. ear due to a surgery. He has the most trouble in situations with a LOT of background noise (banquets, large group meetings, etc.). If it is not loss due to nerve issues (like his is) they have devices that "split" the sounds from just the O. ear to both sides...that might be something to keep in mind for the future.

My husband's cousin has a daughter with hearing loss and she has done well with hearing aids since about 18 mo--2 years old.

If there is a School for the Deaf near you, I would advise you to tap into that vast source of knowledge for your daughter, and I agree--the sooner the better. Learn all you can. Knowledge is power after all, and a well-informed decision is ALWAYS the best decision! Best of luck!

Consult with a speech-language pathologist - The best place I found with our son is at our local center for disabled children (not that your daughter is disabled). Our son see's a SLP and she/they are WONDERFUL. Get their opinion first and see how you feel! I think this will also give you a little comfort and peace of mind. ((Hugs))

I have been deaf in my right ear from birth. Hearing in my left ear is perfect. I was diagnosed at age 5, but never wore hearing aides or had any speech problems. I adapted to my loss by using my eyes to give me clues as to direction of sound. The difficulty I have is still with direction and in a noisy room, sometimes I have trouble communicating with a person on my right side.
Educationally, it didn't have much effect. I functioned normally in a classroom from 1st grade all the way through graduate school. Since I'm a RN and Certified Nurse Midwife, I had little trouble since I was usually dealing with people in a quiet environment one on one. I did struggle a bit in the operating room when I used to assist in surgery, but was able to adapt by just using my eyes more.
I'm writing this to let you know that whatever you decide about hearing aides, your daughter will likely do fine. My heart goes out to you for I sort of held my breath until all 3 of my children passed their hearing tests.

One person commented about the difficulty keeping the hearing aid in her daughter's ear.

My nephew was born with fairly severe hearing loss. When they had him fitted with hearing aids, one thing they did was use the terrycloth "sweatbands" (headband style) to go over his ears to help keep them in. I would think you could do that with the cute stretchy headbands that you see so many infant girls wear. I am sure they decrease the sound some, but if it helps keep the hearing aid in, that would be better all around.

You are fortunate to have caught it so early. Some of these issues aren't found until the child is having speech delays.

I would probably wait and see. Kids are very adaptable and she may be able to do fine with one good ear. The direction and distance of sounds will be more of a challenge, because our brain kind of uses the information from both ears to gauge that. But if you wait until she's a year before a hearing aid (or longer) she may do just fine.

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C.,
I can only give you my own experience with this, so please understand that what I say may or may not apply to your own situation. My daughter was born with a craniofacial birth defect that affected her hearing in her left ear. She does not hear at all from the left side, but has had numerous reconstructive surgeries to give her the appearance of a normal outer ear on that side. We were told, for various reasons, that she was not a good candidate for the surgery to repair hearing in the affected ear. I just wanted to tell you that despite the hearing deficit, she hears normally on the right side and does not wear a hearing aid or have an implant. When she was little, we decided to take a wait and see approach before deciding what, if anything, we would do to address the hearing loss. Her speech developed normally, she was not delayed in any way. She has no speech difficulties or impediments. Her only difficulty is that in loud situations, it can sometimes be hard for her to filter out background noise. And because she doesn't hear in "stereo" it can be difficult for her to locate the source of a sound or voice in a crowded room. She has done beautifully in school, as well as socially. She is now 20 years old, and has just completed her sophomore year in college. If, as she was growing up, she was NOT hitting the speech and language milestones, or exhibited difficulty in school, we were always prepared to intervene, as per our doctor's recommendations. But this never became an issue. I'm just here to tell you that PERHAPS a wait and see approach may be more useful to you than you think. I know as a Mom you probably want to jump right in there and do everything possible to fix the situation. I'm only saying that the situation may play out to be not as bad as you initially think, so watching and waiting may be the best solution, at least for now. Don't despair! Your beautiful baby will be just fine!

Get her a hearing aid!!! You can usually find that insurance will cover majority if not all and you will come out of pocket with the warranty. She could have speech issues if you don't. It is better to be on top of it, the earlier the better! My son was born with hearing loss and the 1st audiologist we saw didn't specialize in children. We saw a doctor at Children's Hospital and they did a hearing test (evoked response) and found that the hearing loss wasn't as severe as 1st thought. He by the age of 3 was found to have a progressive loss and I could go on forever about all of the ups and downs, highs and lows we went through. Stay on top of things and do as much research as you can so you can ask all of the right questions to the professionals. If you do get a hearing aid for her you may avoid a ton of speech therapy, early intervention services through the county as well as keep her on her peers level of speech. Don't get scared by the sticker price. We got one hearing aid, original cost $4000, our insurance paid $1350. We paid $300 for the warranty and that was it. Most counties or Children's hospitals have a hearing aid loan bank too. So you see there are many different options. Good luck!!

I'm the oldest of 4 children and all 4 of us were born with various degrees of hearing loss (genetic). One of us is deaf in one ear with severe loss in the other ear. We all wear 2 hearing aids. We all have high IQ's, good jobs, no speech problems, did well in school, and function well in society. We owe this to having worn hearing aids since a young age and taking lip reading classes while young. What we can't hear or understand we compensate by lipreading. We all rely on closed caption on our TV's. We all have "T-coils" (telephone coils) on our hearing aids to help us hear better on the phone. We are all married to normal hearing spouses. We are not limited in any sports activities but we do not hear well when swimming (without hearing aids). We prefer small social gatherings and quiet restaurants where we can hear better. The earlier your baby has "normal" hearing with a hearing aid the better adapted and prepared they will be in life. While having a child with a handicap seems very discouraging and depressing, children with hearing loss adapt extremely well in school and society if given the proper tools early in life. Except for family, very few of my adult friends even know that I wear or need a hearing aid because I wear my hair shoulder length. If I am in a doctor or dentist office, etc., I tell them that I have a hearing loss and ask if they would mind facing me when they talk and no one seems to think anything strange about that request. Encourage your baby/child to ask for what they need in order to be able to hear and understand in school and social activities. It will give them confidence early on in accepting their handicap and not cause them to avoid activities or people because they are embarassed or ashamed of it. I use the analogy of if someone had cancer, they would seek help and let others know of their limitations. Having a permanent handicap is no different than any other type of illness. It's something they didn't do to cause it and nothing they can do to avoid it. Your baby/child will develop and react to your early acceptance of their hearing loss.

Updated

I answered previously, before I read the other posts. I noted that most of the posts that suggested you "wait and see", were from people who did not wear hearing aids themselves or did not have children who wore hearing aids. As someone else mentioned, hearing loss does not get better and over a period of years, it usually gradually gets worse. If your child starts wearing a hearing aid while very young, they will also be less apt to try to pull it out (toddler stage) and/or not want to wear it to school. If worn as a baby they will have all of the advantages of normal hearing children at the same age/stages and will accept it as a normal part of their body. You will also find that if worn as a baby they will NOT want to go anywhere later on without their hearing aid because they will be totally depend upon hearing with it (which is a good thing).

As a teacher, I have had students who had temporary hearing loss as a baby or toddler, and it has affected their perception of sounds, so I would definitely suggest seriously looking into an amplifier. It could have future implications for your child's reading and listening skills. It's wonderful that there is an option to help her! :)

HTH,

K.
http://K..myshaklee.com

I'll give you info based on my own hearing loss. As a senior adult, I've become less able to hear. It's worse in one ear than the other which does cause knowing the direction from which the sound comes nearly impossible. I have not found this to be a handicap. I can often tell from which direction the sound came from other visual and space cues.

You said that she won't be able to tell from which room you're calling. That would be the case if hearing were her only sense. She knows the house. She knows you and your activities. She may not know from hearing but I doubt that she'll have any difficulty finding you.

I have difficulty hearing some sounds because I also have hearing loss in the other ear, tho not as serious. I suggest that she won't have much difficulty because she'll hear the sound with her "good" ear.

I don't know anything about amplifiers for babies. I suggest you do a bit more research. I wouldn't have considered that a baby with one ear that hears normally would need one and so I would want to know how having one would affect her overall hearing and development and whether or not waiting and see has a downside. I also suggest that a speech therapist would be a good person with whom to discuss this. They do the training and hopefully would have training and experience with kids with various levels of hearing.

I'm really pleased to hear that the state has a program to follow up with you as she grows! So often parents are left to figure it out on their own.
I wonder what sort of specialist will be visiting. Perhaps you could discuss this issue with her. She/he probably has helpful experience.

I don't think there is any reason to rush into using an amplifier. This month or two months from now isn't any different as far as learning speech goes and you would have time to think this thru.

You're so lucky to have caught this when she's little. I didn't discover that I was born with 10% hearing loss in both ears (nerve loss) until I was in my mid-twenties. My dad said, so that's why you didn't hear us when we talked to you. And here we thought you were just ignoring us. You really couldn't hear! LOL

Add to that the fact that my right eustachion tube collapsed (that was how I found out about my hearing loss, from the hearing test) and the T-tube has caused another 10-13% hearing loss in my right ear and, well, now I'm in my forties and having issues with hearing. But in my case, I've been told that hearing aids won't do me much good because of the type of hearing loss I have. I've seriously given thought to learning sign language, just to have it for backup/in case.

That they are mentioning the fact that hearing aids will help is a good thing and a big plus for your little one; I would do what the specialists say, to give your daughter every chance to have as good a hearing as possible. I think if you make the hearing loss ear "strong," there's a good chance that the two ears will balance out, or learn to work together. And the fact that your insurance company covers so much per hearing aid is also an added bonus.

Good luck!

I have not read the answers so I may be repeating.

Your daughter has what is called unilateral sensorineural hearing loss. If she were my child I would DEFINITELY get a hearing aid for that ear. Her ear needs to be stimulated. The hearing loss may be stable or progress but will not get better. So she will eventually need a hearing aid anyways. The longer you wait the more difficult it will be for her (speech and language, educationally and socially). Also, she needs vital auditory information, she is a sponge right now. With unilateral hearing loss, unaided she will have trouble localizing sound, hearing in background noise (classroom and social events) and Will not hear if someone talks to her bad ear. Imagine spending the day wearing an earplug in one of your ears. See what that is like then make your decision.

I know some parent "balk" at having their child with a visible handicap and they can deny hearing loss as long as no one can see the hearing aid. However, have your Audiologist show you what hearing aids looks like nowadays, I think you will be pleasantly surprised. Plus they come in all kinds of cute colors. You can get a pink little hearing aid with pink sparkle ear molds. Cute as can be.

I think the most important thing though is for you not not act ashamed.