I realized recently that we have confused a few people because we are teaching ASL to Cicily. So, I thought I'd clarify her hearing situation a little better. Essentially she hears near perfectly with her hearing aid on. Here are the details:
Cicily has no ear canal openings (except a tiny pin-point on one side- still unsure how beneficial that is or isn't). Since she doesn't have an opening to her internal ears she doesn't naturally have a way to conduct the sounds in her environment to her inner ears. This type of hearing loss is called a conductive loss. Basically she naturally hears about what you would hear if you plugged your ears. (In audiological terms, that's down to 45-60 decibels.)
Fortunately there are very cool hearing aids called bone conduction aids. Cicily wears her BAHA every day. (See her "equipment" section on the sidebar for details.) With her BAHA on, Cicily's hearing improves to normal levels. (That's she hears to 15 dbs, which is a whisper level. When the BAHA is implanted hearing improves to 0-5 dbs.)
Essentially Cicily hears very well with her BAHA. It's great sound quality, just more mechanical sounding than normal - it sort of sounds like you're hearing everything spoken through a microphone or on a cassette tape.
We decided to teach her sign language to give her a way to communicate until she can speak well. (Trach + cleft palate + small jaw = bad combo for early speech, but she'll get there)
Thanks to friends for asking me questions! If anyone ever wants to hear how Cicily hears, you're more than welcome to borrow her BAHA for a few minutes.
3 comments:
Very interesting...I had no idea!! If we ever make our way to Arizona, I might take you up on that offer!! :)
I think it is great that you are teaching Cicily ASL, it will definitely give her the opportunity to communicate better.
Ellie signed a little bit, and I always thought it was SO cute!!
I wore the BAHA for a bit...and I loved hearing how she hears. It really is a clear sound...just loud and clear..maybe even louder than I normally hear. It was fun see you guys last night. The kids look great!
Don't tell Chelsea that these are available for use or she might just insist that I go out and buy one for me as she is always claiming that I can't hear her. I just tell her I'm not deaf, rather it is just "selective hearing."
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