Dd needs a hearing aid, is there anything I need to know?

[girliefriend]

Dd has had issues with glue ear since she was about 18months, she is now 7yo! She has had 2 lots of gromits but unfortunately the right ear has built up with fluid again and today we were told the options were more gromits or a hearing aid.

Dd adament she doesn't want another op and I can sympathise with her tbh, so going to try hearing aids first but have no experience of them at all so not sure what to expect. Any tips gratefully recieved.

tia

My daughter age 4.5 yrs was fitted with hearing aids a few weeks ago, due to a sensori-neural hearing loss. She is doing well with them. The things I have learnt are you need to persevere with them and they do take a while for the child to get used to them eg my daughter was mumbling at first as everything sounded louder to her so adjusted her voice accordingly! She also finds certain sounds really loud and will cover her ears. Putting the aids in is easy and batteries need changing every 1-2 weeks.

Thanks for that, once they are in do they stay in fairly well? I am a bit concerned about her loosing them esp at school!

Hadn't thought about batteries, do they give you spares?

TBH I'd be getting her to have the operation . My son is partially deaf ( about 50%) bilaterally and had 'hidden ' hearing aids from age 6 as he wouldn't wear the behind the ear ones . By the time he went to secondary school he'd stopped wearing them and there is little you can do about it as its out of your control once they leave the house. Fortunately he lip reads well and has never suffered academically but if he could have had an operation to cure it he would ( however many times it needed doing )

I know Flora I think we will try this and it will get reviewed every 6mos, with glue ear it will hopefully be something she will grow out of as she gets older anyway.

If she doesn't get on with hearing aids and hearing doesn't improve then would def have more gromits. Its harder as dd gets older though, can't imagine having that conversation with her though

I was concerned about whether the hearing aids would stay in but as long as the mould fits well there is nothing to worry about. Apart of course from your child pulling them out. My daughter lost hers on day 1 at school in the playground (I think she pulled it out) but now she keeps them in and only takes them out at home!

The batteries should be available free of charge from the NHS - I think different areas operate differently. We have to get ours from audiology which is a bit of a pain but in some areas you are able to get them from your GP.

Pediatric audiologists specialize in the evaluation and treatment of hearing loss in infants and children. They can determine the type and degree of the loss as well as provide the best solutions for each child. Hearing is very important in children as there is an important period of language development that occurs in young children, and hearing loss can impair their ability to learn speech and language.

Yes batteries and all repairs free on nhs. It will take more than 1 visit to get them 'right'.
They will take time to get used to so be careful of loud noises, traffic etc first couple of days.
If the ear gets tender putting the mould in use a little bit of Vaseline. But depending on hearing loss your dc might have an open style fitting with life tubes.
Make sure the audiologist shows you how to keep them clean. They are available in loads of colours so dont have to be the boring ugly beige
Look up the ear foundation, ndcs and action on hearing loss (was rnid). Not all the info there will be relevant but should be able to answer some questions you might have.
Which hospital you going to?