Hearing loss & contact mini

[LemongrassLollipop]

My DS aged 4 has speech delay. After a recent hearing test showed he has hearing loss the audiologist suggested he be fitted with a contact mini. As I understand it this means sound bypasses his outer area and vibrations go straight into the inner ear to bring his hearing to normal levels... Not really sure as haven't heard of this before. It's all new to me.

Any one have experience of this and could explain it better to me? Or point me to useful websites?

She also said he may only need it until around aged 8. Is it designed to be a temporary thing?

Thank you.

No experience of it @LemongrassLollipop but just wondering if the National Deaf Children's Society have any information on it? I know that joining is free so you haven't got anything to lose really by contacting them

Hi, OP. I'm a Teacher of Deaf Children and Young People. Take a look at this website for information - https://www.bhm-tech.at/en/Products/contact-mini/

Very basically, an ear has outer vibrating parts like the ear drum and 3 tiny bones, and an inner cochlear which is full of hairs that oscillate and send signals to the brain via nerves. When these different parts work, there is no hearing loss. A hearing loss occurs when either the boss or ear drum don't vibrate properly or the hairs in the cochlear don't oscillate or the nerve is damaged.

With bone conduction, basically what is happening is the vibrating ear drum and bones are bypassed and sound waves are turned into vibrations in your skull, which can be picked up by the cochlear and sent to your brain via the nerve. It's very clever!

I don't know anything about your son's loss, but sometimes a conductive loss like this resolves naturally (glue ear is fairly common in children). Other times it doesn't. It may be that your son will have this aid until older to consider a permanent bone anchored hearing aid.

Have you been assigned to a Teacher Of Deaf Children and Young People? There should be someone from your local council who will meet with you and your son and you can talk to them, they will support at school if required etc.

Feel free to ask me here, though. If I can help I will, but only limited as obviously I don't have access to any of your son's records.

@SiouxsieSiouxStiletto Thanks, I will take a look at their website

@ToD101 Such a helpful reply, thank you. I will check what help is available from our council.

There's a child in my son's class that also has hearing difficulties so the school may already have support to offer.

He has another hearing test in a couple of weeks as last time he had a runny nose. He also had fluid in the bit of ear that shouldn't.. Is this glue ear?

@ToD101

Fluid behind the ear drum (middle ear) is glue ear, so that sounds possible. It's caused by fluid not draining from the eustachian tubes, which usually occurs in younger children and as they grow it self-corrects as the tubes get more angled so fluid can drain.

The ToD will come from the County council. Usually they're assigned when paediatric audiology send the referral through, but do feel free to ring up the SEN department (depending on your service it'll be called the Hearing Impairment Team, or the Hearing Support Team or the Deaf and Hearing Support Team) if you haven't heard within a couple of weeks. They'll visit your son in school and will meet with you if you want to talk things through.

I should add glue ear often self-corrects, and a child can have grommets fitted which helps the fluid to drain.

Thank you @ToD101 ☺️