Grommets vs. hearing aids - any advice?

[proudmum74]

Hi,

My DD had Grommets fitted last Sept, but they only lasted 6 mths & her hearing is now bad again. We saw the ENT consultant and he said that we could try again, but due to DD narrow ear canals, it's likely that any future grommets would last about the same length of time.

We've been told that we have the option of trying again, knowing the results may only be temporary & she will have about 4 mths of no hearing once they come out before they will fit another pair, or try hearing aids, but with the challenge that she's only 2 and may not keep them on (she also wears glasses, so I'm not sure how that will affect the ability to fit?)

Does anyone have any experience of hearing aids on toddlers?

Thanks!

Hi Proudmum. Right. If your DD has narrow ear canals the chances if getting moulds to fit properly are slim. You will find that she is likely to have an air leak around the moulds and that will cause the aids to whistle which believe you me, is not conducive to introduce hearing aids! I would suggest that you speak to the audiologist about getting a bone conduction hearing aid, preferably a BAHA. They are worn on a elasticated hair band (softband) and vibrate the sounds through the bone bypassing the middle ear to the cochlea. I can speak from considerable experience that this is a more preferable way to go, in order to achieve hearing. I have two children who are both BAHA users. I've attached some information for you to read. here

products.cochlearamericas.com/baha/introduction-to-baha/baha-for-children

dd3 has hearing aids and glasses, it's not a problem having both. The down side to hearing aids is that they don't give perfect hearing (and don't aim to) they just aim to get the hearing within the speech banana so she can hear all the speech sounds. They have small parts and can be pulled apart very quickly and thrown, I have spent many hours searching the floor in tesco for dd3's or they go in the mouth. The up side is, no general anaesthetic, no issue with swimming or hair washing as far as getting water in the ears and they can be adjusted as her hearing fluctuates.

If you decided you wanted to give hearing aids a go there's nothing to stop you going for grommets again if they don't work for you. It depends on how good she is with them really.

Hi
Hearing aids, hearing aids, HEARING AIDS!!!
I've got ds(4) and dd(1.7) both with glue ear. Ds had 2 sets of grommets - and the period between the sets of 8 months due to useless NHS meant has contributed to massive problems now - behavioural and SLD. His 2nd set has now got blocked and we are waiting again for a referral to get him sorted... DD on the other hand we didn't mess about with. Knowing Ds's probs we just went for hearing aids. She got them at 1.5 and has changed massively - language and interaction is fab and she loves her hearing aids :-)

Grommets can be brill and they were for ds for about 4 months. But once you know they're likely to not stay in, hearing aids are the way I'm sure. I think the impact on da of being unable to hear then hear then not has been huge... People are starting to think asd now, but I'm still dubious, I think it's the changing hearing levels... Anyway, hearing aids in your case - go for it!

Hi everyone - thank you all for your advice! I'll have a chat to the audiologist in the morning re: what type of hearing aid they would be able to offer her

have a look on the ndcs website between now and then, if you haven't already here