Audiology Visit

Timmy had an audiology visit on Tuesday. We discussed the different types of FM trainers, the pros and cons and how one may benefit Timmy. A FM trainer is an assistive listening device, which brings the voice of an individual who is talk or a sound source forward, while decreasing the background noises, which may confuse the listener.

Timmy has normal hearing in his left ear and he is profound in his right ear. I feel that the use of a FM trainer would benefit Timmy tremendously, being that he will be starting year round kindergarten in late July. Timmy will be in a special education class with children of varying degrees of disabilities. By the use of a FM trainer Timmy will be able to hear the teacher more clearly, even when she can't be close by his side and will aid in his ability to participate in group activities. I also feel that the use of the FM trainer would benefit Timmy during one on one speech or other therapies.

When Timmy was wearing his hearing aid, I noticed better speech clarity and more vocalization throughout the day. Without his hearing aid, Timmy doesn't talk as clearly. When placed near sources of sound i.e. a radio, t.v. Timmy doesn't respond in the same sense that he would when he was wearing his hearing aid.

The audiologist tries to do a behavioral audiotory hearing assessment, with the use of different sound tones at different sound levels and her speaking to Timmy. I honestly couldn't say that Timmy's responses were consistent with what he "may" have heard. Timmy was in the process of taking a poo-poo. I wish I had thought of the idea of me, dad or Timmy's nurse being the one speaking to him, to see what kind of response we might have gotten. As the saying goes, we learn from our mistakes. Next time I will suggest this to the audiologist.

Timmy is scheduled for surgery on April 27th to have his adnoids and tonsils removed. The audiologist agreed to talk to Dr. Zdanski to see if he would allow her or someone else to do a repeat ABR (Audiotory Brainstem Response). Timmy has only had 2 ABR's which show normal hearing in his left ear, one at about 7 months old and the most recent on in December 3rd 2008. The audiologist agreed with me that another ABR would be a good idea. If the audiologist could see two consecutive ABR's which show normal hearing in his left ear she and I would feel more comfortable, being the behavioral audiotory hearing assessment did not have positive results. Once the audiologist get the results of another ABR, we will talk further about the FM trainer for Timmy.

I perfer the FM trainer, which works along with the hearing aids. The audiologist feels that he field system would benefit Timmy more. The field system is where a speaker is placed near Timmy and the sound source is ampified over the speaker.

I will be contacting the audiologist, which works with the public school system to see what I need to do to have Timmy assessed for the use of a FM trainer, which the public school system will provide. We will also be checking with our insurance to see if it will pay for a personal FM trainer to use at home.