Amy N. shares the story of her daughter’s hearing loss and how Haley, 6, is succeeding today with the Baha® 5 Power Sound Processor on the Attract System. Read on:
“When Haley received her newborn hearing screening at birth, one ear passed and one didn’t. When they tested again, the opposite ear would pass. At the time, I wasn’t worried because they kept saying ‘it’s fluid.’ I felt like she would pass eventually.
When she was 11 months old, they decided they would go in and put tubes in to get this ‘fluid’ to come out of her ears. When they were going in to put the tubes in, they discovered her ear canals were actually too tiny and they said ‘they’d probably open up.’ I still wasn’t worried.
But her ear canals never opened up.
We learned about the Baha System and started Haley with a Baha sound processor on the Baha Softband when she was two. She was doing so well. We knew when she was old enough we wanted to get her implanted so we could continue to see her succeed.
Haley was implanted at five years old with the Baha Attract System. We recently upgraded her to the Baha 5 Power Sound Processor.
When they first put the Baha 5 Power on her, you could tell it was a huge difference in sound experience for her. We did her speech and hearing testing in the sound booth, and it was the best test she’d ever gotten. Even now at home, I can be on one end of the house and Haley on the other end, and I can say, ‘Haley, come here,’ and she will answer!
Haley attends mainstream school, and her Baha has helped boost her confidence. She hears just as well as her hearing peers. Her teachers forget that she has a hearing loss because she hears so well in the classroom. She’s not seen as a child with a handicap, and that’s a relief for me.”
For more information on bone conduction hearing loss solutions for children, click here.
