Well, technically "yes". But not like you might think.
Several are wondering what is happening with Mikaela's hearing now that she had the CI surgery and is 'activated'. I hope to shed a bit of light for you.
First of all, she can only hear out of one ear. Her left ear has nothing providing any sound at all. It is called a unilateral hearing loss. Second, she is at the very beginning stages of hearing/listening. It is called 'detection'. She is beginning to detect that there are sounds around her. But at this point, she doesn't know if the sound is coming from me, the doorbell, the microwave, the dog or anything else for that matter. Our early goals are just to introduce her to lots of sounds and point them out for her. For example, one game we play is I put the house phone on the table next to the side with her implant as she sits in her high chair. I call the house phone from my cellphone. I point to my ear and say, "OH, I hear that!.....Do you hear that?....It is the phone!" Then I pretend to answer say, "Hello, I love you...Bye!" and hang up. Through time and repetition, she will begin to recognize that sound and know the source. Same thing with the microwave, doorbell, dog barking, water in the sink, rolling her highchair, everything!
Remember, hearing babies hear in the womb. Then spend the first 4 months just listening to their environment and then begin to babble and play with their own mouths to understand sounds and beginnings of speech. Mikaela didn't hear in the womb. She only gets the opportunity to listen to her environment when she is awake and wearing her processor. (There is a slight battle about keeping it on her.) It will take time...months....before she recongizes and consistently responds to sounds. She has only been activated for 29 days and the first week of that she didn't even have it turned up loud enough to hear speech. Then she lost a good 4 days in the hospital with her bowel surgery.
It is working. She is hearing. We just can't 'see' it yet. As always, feel free to email or call me with any questions. I am happy to share! I am thankful for your interest! Blessings to you all!
2 comments:
Hi, I just stumbled upon your blog through some web surfing. Our oldest daughter has bilateral CI's and is doing great. She recently mainstreamed into first grade and is excelling. We are so proud of her and I hope that your Mikaela will do as well as our Jazzie has done.
Hello,
I was just reading something that a friend w/ hearing loss wrote & thought I'd share it with you. It reminded me of your trying to describe how it is for Mikaela to hear with her implants & how she'll have to work harder than the rest of us to interpret sounds.
My friend wrote, "I have terrible hearing loss and wear hearing aids. You would think those would take care of the problem, but they don't. My ears and my brain just don't signal each other right."
I thought that was well said!
I hope Mikaela is doing well w/ her learning & that she's recovered from the surgery!
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