We recently had confirmed that our dear little 2 1/2 year old daughter has significant sensory-neural hearing loss in her left ear; basically her inner-ear is not getting any signals to the auditory nerve --she's essentially deaf in that ear. Her right ear compensates so well that we were lucky to even figure out there was a problem with her left ear. She has no apparent developmental delays verbally or otherwise -- it is truly amazing how well she hears and speaks. After my initial shock and devestation from discovering this issue, I now feel very grateful that it isn't something more serious and how normally (beautifully) she is developing despite having but one functioning ear. I am writing to ask how others with unilateral hearing children (or with their own unilateral hearing issue) have coped. Any insights into the reality of this condition and practical advice (are loud rooms a problem? seating preferences?) are welcome... it's all very new to me.
Bless you all! Your comments and support are very helpful and reassuring. I was wondering how common this hearing loss is and it seems like there are lots of folks around coping just fine. I'm happy to know there are even musicians out there with unilateral hearing. We are all singers in our family and I was wondering how that might play out. This was my first request and I have to say it's great to 'feel the mama-love!' You rock. Thanks again.
When my son was born with profound bilateral hearing loss, the decibels foundation and our local Early Intervention helped us alot! Good luck!
http://www.decibelsfoundation.org/
J.,
My son has the same thing only right ear.Because it is only 1 ear he sometimes has trouble deciding where a sound comes from.We had a deaf child sign placed on our street by the town. Also my son is in 3rd grade his school uses an FM hearing system to help filter out background noise. if you have any more questions feel free to emailme. L.
I know this isn't exactly what you're looking for, but I am a HS teacher and have now taught two different students who were deaf in one ear. They both had IEPs to ensure they got preferential seating in the classroom, and to insure that instructions were given when the teacher was facing the class (rather than the board). I never noticed any problem in the classroom setting at all with either student - they worked well with peers, etc. I actually had a student who wore hearing aids in both ears but because of the way she wore her hair, I didn't even notice until the end of the year. She had completely adapted. So hopefully someone can provide information that would be more helpful to you right now, I just wanted to let you know that, in my experience, by the time she's older there won't be any differences between her and her classmates. Good luck!
HI I don't know if this will help, but I can speak from my own experience. I have 2 hearing aids. My family didn't figure out I had a hearing problem until I was 3 1/2 yrs old. I was probably born with my hearing loss therefore the only fix was hearing aids. I have to say as I got older I really was glad to have them. They do help and they help with figuring out where the sound is coming from. Plus, if you put a hearing aid in the ear, it forces that ear ( your brain basically) to work. If nothing is in there, it cannot work or improve over time..in most cases. Hopefully the diagnosis is not as severe as mine was. Best of luck. Your daughter will appreciate any support and help you can give her.
My stepdaughter had no hearing in one ear. It wasn't discovered until she was talking on the phone so it's good that you found out sooner.
As she grew up, we noticed that she turned her head slightly if she couldn't hear someone. While riding in the car with her sister, we found that she did better if she sat so that her "good" ear wasn't against the door but rather toward the middle of the car. It made it easier to distinguish conversation, particularly from us in the front seat, if she didn't have to filter out the noise of the wind and traffic.
In school, she sat anywhere from the middle of the room to the front, and again with her good ear not to the outside. She started to get embarrassed about sitting in the front of the room, and we found that she did just as well if her good ear was "centered" in the room or toward the center of things.
If she sat with someone at the movie theater, she just position herself so that they could whisper in her "good" ear during the film. No one had to tell her how to do this - she just naturally did it.
In college, she was able to have a medical procedure to restore hearing in that ear - she has about 35% there now.
If you want to talk more, email me anytime.
My husband was deaf in his left ear as a child, but eventually they were able to fix it. Does she seem to be hearing well with her right one? It hard when your child has any problem, try to apprechiate it is nothing worse!
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I'm not too sure about all the facts, but my niece had a similar diagnosis at about age 6 and she was fitted for hearing aids. Her situation fixed itself on it's own. She is now 16 and never did get any hearing aids and does just fine.
Good Luck!
S.
Hi J.,
I have a similar situation, except my hearing loss was not detected until college - not sure if I always had it and it got worse, or it just started then. Like your daughter, my other ear compensates. I have always talked on the phone using my left ear, but never realized that that wasn't "normal".
I, too, have issues with my hearing "depth perception" - I can't tell where sounds are coming from (most frustrating when searching for the cordless phone!). I make sure that I am seated with my hearing ear facing a conversation. I have been asked if I want to try hearing aids, but that has never seemed necessary for me. As long as your daughter's other ear is good, it really shouldn't be a huge impact on her life.
I am a musician, and a music teacher, so really, don't worry!
Feel free to email me if you have any questions.
