Hearing Loss Support Group

Hi, I am new to this group as I sometimes post on the autism board. I have a soon to be 4 yr. old son (he also has autism) and he has permanent hearing loss in both ears and wears hearing aids. For the past month he does not want to wear his aids. He screams as if he is in pain. He has had a couple of ear infections, had antibiotics, and was recently checked by his ENT to check his ears and ear tubes. All looks well.

He did get new molds and his aids were turned up after his ear tube/adenoidectomy in July. The molds never seemed to fit quite right plus I noticed that the old molds had two holes and this mold has one.

Has anyone had problems with ear tubes and hearing aids? Are there pressure changes that may cause him pain?

He also has enlarged vestibular aqueducts and any sudden pressure can worsen his hearing loss but this would have to major (contact sports, rides that suddenly drop)

Uggghhh...sorry so long...my husband, his preschool, his audiologist, and I are extremely frustrated and exhausted from trying to keep the aids in.

Thanks,

Nicole

Welcome to the group.

I have worked with children of all ages so here are some thoughts and suggestions for you:

1. Are the earmolds too tight? Are they causing pressure sores, in his ears?

2. Why did they change the style of earmolds? The old earmolds, you said, have two holes in them. One is for the tubing connecting the hearing aid to the earmold and the other goes thru and thru to act as a pressure equalization vent. Now you say that there is just the one hole (tubing). Why did anyone decide to change and not give him a vent?

3. Has his hearing results changed? Has he lost more hearing since before they turned up the volume? Why did the turn up the volume? When you put the hearing aids on him and talk to him does he scrunch up his face like the sound is too loud?

4. Is he in school? If so, is he being teased by the other kids?

5. What color are the hearing aids? Are they beige? Would he like them to be a different color? Would he like stickers on the hearing aids?

And if you work through all of that and he still doesn't want to wear the hearing aids, then it is a matter of putting them on when he takes them off and putting them on when he takes them off.........

Mother of Boys,

Thanks for your response. Over the summer, our son had ear tubes and an adenoidectomy. The audiologist also did some testing while he was asleep during this procedure. She found that his hearing loss had worsened but not by much and adjusted the volume on his hearing aids. We also had new molds made because he outgrew his old ones. We got to choose the color of the molds but didn't realize that it would only have one hole. These molds are tye dyed orange and yellow to match his orange siemens hearing aids. They are really cool and has received compliments.

Regarding our son, he is nonverbal due to his autism and doesn't seem to mind what his peers think plus he is only four and the students in his class seem to like him (particularly a couple of girls).

I noticed that the molds were tough to get in but thought this was due to the fact that they are newer and a little bigger than the old molds. Sometimes his ears get red, but it is after we put them in and out throughout the day.

I wonder if his tubes and pressure from the molds may be causing him pain. It doesn't seem like he is taking them out just because he doesn't want to wear them, but because they are bothering him.

Luckily, I meet with his audiologist tomorrow and she may shave the molds to make them fit better. I may have her turn down the volume a little too.

I would take a look at your son's ears the very first time he pulls the hearing aids out and see if they are red. If they are, then one of two things is going on. Either they are too big for him or, he is allergic to the material.

We took him to his audiologist yesterday and she shaved both molds to make them smaller. They seem to fit a little better. I brought up the fact that it only has one hole unlike his old molds which had an extra. She feels that it isn't causing the problem. She also slightly lowered the volume on both, particularly the left mold and will increase the volume once he starts wearing them again.

Wish us luck...we will have him wear his molds only and then attach his hearing aids until finally he begins wearing them again.

Thanks for your help.

Hi... I am new here, but just came across your post. I'm an audiologist, too, and I am wondering why they got rid of the vent on his earmold. Unless he has severe high-frequency hearing loss, or very old technology hearing aids, he should be able to have a vent in his earmold. Without one, the earmold COULD make a fairly airtight seal, and become uncomfortable, if not downright PAINFUL, especially to insert and remove.

Another thought is: If his low frequency hearing is pretty good, he may feel like unvented earmolds are acting like earplugs (seem like they're making his hearing worse).

I have often ordered earmolds that arrived with the wrong venting option. Most companies have a 90 day warranty on them, meaning they will remake them for free if they made a mistake. I would call and request that they remake his earmolds with a vent, unless there is a really good reason not to. If cost is a problem, they MAY be able to drill vents in his current earmolds for about $10.