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14 months old hearin aids help/ Phonak Sky L90 SP or Phonak Sky L90 M

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In reply to @Hearing_Potential

Hi,

Thank you for your advice.

There is a really bizarre audiology market here. Hospital audiologists just refer you to people they know, so we have no idea who to trust. The reason we chose Phonak is that every single audiologist we spoke to recommended Phonak. They left the choice of technology level up to us, saying, ‘You can choose Phonak 50, 70, or 90 depending on your budget.’ So, we decided to go with whichever one is best. We came to an agreement with a Phonak provider and decided to buy the SP model, but right after that, an audiologist called me and said that the SP model would damage the child’s ears and that we should use the M model instead. I have never felt so helpless in my life.

In reply to @Kubra

I’m sorry, that’s frustrating. It sounds like access in your country to good pediatric care is a bit weak.

I agree with HearingPotential that your child would be fine in the 50s; I typically don’t fit an infant in anything higher than that as we turn off a lot of the advanced features anyway at that age. That said, if the 90s aren’t a financial burden for you they won’t make things worse. The SPs will not damage the child’s hearing with appropriate settings, but the M will also be fine at this point–if hearing drops later you can replace them. With limited access to high-level audiologic care, the most important things to do right now are to get the hearing aids on the child, monitor closely that the hearing aids are functioning as intended daily and the earmolds are fitting well (any feedback needs to be managed with the fit of the earmold, not with the feedback manager). The clinician needs to confirm that the hearing aids are set to junior mode and the targets are Child 5.0. And then just focus on wear time. 10+ hours a day, all waking hours. That’s step one. The next step is language support, speech therapy, good use of a partner mic if that is something available to you to help catch your niece up, but right now, number one, is just getting hearing aids on ears and keeping them (functioning) on ears as much as possible at this sometimes-tricky age.

@Kubra said:

We will get them on Monday or Tuesday.

Good. Children respond in different ways when hearing aids are first put on. Some are interested in new sounds and others cry or fall asleep. Some go through a very short stage of exploring and pulling them out and then just generally leave them in, while with others keeping them in is a bigger struggle. Some ear shapes are great for earmolds and some are trickier. But consistent wear time, consistent auditory access, is the number one factor in good language outcomes. Lean on your provider for good retention strategies if it turns out that your niece has a harder time keeping them in. Consider sourcing some pilot caps to keep little hands away (e.g. https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1521458572/navy-blue-baby-pilot-hat-giddy-baby-hat5), but a lot of my successful families lately just stick the hearing aid to the head with wig tape and find that quite effective.

In reply to @choccybiccy69

When a child is diagnosed with hearing loss it is a very serious thing, and levels of training differ significantly between countries, so I would discourage you from making this kind of joke here as you’re potentially adding to the anxiety of the OP.

Edited

In reply to @Kubra

Will the audiologists at the hospital be involved in fitting the hearing aids?

I would personally go for the level 50 technology if you’re going with Phonak. It will be a lot easier to replace under insurance, which is a must for devices for young children. It is almost inevitable that a device will get lost at some point, even with the “find-my” functionality built into them which only works within bluetooth range. This page from the UK National Deaf Children’s Society on keeping hearing aids on children will be helpful.

If rechargeable tech isn’t your thing then the Sky-M model is available with tamperproofing and I’d go with that unless there’s a family history of rapid hearing loss progression.

I’d definitely recommend a Roger On over a partner mic due to the superior performance in noise which will be important a the child goes to any kind of pre-school.

Sometimes children with hearing loss also have vision problems, so I’d get those ruled out as multiple sensory problems have a double negative effect on language development. If glasses are needed, they’ll typically fit much better with the slimmer profile of Sky-M models.

Children’s ears are small and highly variable in size and it’s important to correct for this when fitting hearing aids to ensure that they’re not too loud or too quiet. Make sure that the audiologists are fitting using an age appropriate average or (preferably) a measured RECD to correct for this and that it is updated every time your child gets new earmolds, (typically once every 3 - 6 months for under 3 year olds).

You may find the following portions of a book commonly given to parents in New Zealand helpful: Diagnosis1 , Hearing Loss and Hearing Tests1 , Hearing Aids1 and Communicating with your baby or toddler.1

Edited

It depends where they are in the world. It could be more than 6 months away if the OP is in Asia. I’d need to check whether the sphere is recommended for use with infants. Phonak has historically been very conservative in this regard and it’s not available in the Sky hearing aids. New technologies need to be tested independently with developing brains as the long-term effects can be different than they are for adults.

In reply to @Hearing_Potential

Where I am the Roger pediatric system is provided by the school and the partner mic get bundled free with the 50s, so we don’t typically recommend families purchase their own roger unless they’re headed to private school. Additionally, there’s no difference in the L&D deductible for 50 vs 90. I’ve learned here that in some countries there are no options offered below 70, and seemingly no test boxes let alone . Some of the things we want for these kids just may not be available.

Here in Türkiye, they let us choose among tech levels 50, 70, and 90. They said that 50 is enough, but if we want, we prefer higher levels. The only concern I have is getting less benefit when we gain more. I have read the resources suggested in previous conversations. They were so helpful too. I am really grateful to have come across this forum. Thanks a lot.

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