My early childhood hearing loss and my communication today

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You might look at the book "When the Brain Can't Hear," on auditory processing disorders. both my DH and two boys have hard time separating out from background noises (auditory discrimination). So for example they have a harder time when fans are loud, as in HVAC. There are some ways to accommodate, including FM listening devices. If I were you and could afford it, I'd get an eval done - GW is one place. Don't go to an audiologist.
There are some computer programs to try to address this, but I think they are more for young kids.

Just wondering who would recommend do an APD evaluation if not an audiologist. I'm unaware of any other professional that can test for auditory processing disorder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had an operation to restore a hearing loss as a child. The operation worked. However, my hearing loss as child occurred slowly before the first grade when it was identified. My extended family also came from another country, and I spent time with grandparents and family who didn't speak English in the home.

Fast forward today. I still get hearing tests. My hearing seems to be okay. However, my communication patterns were set in early childhood. I have a difficult time following conversations unless it is at a small table setting, and I usually will engage in conversation with the person seated next to me.

this describes my son as well. He had ear infections and several tubes placed to drain the infection between the ages of 15 months and about 7 years. He had intermittent hearing loss starting at 9 months which got better on and off as the tubes worked and then fell out and he got more infections over the years. Fast forward, he has fine "hearing" now in terms of being able to hear the sounds in an audiology booth test. But, he has trouble discerning speech and picking out sounds out of background noise. In a noise restaurant, he really can't follow a discussion at the table and can only talk with someone next to him with great concentration. Functionally he has what is known as "auditory processing disorder". Wearing an FM tuner is really helpful to him. Your health insurance should cover an auditory processing test. Georgetown and GW hospital/university practices do "central auditory processing disorder" testing, but not all ENTs in private practice do.

It probably is also the root of other problems he has (e.g. terrible speller because he doesn't really hear the individual sounds in a word well).

The FM tuner is a very small type of hearing aid that sits behind the ear and extends a thin wire into the ear canal. It is paired with a lavalier mike that you can give to a speaker or put on a table. It boosts the speech of the person/people near the mike over the ambient noise. Very useful in the classroom, group speech settings, lectures, meetings, etc.

Hi OP -- PP here. I really encourage you to cut and paste this part of the conversation and start a new thread in the special needs forum. There will be parents there who have children or other family members who are going thru exactly what you describe. They may be able to offer you more advice about specialists to see, both audiologists who specialize in central auditory processing disorder and speech pathologists who can support you with communication techniques to compensate.

While I can see why you posted in Relationship Forum originally, because these problems can affect all kinds of relationships (work, romantic, family, etc.), there will be many more people in the SN forum with experience with these kinds of issues.