An attachment to the hearing aid

Chilling at the dentist while playing a video game on the television in the ceiling.

So, we have discovered that Chance's brother is reluctant to take his hearing aid out in his right hear and just use his implant.  Our audiologist talked about having time each day when only the implant was used, and then by default, due to running out of hearing aid batteries, the implant was the only option for a few hours.

This was not a popular development with my son.  Since his dad was going to pick up hearing aid batteries on his way home from work, I thought the time would be good practice to just use the implant.

My little son told me several times that he needed batteries so he could wear his hearing aid.  When I told him we were waiting for his dad to get home with the batteries, he was not amused.  And he kept telling me he needed hearing aid batteries.

Now part of the persistence about getting hearing aid batteries, is the personality of my son. He is conscientious about taking care of his supplies and having what he needs.  The other part was that he did not like to rely just on the implant.

I noticed when we were sitting in a dance recital this weekend, that when I talked to my young son, he would turn his head so that his right ear was facing me even though his implanted ear was the one closest to me.

Obviously we need to start having  time every day where he uses only the implant for a few hours.  I don't think he is going to like it.  He really likes using that right ear.  He hears fine with just the implant, not as well as when he has both the hearing aid and the implant, but he does hear well with the implant.  Being able to hear with the implant is not the problem.

The fact of the matter is, he is going to have to get used to using his left implanted ear more because this week we learned that the hearing is dropping again in his right ear.  His word test dropped by half in the last 3 months when he is tested in the booth with just his hearing aid.  We may be heading toward implanting his right ear as well.

We haven't told our son yet.  We want to have one more appointment in April where we validate the tests we had this month and consult with our audiologist.

When I ask my son if he is hearing the same or if he is hearing worse, he tells me his is hearing the same.  If I ask him if he is hearing as well with his hearing aid he says yes.

We will have to wait and see how this all plays out.  In the meantime, we are going to practice everyday just hearing with the implant by taking the hearing aid off.  I do not think this is going to be a popular decision.