Hi Ho, Hi Ho, to the audiologist we go....

The audiologist that we all have grown very attached to has moved 2 and 1/2 hours away from our house. And we have decided to follow him. We still live here, we just see more of our state through road trips than before.

We needed to do a more intense appointment than we have the past few visits as we were coming up on tests that had not been done for a while and we wanted Chance to be all squared away for the new school year. Also, since returning to our audiologists will now take more time, we want to be extra thorough in our assessments:)

The results in the sound booth were very pleasing. The testing included sentence testing which had Chance repeat back a sentence he had heard from a recorded voice that was pumped into the sound booth. The sentences were things like,"Mother made cookies yesterday." After the sentence was spoken, Chance would repeat what he heard or thought he heard. He scored 91% with just the right implant on, 77% with just the left implant on, and 97% when both implants were on together. 97%! That is what we like to see! A year ago, Chance scored 71% with the right implant, 74% with the left and 85% together.

When Chance was tested with quiet speech where the volume was lower, he scored right ear 86%, left ear 67% and both 92%.

The word test which is just random words pumped into the booth with absolutely no context....duck, hotdog, window etc. Chance scored right ear 56%, left ear 50% and both ears 58%. Average scores on this test are 40 to 50%, so Chance did well.

Chance's mapping was changed quite a bit this time. Right after the mapping, we went to eat lunch and get ice cream. Chance was telling me that he did not like his implants being so loud. The audiologist said that this might happen. When the mapping is first adjusted as much as Chance's was, many adults will complain that they don't like it. It just takes some getting used to. There are 4 different programs on Chance's implants. Usually program 1 is the main program that he uses for most of the day. Program 2 is for noisy places, program 3 is a music program and program 4 is the old primary program. I noticed that Chance had turned his implants back to program 4 which was his old program. I made a deal with him that he just turn one of the implants to program 1 and the other to program 4 for a bit. By the time we got to the mini zoo after lunch, Chance had both implants on the new programs and he had done it by his own free will.

Program 2 is supposed to help in noisy environments in school so we'll see if Chance notices a difference. Program 3 which is for music is new to us and we are going to see if Chance likes it.

We are very pleased with Chance's progress with the implants and what he is able to hear. As usual, having the two implants makes a big difference in his hearing which we see any time only one implant is on.

Our newest decision is whether or not to buy Chance a personal FM system. This is a boot that snaps onto the end of his implant with a microphone being attached to a teachers lapel, or up on the stand at church etc. (Some children also use these in other various settings such as playing sports, in the car, or noisy settings.) Since these systems are mere pocket change of only $4,000.00 to $5,000.00, money is not an obstacle:) We have struggled in the past with this decision and are doing so again. I think Chance could really be helped by having such a system. It is one of those things that he will eventually need it is just a matter of when we buy it. His school provides a another sort of technology where there is a tower speaker in the room and the teacher has a microphone, but it is not the same as a personal FM System and it stays in the classroom so when Chance is in the library or in the gym at an assembly, he does not have access to it. A personal FM system has been very beneficial to people we have talked to who have them.

Another dilemma is that there are new upgrades coming out with the FM Systems with in the next year or so and we would like to take advantage of the new product. Our audiologist says that he really thinks that Chance would benefit from an FM System now though. Hmmmmmm, decisions decisions decisions.