The Hearing Aid Adventure

Whitney has worn hearing aids since she was about 18 months old. Melanie and I are glad she started wearing them so early because they've given her the best shot at early acquisition and use of language. Starting early has also made her more tolerant of having her hearing aids in for the duration of the day. We've worked hard to teach Whit not to touch her aids or take them out by herself. The few times she has, they inevitably get put in her mouth or left around the house for little brother to find. Whit's current aids have been carefully dried after water exposure a number of times.

We've also had experiences where a hearing aid has come out and been left somewhere. The most memorable was when Whit lost one at Melanie's grandfather's viewing. But up until last week whenever a hearing aid has been lost, it's always turned up unharmed in just a little while.

Last Thursday, the family went out for dinner and a little shopping. When we returned and Whitney was geting ready for bed, we discovered one of her hearing aids was missing. We searched the house and the car. We called the places we'd been that night to report that we'd lost a hearing aid. But nothing turned up. On Friday, Melanie retraced the steps of the previous evening and visited every place we went. Her thorough search didn't turn up anything.

Yesterday Mel talked to the audiologist to see what she recommended. I'm glad she did, because what we learned made me feel a little better about the loss. The audiologist recommended we wait a couple of weeks before starting to work on getting a replacement. She said sometimes even after that much time someone will turn it in to a lost and found somewhere or it will turn up around the house. So we won't lose hope.

She also told us that Whit's aids are over four years old and most hearing aids have a lifetime of around five years. In fact, we had insurance covering loss and damage that covered the first three years after purchase, but due to their age that coverage had expired.

Even if we hunted down the missing one, we'd likely be purchasing new aids for Whitney in the next year or two anyway. The audiologist cautioned that we not purchase one aid to replace the missing one. It's critical to have matching ones to provide properly balanced sound. And besides, if we purchased one new aid, the other might stop working soon anyway. And given the amount of abuse those things have taken over the last four years, I can believe it.

So we'll be looking between the couch cushions and waiting for a call that someone has found the missing hearing aid. But at the same time, we'll be doing some research on insurance coverage, hearing aid models and prices. That way we can get Whitney hearing well once more.

And you'd better believe I'll be dreaming up some way of tagging the new ones with our phone number or maybe even some kind of GPS tracking device!

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Whit had a great time decorating Easter eggs as you can see from the smile on her face.