Hearing Booth

We did a hearing booth test for the first time this week, and it was a huge success. The process goes as follows:

Cal and I sit in a small booth with big speakers and a TV on our right and left side. I hold Cal on my lap as an audiologist sits in front of him and makes faces at him. As he is smiling and laughing, another audiologist behind the glass window sends sound through the speakers. In our case she said ba ba ba ba in the microphone. When Cal heard the sound, he stopped smiling and got an inquisitive look on his face. We kept repeating this process to see what kind of response we were getting each time. The audiologist explained that he was responding to sound at 70 decibels with his hearing aids on. This means that Cal would be able to hear a big dog barking when he wears his hearing aids. We were so excited about the results! It doesn't mean he won't get an implant. It means that he will respond better to an implant because he is receiving and recognizing sound right now. The more sound he is getting into his brain, the more successful he will be with implants. Way to go Cal!

An Answer

This last week has been a big week for little Cal. The long awaited (and dreaded) MRI finally happened on Wednesday. And a few (very long) days later we got the results. Cal has all his little ear bits and pieces and appears to be a good candidate for cochlear implant surgery. Brynn and I are extremely excited about the news. By no means is this an easy road, but at least we know what road we are on, and that in itself is a tremendous relief.

So here is the basic run down. The cochlear implant will give Cal hearing capabilities. This does not mean that he will hear like you and I hear, but it does mean that Cal has a good chance of being able to hear sound, learn speech and be mainstreamed. Obviously we will take these steps as they come, but as parents we feel like the implant gives Cal options.

More than anything is just feels good to have a direction. For months we didn’t know if Cal could or couldn’t hear. We had no idea where we were or where we were going. And though we still don’t have exact answers to those questions, we do feel like for the first time since we found out about Cal’s deafness, we have been given something tangible.

And so starts Cal's journey towards a cochlear implant surgery.