Chattering Children
Tips & Tricks
1. For young children, use huggies to prevent the hearing aid from falling out of the ear. An audiologist shoulc be able to provide these.
2. In case of young children, tie a piece of fishing line at the base of the earhook of each hearing aid. Connect the other end to safety pins and attach to the back of the child's clothing. This prevents hearing aids from getting lost should they fall out by accident or the child pulls them out.
3. When continuous feedback is a problem, a quick remedy is to put a layer of petroleum jelly on the earmold. This will provide a better seal in the ear, and can stop the feedback for a short period of time (until new earmolds can be made).
4. Always check the opening of the earmold for wax. Often, wax can move around in the child's ear canal and intermittently block the earmold. Small pieces of pipe cleaners can be used to remove this wax from the earmold.
5. Cracks in the earmold tubing are a very common problem, especially when a child pulls on the tubing to remove the earmold. Asmall bottle of liquid plastic (obtainable through an audiologist) is very useful to repair such cracks until the tubing can be replaced.
6. The volume control wheel of many hearing aids tends to become loose and can rotate accidentally due to the child's movements. Most hearing aid companies can provide volume control covers that willlock the volume control in the set position.
7. Use rubber bands to gather extra lengths of cords on FM systems. If the cords are too long, crisscrossing the cords behind the chiild's back before plugging them into the receiver will prevent tangling.
8. When you use the FM transmitter, avoid wearing long necklaces qhich can rub against the microphone. A larger microphone clip can help keep the microphone from rubbing against clothes or jewelry since this can mask the speech completely.
9. When you are wearing the FM transmitter, don't forget to switch it off when talking to someone other than the child.
10. In places such as the plaground or the gym, lowering the volume on the hearing aid or FM system can sometimes make it easier for the child to hear. For an implant, lower the sensitivity - the child will hear better over a shorter distance.
11. The auxiliary jack on the speech processor of the cochlear implant can be used with any standard microphone.
12. Using foam pockets for FM receivers and implant processors will help keep them safe and prevent the child from being hurt during roug-and-tumble activites.
13. When a child is using an FM receiver with behind-the-ear microphones, always check on the back of the receiver to make sure that the switch is set to BTE rather than inernal (environmental) microphone.
14. For group discussions, have additional microphones handy for use with FM systems, so that more than one speaker can be heard by the child.
15. Wig tape works to keep implant microphones or hearing aids on the ear
1. For young children, use huggies to prevent the hearing aid from falling out of the ear. An audiologist shoulc be able to provide these.
2. In case of young children, tie a piece of fishing line at the base of the earhook of each hearing aid. Connect the other end to safety pins and attach to the back of the child's clothing. This prevents hearing aids from getting lost should they fall out by accident or the child pulls them out.
3. When continuous feedback is a problem, a quick remedy is to put a layer of petroleum jelly on the earmold. This will provide a better seal in the ear, and can stop the feedback for a short period of time (until new earmolds can be made).
4. Always check the opening of the earmold for wax. Often, wax can move around in the child's ear canal and intermittently block the earmold. Small pieces of pipe cleaners can be used to remove this wax from the earmold.
5. Cracks in the earmold tubing are a very common problem, especially when a child pulls on the tubing to remove the earmold. Asmall bottle of liquid plastic (obtainable through an audiologist) is very useful to repair such cracks until the tubing can be replaced.
6. The volume control wheel of many hearing aids tends to become loose and can rotate accidentally due to the child's movements. Most hearing aid companies can provide volume control covers that willlock the volume control in the set position.
7. Use rubber bands to gather extra lengths of cords on FM systems. If the cords are too long, crisscrossing the cords behind the chiild's back before plugging them into the receiver will prevent tangling.
8. When you use the FM transmitter, avoid wearing long necklaces qhich can rub against the microphone. A larger microphone clip can help keep the microphone from rubbing against clothes or jewelry since this can mask the speech completely.
9. When you are wearing the FM transmitter, don't forget to switch it off when talking to someone other than the child.
10. In places such as the plaground or the gym, lowering the volume on the hearing aid or FM system can sometimes make it easier for the child to hear. For an implant, lower the sensitivity - the child will hear better over a shorter distance.
11. The auxiliary jack on the speech processor of the cochlear implant can be used with any standard microphone.
12. Using foam pockets for FM receivers and implant processors will help keep them safe and prevent the child from being hurt during roug-and-tumble activites.
13. When a child is using an FM receiver with behind-the-ear microphones, always check on the back of the receiver to make sure that the switch is set to BTE rather than inernal (environmental) microphone.
14. For group discussions, have additional microphones handy for use with FM systems, so that more than one speaker can be heard by the child.
15. Wig tape works to keep implant microphones or hearing aids on the ear