"I hear you!"

This afternoon, Brock FINALLY got his Bone Anchored Hearing Aid (BAHA) on a softband!!! I will spare you from all of the frustrating details of why we are just now getting the BAHA (grrrrrr......I never dreamed that working with medical professionals and insurance companies could be sooooo impossible).

This is what a "softband" looks like:

You'll note that Brock's BAHA came with a "sky blue"softband. I can't imagine me ordering that, but that is what we have. I'm looking into getting him a different color.

Here is a picture of the different colors that the sound processor comes in. Brock has a black processor, to "match" his dark hair.

The sound processor snaps into the softband, and the softband is then placed on the head like a headband, with the processor resting against the head. The sound processor changes sound waves into vibrations which are transmitted through the skull to the inner ear.

It has been so much fun seeing Brock's reaction as a whole new world opens up to him. In the doctor's office, he looked a little overwhelmed with all the new input and strange noises. But once we were out in the car, he kept saying, "I hear you!" with a big smile over every new sound. It is amazing to find out which everyday, ordinary things he had never heard before.

Some of the things he heard for the first time:

- music in the lobby of the doctor's office

- me moving the sun visor in the car

- me popping bubbles with my gum (which I do all the time)

- the noise of the car while driving along

- the noise of other cars/motorcycles passing us

- the sound of the beads/stuffing of a stuffed animal when you play with it

- clapping (I can't believe this one, but he was clapping in the car, smiling and saying "I hear it!")

- my cell phone ringing in my purse

- leaves rustling across the grass

- the different sounds made by knocking on different materials (believe me, he experimented all the way home from the doctor)

- us calling him softly when his back is turned to us

I'm sure there were more, but that is what I can remember off the top of my head.

When we got home, Max and I were talking in the kitchen, and the first thing Brock did was to walk out of the kitchen and into our entryway on the other side of the kitchen wall. There he yelled, "I hear you! I hear Mommy and Daddy talking!" It was so interesting to see him experiment like this. Then, he went upstairs, and there, too, he yelled down, "I hear you!", and we proceeded to have a conversation with him from downstairs -- something we never could do pre-BAHA!

After wearing the BAHA for about three hours, he asked if it could be turned off. Truthfully, his little face looked quite exhausted. The audiologist told us that this would likely happen, as it can be a lot of work receiving and processing all of the new input (especially in this noisy, noisy family!). He suggested we come up with a schedule of on and off times as needed.

Baba sharing some of his favorite music with Brock in hopes of winning someone in the family over to his poor taste in music :o). Poor Brock! He now thinks the sound of the Bee Gees is what constitutes "music".