Peter's Supersonic Hearing

Earlier this year, I decided to take my oldest son, Peter, to an appointment with the audiologist here in town.  I'd noticed that Peter's hearing seemed to be getting worse.  What made it difficult for me to tell for certain, was that Peter is also a bit "vacant" when he's day-dreaming (all day), so I wasn't sure if he was either daydreaming more than usual or if he was truly having some hearing troubles.

I was completely floored when the audiologist said that Peter had significant hearing loss and needed hearing aids. 

What?!

Apparently, his hearing was bad enough that the audiologist was astonished that Peter hadn't had any speech issues or developmental delays (other than the natural developmental delays that come with being of the male gender, snigger snigger).  She assured me that it was something that he was probably born with and not something that had occurred from over-exposure to loud noises or ear aches, which was a relief to my instantly-guilt-ridden mommy self.

He's had his hearing aids now for several months, and I've noticed a huge improvement.  Sometimes the batteries die and he forgets to put new ones in, and I can tell within a few hours that he's not hearing well again.  Best yet, they're not noticeable!

The hearing device itself is an oblong flesh-colored thing that hangs behind his ear, and a small wire wraps over his ear and fits into the ear itself like an earbud.  They did tend to fall out easily, but the audiologist added a stabilizing wire and showed us how we could "wrap" them around Peter's glasses to secure them more firmly.

Peter really didn't have any self-esteem issues with wearing hearing aids, and all his peers are really nice kids (whose mother's would mete out severe punishment for any teasing), but just in case, we told Pete he was going to be getting super-sonic hearing devices -

- just like a super hero.

(I think he was a bit disappointed though to learn that, no, his hearing aids did not grant him sonar powers).