Fitted for hearing aids

Yesterday we had our first appointment with the audiologist in Bozeman.  She will be our go-to lady for Vivian's hearing aids from here on out.  Her recommendation was for a mid-level pediatric hearing aid made by Oticon called the Safari.  You wouldn't believe the things you can do with these things.  When Vivi is older she can have them connect directly to an iPod, cell phone or TV.  Too cool.

You can check them out here:
Safari hearing aids

At this point though, we just need to get her hearing better so she has the best possible chance to develop her speech and language.  The first step was to get the impressions for the ear molds.  This is the part of the hearing aid that actually goes into her ear.  It is essentially like when I got impressions of my teeth when I had braces.  The audiologist put a little tiny sponge with a string in each ear first.  Then she mixed up some pink goo and used a big syringe to squirt it into hear ears. After a few minutes of drying, she pulled them out, put them in a little box and shipped them off to the hearing aid company.

Since she is so little, we will need to repeat this process about every 3 months for the first two years.  We've been told that the Montana School for the Deaf and Blind will pay for the cost of the new molds.  The hearing aids themselves have a lifespan of about 4-5 years.

We thought that she might be fussy, uncomfortable or scared during this process.  Nope.  She just sat on Aaron's lap and looked around.  What a trooper.

So now, we wait for a call that her hearing aids and the ear molds have come in.  In one or two weeks we will get to see what this technology can do for our sweet baby.