One of the most difficult decisions that you may have to make for your child would be to choose the ideal method of communication.  These is NO single perfect solution and the choice is usually made after a thorough assessment of your child’s hearing ability and his/her needs by your audiologist or speech-language therapist and doctor.

Click to view National Deaf Centre video on ALD

Assistive Listening Devices (ALD)

Assistive Listening Devices (ALDs) help you communicate in one-to-one conversations by bringing the sound you wish to hear closer to your ears and minimising background noise.   The most popular ALD would be the FM system. This system is extremely useful in situations that are noisy or where there is a significant distance between the speaker and the hearing impaired person. Such examples include classrooms or lecture halls.

The ALD system consists of

• Microphone
• Transmitter
• Receiver (such as headphone, hearing aid or cochlear implant)

The FM system which consists of a microphone worn by the teacher and a receiver worn by the hearing impaired person to ensure that the speech signal is transmitted directly to the person’s ear, thus ensuring no degradation of signal due to noise interference. FM systems are routinely recommended to school going children or young adults to aid their studies.

Other ALD include

• Alerting Devices such as alarm clocks, doorbell or fire alarm alerting devices
• Hearing aid compatible smart phones

Choice of Schools

The child’s communication ability will have an impact on the school placement when he/she is older.  A child with good amplification and acquisition of speech can be considered to be placed in normal schools because the child is able to follow the lessons with ease.  Others might be placed in integrated schools (maybe with the help of a shadow teaching assistant) while those who use sign language as their primary communication mode may need to attend a special school for hearing impaired children.

Hearing loss is NOT a hindrance

Hearing loss is a condition that can be managed well by supportive parents. The important thing to remember is that your child is just as normal as the next child except that he/she does not hear sounds as clearly. In every other aspect, he/she has the same potential to be whatever he/she wants.  Your doctors, speech-language therapists and audiologists are here to help you ensure that the impairment does not become a handicap to your child.

Discuss the hearing devices options with your audiologist or doctor

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Disclaimer. TELEME blog posts contains general information about health conditions and treatments. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. The information is not advice and should not be treated as such. 

If you think you may be suffering from any medical condition, you should seek immediate medical attention from your doctor or other professional healthcare providers. You should never delay seeking medical advice, disregard medical advice, or discontinue medical treatment because of information on this website.