Yep... Natalie is 3 weeks away from not being our little baby anymore! (sniff sniff) When we decided on cochlear implants, I was really hoping and praying that she would get them before she turned 1 so that she could hear us sing happy birthday to her. We are all excited for that.
Tuesday I head up to Chapel Hill for another audiology appointment. We could have chosen to have Natalie treated here in Charlotte, but they are so much more experience up in Chapel Hill and they have their own cochlear implant audiologists. The last visit was 3 weeks ago which went by way to fast. It is just such a long day. The visits will eventually get farther apart so that will get better. This will be her first booth testing appointment since she was activated, so we will get to see her first real audiogram with her officially hearing.
Below is an example of what an audiogram is. From left to right is pitches (or frequencies) and the other column is decibels. Getting a real good audiogram will enable us to map her properly (A mapping is a reprogramming of the cochlear implant, to readjust the electrical stimulation limits of the electrodes as each user’s brain adapts to sound and fibrous tissue grows over the internal implant.)
Normal hearing is between 0-25 db. You can see on the chart a picture of a greyed area called the speech banana. You have to be able to hear above the speech banana to develop normal speech and language. Some kids can achieve that just fine by wearing hearing aids. Natalie was too profound which is why she has CI's. We tested her several times and she couldn't even hear 120 db of sound!
So, Tuesday will be a good day to see where she is at on the audiogram. Very exciting! She will have booth testing each visit from here on out.
And some more pics of this cutie:
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| It is fun to listen to all the sounds outdoors.. including the sound of the buggy! |
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| um... still cute with just 2 teeth |
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| Nat with Miss Jenni (her audiotry-verbal therapy teacher) |
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