My daughter has recently started gymnastics classes; she’s doing great! She wears behind the ear aids, and the aid flops around a lot. I told her I’d try to figure something out so they aren’t flopping around so much. Anyone have any suggestions?
Can she wear a headband, with it low to her ears, and the aids tucked under?
Take a look at Ear Gear products. It is a soft cover that also protects the aid. You can get it where they connect like the gizmo for glasses to help prevent loss and add to comfort and protection
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That clip and o ring setup in the video on the Ear Gear site looks like a great solution.
A wide headband would be the cheapest and easiest solution. They’ll only be a few $ on eBay.
They sell a specific double sided tape to hold hearing aids in place. I’m not so sure it isn’t the same stuff used to hold hair pieces in place which is cheaper. Search eBay for Sensi-tack.
Don’t know your situation but it’s an option.
If you do decide to go with EarGear, the best price I found was here:
http://www.hearingshop.com/category_s/24.htm?searching=Y&sort=1&cat=24&show=100&page=1
Sorry for the delay; hectic last few days!
The ear gear products look interesting, but I don’t understand how they’d help with this specific situation; she doesn’t wear glasses.
The tape sounds interesting; I’ll go look for that.
You would want the corded sleeves: https://www.gearforears.com/content/ear-gear-mini-corded
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GW9okiYEb8
As I said before, they’re a bit cheaper at the other link.
Thanks Bob.
In our case, I’m not concerned with the aid coming off of her ear completely and falling out; it’s more about the BTE part flopping around. She’s got a full ear mold that is snug. We’ve never had the ear mold come out. When she was younger we used a strap w/ a gator clip on the end of it in case she took the mold out of her ear. Fortunately she never actually did that.
Anyway, I think the adhesive or the head band is the way to go for us. I see that Phonak actually has some adhesive of its own…it costs a small fortune but you can get it on Amazon w/ free shipping.
I recommended the ear gears. The polyester had enough friction against my hair to keep still and it wicks away sweat to keep my aids dry
As an active female, I can totally relate here! For YEARS I absolutely refused to wear BTE aids. Not only did they flop around, but the sunglasses, bike helmet, sunhat, anything that rustled the hair also drove me NUTS as it rubbed on top of the aids.
For that reason, I stubbornly stuck to the IN the ear (hard plastic, custom mold) aids. I realize that for a young gal, this is not the most cosmetically attractive solution … BUT! You can also explore colorful ear molds - I think they look zany and stylish. They could be a “backup” pair of aids worn for gymnastics, or the daily go-to aids.
If that’s not an option, I’d try out the wide headband next. The only prob here is that there may be feedback issues if they block that mic pointing up there at the ceiling behind the ear. It would keep the aids in place, but add to the sweat factor for really active workouts.
Finally, I did have a “leash” attached to my first pair of BTE aids. I wasn’t used to how floppy they could be, and worried the receivers would fall right out of my ear canal. The leash at least prevented ANY chance of the entire aid falling out and getting lost - but it didn’t do anything to keep the BTE unit from flopping around.
If your daughter had hair long enough to pull away from the skin behind her ear (ponytail, bun), she could probably benefit from the double-sided tape option. But peeling the aids off every night … Ah, it isn’t a perfect world!
Thanks Bluejay! Getting a second set of aids isn’t an option I’d considered. Admittedly, I’m not familiar with other types of aids other than the BTE’s. I hope I don’t offend anyone here; that’s not my intent…but here I go!
We know other parents of children with hearing loss in the same age range of our daughter. Their primary concern was ‘aesthetics’ of the aids and told us they went out of their way to get aids that aren’t as noticeable. I get that; I really do. Just yesterday my 7 year old sweet girl came home from school and said that a ‘friend’ and her had a bit of an argument and the other girl ended it with “…well at least I don’t wear hearing aids.” Ouch. Big ouch. It was a great opportunity to talk about how to interact with people, how to handle disagreements, how people react when they feel upset or threatened or jealous, and how we need to not match others’ behavior. Anyway, back to my point. Aesthetics for us have not been a primary consideration. Our audiologist told us at 9 months that the BTE’s with custom molds provided the best audio input for her hearing loss. I’ve only asked one time since then and the answer was that they are still the best for her hearing loss. So when I meet parents who seemingly put the appearance above the function, I leave a bit perplexed. You’re not advocating aesthetics over effectiveness; I don’t mean to imply that. I’m just taking the opportunity to talk about something that I’ve seen that I feel can lead to slowed educational strides because of misaligned priorities. I wish my daughter didn’t have to endure some of the looks, questions, and comments; but she’s reading a full grade level ahead and is well above average in math at this young age. She’s smart. We’ve worked with her like crazy. And I’m reasonably certain that with her aids and the use of the Roger that she’s getting the best access to audio possible. All of these things (hard work by all of us, willing teachers, technology) have combined to yield good results thus far…and she’s just naturally bright which helps!
When I asked her about the headband she was a bit interested, but also said that no other kids wear them so she’d feel different. But she’s still intrigued by it so maybe we take her shopping. I am concerned about muffling the instructor’s voice and feedback, but it might be worth a shot at least one time.
The leash (love that term!) wouldn’t help I don’t think. She says her aids never feel like they’re going to come out and never have (we get new ear molds at least every 6 months at this age); it’s more the flopping around that I’m trying to help her with.
I bought some of the special Phonak (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071GTVRVZ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) Stick N Stay adhesive; they haven’t arrived yet but she said she’d like to try them out. I am worried about the wear and tear on the aids as well as the pain / hair pulling after each practice. But she wants to give them a try nonetheless.
We’ll solve this somehow. There are a lot of great options provided by folks here and I’m appreciative. Having people help us on this journey makes it easier!
headband would come to mind, putting preasure on the ears and pushing the aids more firmnly on the head.
This won’t help with the gymnastics problem, but there are ways to have some fun with her hearing aids.
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Thought I’d close the loop on this, at least in my house. I had ordered some Phonak adhesives that took forever to get here (ordered via Amazon and it looks like they shipped from the UK). Anyway, we tried out a package of them yesterday and they seemed to work great. She wore them for a few hours and was excited that they weren’t flopping around. When we took them off, she said it didn’t hurt much at all; she had put the aids on and was careful to not get much hair stuck in there. They peeled off the aids just fine as well. So I think we’re going to go w/ this when she starts up again after the break here and see how they hold up for an hour of jumping around. Thanks to all, and so far I’d recommend these if you’re interested and can acquire them at a price you are comfortable with.
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^^^^ That is SUPER!!! If I wasn’t 62, I’d take up gymnastics and give these Phonak strips a try! -
Thanks for sharing that they can be bought at Amazon. You never know … I may need them for another application, as I wear Phonak aids m’self.
I wonder if you could put a small piece of wax paper (or even a strip of paper these adhesives were pulled OFF of) right on the sticky stuff for normal wear. Then, when your daughter does gymnastics, she just needs to remove that paper to stick the aids onto her skin. At the end of the session, she can reapply the non-stick backing and carry on as usual! Might save some scraping and scuffing on the aid’s case itself.
Upon further reflection, THIS is what stuck in my caw. Your daughter is lucky to have such super parents who not only take care of her medical needs, but take time to explain how the world works around her. My folks didn’t have money to buy aids for me, so tell your daughter it is better to take a few insults like this than be snickered at when NOT able to hear, or even from mis-hearing something said. Yeah, been there!
Even so, the little devil that sits on my left shoulder has a million comebacks for such remarks. Like: “Yes, I wear hearing aids. I’m just sorry they help me hear such hurtful things like that.” Or to those who are NOT friends: “If you want to pay to say mean things to me, I’ll take a nickel right now. Otherwise, I’m going to tell our teacher what you said, and she’ll probably call your parents.”
Ah, that’s just ME - reliving what I woulda, shoulda said to others way back then had I been lucky enough to wear aids.
Bluejay, I can only imagine what it is like to walk a mile and even then I am wrong. I understand that we’re all different, and we are. From December, 2015 (I used to know the exact date) when she told me at 5 years old that she wished she wore glasses because they are more common, that she didn’t want to wear hearing aids all her life, that she feels different when she meets people for the first time I have better understood that 1) I have a very thoughtful daughter that is able to not only realize what her feelings are but can and will articulate them to me and 2) the world is, as we all know as we get older, often times a harsh place.
My daughter’s hearing loss does not suck. It is not the end of the world. And while not without a lot of extra-energy-sacrifice, it is realizing the emotional impact of it on her that is the most difficult for us as parents. Kids are a lot of things, and often times they are mean. A speech impediment, glasses at a young age, a limp…fodder for the potentially future bullies.
We’ve never minced words with our daughter, or at least I haven’t. Because the world is harsh and kids are mean, I’ve always tried to figure out how to raise a resilient, stubbornly confident girl. Honestly, there have been several times lately when I’ve felt like a total failure. She melts when she thinks someone is making fun of her for hearing loss, even when they are not.
Was in her classroom for a Christmas party and a boy was talking ‘smack’ to the degree a 2nd grader can. She told him to stop because he might hurt someone’s feelings. He started saying ‘what, i can’t hear you.’ I’ve seen the kid before; he’s not smart enough to make a hearing loss related joke, but I saw her just shrink. That night at bedtime I asked her what the kid/punk/future-felon had to say and she told me, then she said ‘it didn’t bother me, but it might have bothered someone else with hearing loss if he’d said it to them.’ It bothered her. It bothered me that it bothered her.
Wow, I need to find some place to ramble and rant more I think. Sorry for the novelette.
FWIW, I have found (obviously) that as a parent, talking about all of this is cathartic. I just don’t know many other folks in a similar positon.
I don’t care for the suggested response. School age is learning boundaries. Being hurtful is the norm. Children learn from it or should. There can be bullying issues that require intervention. But the interaction described is a common learning/growing issue.
Explain what a cheap shot is. Tell them the other person is mad about something and using anything to retaliate. They are the one with the problem; not you. If it hadn’t been your hearing aids it would have been something else. It doesn’t mean they are or aren’t your friend. It means they just lost control. Respond by asking why they are being hurtful as she thought she was a friend.
It is possible you daughter inadvertently started the issue that led to retaliation. All children lack experience on what we can get away with in life. They have to learn it as they grow. It is the natural process.
Those are my thoughts, anyway.