William was one of the first in the world to try out the revolutionary bone conduction hearing device stuck on behind the ear—ADHEAR. We chat with William’s mom, Lorraine, to find out about how ADHEAR has changed her son’s life.
1：你是如何第一次找出威廉有听力损失的？
William failed his very first hearing test at one week old. The specialists said it could be that he was just temporarily snuffly. I thought that as they had given a reason for this, there was no real issue to follow up on the diagnosis. However, when William was around 12-18 months, I knew something still wasn’t right. He had continual ear infections which antibiotics did not help with fixing. He began to have an awful smell coming from his left ear—I could smell his ear when he was sitting on the other side of the sofa! When William had a routine operation for glue ear at around 2 years old, they identified Cholesteatoma in his left ear, which is a non-cancerous growth. A grommet was fitted in his right ear.
威廉有许多手术去除胆脂瘤，并监测和控制这种慢性疾病。他还有一个手术来删除他的耳道，所以他只能通过骨传导系统的振动来听到。
2: How did you feel when you found out about William’s diagnosis?
We were gutted. William himself was too young to understand the diagnosis, however, I remember him saying, “Why me, and not my brother?” William didn’t really understand the whole situation, and feared even visiting the consultant. We had very little advice from any support agency while William tried out using hearing aids. As parents, we were left to work through and accept his illness on our own. I couldn’t read about or research William’s diagnosis as it felt overwhelming at the time—we were just going through the motions. We just took everything day by day.
Prior to getting the ADHEAR, William used to struggle in many situations: at school; playing sport; talking in noisy environments; and watching television. It was also hard for him to talk with his friends online while he played console games like PlayStation 4. Our son was tired and unhappy. He would come home from school with headaches, and then go straight to his room to have time in a quiet place, before later coming down to interact with the family. It was the only way he could cope. This time was difficult for us as parents. There was so much confusion in conversations with William. There was lots of repeating things and misunderstanding of each other’s perspectives.
3: Did you try out any other hearing loss solutions?
我们是威廉通过提供各种解决方案our consultant. We researched each option, including what impact it would have on William and what the side effects would be. We wanted to choose a solution that would allow our son to still play his rugby and have the freedom to be a child. We chose not to have a bone anchored device. We found out about a number of risks with this type of device and weren’t keen that part of it would still protrude out through his skin. It was important that our son’s freedom to undertake sports that he enjoyed, could remain. Before ADHEAR, William first tried using another bone conduction device that uses a headband. However, William says that it never felt secure, and he always thought they would fall off. Wearing the headband every day was also socially challenging, and it made him very unhappy. This type of device meant that for the first time William’s hearing loss was visible. He was really isolated at school as he felt different. His peers did not understand his hearing loss and he struggled to make friends.
4: Why did you end up choosing ADHEAR for your son?
威廉想继续像其他孩子一样做事，所以我们的儿子的声音非常导致我们的决定。迄今为止，获得Adhear是最好的解决方案。威廉现在真的很开心。他有自由选择，令人叹嘱让他能够在他通常会发现困难的情况下听到。威廉总是佩戴这个设备，并将其依赖于他的生活，如我们使用的其他设备。
William often says that he forgets he is wearing ADHEAR and even does star jumps because it is so secure. He also likes the ADHEAR as it has more options and settings than the previous device.
5: What is life like now for William with ADHEAR?
自从使用Adhear以来，威廉非常幸福，更响亮！他在学校做了一些很棒的朋友。他们明白他不能听到，所以他们适应帮助他。威廉整天都在学校，当他回家的时候穿着。如果他完全需要脱离它，那么使用很容易，他只需点击它即可再次关闭。我们的儿子现在可以享受电视，因为声音更响亮而更清晰。他还可以在餐馆听到朋友和人，不再像谈话发生一英里的谈话一样。以前，当威廉·幼儿是一个幼儿时，他没有和家庭的男性成员谈到，因为他听不到他们的声音。现在他可以用adhear听到他们的声音，这完全改变了！他可以与他所有的家人和朋友有更有意义的对话，并且更加自信，因为他可以听到足够很好地提出问题。 William now involves himself in group activities and situations which he may have shied away from in the past. He has more energy every day after school, and has fewer headaches from over-concentrating to hear in class. He also doesn’t speak excessively loudly like he used to.
I have noticed as time goes on, William chooses to wear the ADHEAR more and more without being prompted by us—he realizes now how much he needs it. William changes his own batteries and maintains the device. We’re so happy to that our son is more confident, more integrated, and is prepared for any future challenges.
Thanks, William and Lorraine!
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