Thursday, April 10, 2008

Mapping a Cochlear Implant


Some of you hear me say "I have to take them for mapping"...translated: get their processor adjusted so they hear better... Here is a photo of Brook at a mapping session. As you can see, she's wearing one processor as it is hooked up to the audiologist's computer behind her. She plays with playdough and simply tells us when she hears the tones or beeps. Younger children are unable to simply announce when they hear sounds so they sometimes do some type of listening game (conditioned play)where they drop a toy into a bucket when they hear the tones as shown by this child. Other times someone will simply watch for the baby/child to react to the sound (such as looking up, turning their head, etc). It only took around an hour to do a thorough mapping on one processor and a quick mapping on the other. We started to lose her there at the end, she got tired of those tones. Now she hears much better and she's happier and less frustrated. Oh, please note the farmer's tan (actually sunburn).

2 comments:

Abbie said...

She looks so focused! I would love to be in the room when a child is being mapped. It would interesting how I can relate to them.

Karen Putz said...

Val,
I just wanted to comment on that sweet picture of your two kids looking at each other-- precious!