ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) – Until recently, patients with the condition microtia could either wear a bone-conduction hearing aid attached to a headband or have surgery to implant a screw or magnet into the skull to attach a hearing aid. Now, a newly FDA-approved adhesive device is changing that.
Twelve-year-old Story Jackson was born with microtia: her right external ear never developed, resulting in the inability to hear from that ear. It wasn’t a problem until middle school
Story’s mother, Regan Jackson, explained, “She kind of would feel left out, like if she’s sitting on this side of the table and her friends are over here talking about something and everyone else is loud she was always like having to turn her head like, what?”
Story also realized it might someday affect her dream job.
“One of the things I want to be when I’m older is an orthopedic surgeon. I would have to hear my surroundings and know what’s going on, for the sake of my patient,” Story Jackson said.
So when the Jackson family heard that the ADHEAR became FDA- approved in 2018, Story became one of the first 25 people in the country to receive the stick-on device.
Jennie M. Chiles, Au.D., an audiologist said, “It works by capturing the sounds through the microphone that’s on the side that it’s being worn and it sends those sounds basically through little vibrations through the bones in the skull to a hearing organ itself.”
“When it turned on, I was like I can’t believe I can actually have this,” Story told Ivanhoe.
Regan said, “When we got home she was like tapping her feet on the floor like listen to that because everything sounds different.”
At her two-week checkup, Story was hearing clearer than ever.
The ADHEAR device can come on and off with a click to the water-proof adhesive adapter. That adapter has to be changed every three to seven days. ADHEAR has been available since August 2018 and may be covered by insurance.
Contributors to this news report include: Hayley Hudson, Field and Assistant Producer; Roque Correa, Videographer; Cyndy McGrath, Supervising Producer; Roque Correa, Editor.