Disclosure :: May is Better Speech and Hearing Month, and our sponsors, The Emerge Center, want to make sure the kids, moms, dads, and grandparents of Baton Rouge have healthy hearing this summer!
Summer, Swim Plugs and Healthy Hearing
A Louisiana summer doesn’t go by without a LOT of time at the pool. And what comes along with a ton of pool time? You guessed it – swimmer’s ear and ear infections. Before diving into the season, now is the best time to get custom swim plugs for your little ones. Why bother with swim plugs? Well, if your child is prone to ear infections or Swimmer’s Ear, swim plugs will keep your kiddo from having to deal with those issues! Also, any child with tubes should absolutely have custom swim plugs. Children of all ages can be fit for swim plugs, as well as adults who hate getting water stuck in their 
ears when swimming!
At The Emerge Center, swim plugs are very affordable at $30 per ear and can be taken home the same day as your appointment. The process is simple. First our audiologists check the ear for any wax or debris that may be present. They then insert a small piece of foam into the ear, which protects the important parts of the ear from the material that’s used to form the plug. The patient then selects their color of choice for the plug. Bright pink? We got it. Lime green? Done! Blue? Of course! The fun colors are helpful for little ones to keep them from getting lost, but we do have neutral colors for adults. Once the color is chosen, the mold, which feels a lot like play-doh, is placed into the ear. After about ten minutes, the plug is dry and ready to take home!
Swim plugs are easy to take care of and last for a long time, depending on how quickly your child grows. A good rule of thumb: every time your child’s shoe size changes, it’s time to get new plugs!
Healthy Hearing is Important at Every Age
When you think “audiology,” you probably think, “My kids and I are too young to be worrying about that, right?” Healthy hearing is important at every age – especially during childhood. Did you know that every newborn baby in the state of Louisiana is administered a hearing screening before leaving the hospital? And, if they don’t pass, they must be re-evaluated within 30 days. Every new parent checks for ten fingers and toes, but the health of a child’s ears can be easy to overlook.
Children learn to talk by listening to speech, and hearing is essential to your child’s development in vital learning, social skills and more. Recognizing the signs of hearing loss early is critical when it comes to children. The earlier a hearing loss is identified and treated, the more likely the child will develop speech and language skills on par with normally hearing 
children. At The Emerge Center, we offer comprehensive hearing evaluations for all ages, from newborns to seniors.
Using the results from the various tests that we conduct, our audiologists piece together a blueprint of your child’s hearing. Are both ears the same? Has this hearing loss been present since birth? Is it typical hearing loss due to noise? Are the results those of someone with a middle ear dysfunction? With answers to those and many other questions, our audiologist’s are then able to identify and accurately diagnose and recommend an effective course of treatment.
“As a parent, it’s heartbreaking to face the reality that your child’s pathway through the journey of life is paved with a course you never imagined. However, The Emerge Center staff gladly joined our family on this journey as our guides. The staff approached the life changing news that our daughter had moderate to severe bilateral hearing loss with dignity and grace. Emerge fitted our daughter with her initial hearing aids and has since been our go to supplier. We also see them twice a year for hearing exams to follow her hearing loss. Late last summer, when faced with pushback from the school system in attempts of obtaining services for our daughter, the Emerge audiologists went above and beyond reaching out to local partners to gain insight and valuable information for us to provide to the school district at our IEP and 504 planning meetings. Because of their invaluable knowledge and assistance, our daughter is thriving in a mainstream classroom within the number one school system in the state of Louisiana. She is a gifted student with straight A’s functioning with minimal accommodations, thanks to an FM system and her hearing aids.”
Our mission at the Emerge Center is to empower children and adults to reach their greatest potential and to effectively communicate and interact. With that in mind, we would like to offer free hearing screenings to the RSMB readers on Friday, May 20! You can schedule a screening for you, your child, or your parent by calling us at 225-343-4232 and asking for the Audiology department.
