There once was a girl named Asha.
“Hope” is what her name means.
She was born with little ears,
because she got her Dada’s genes.
Microtia, is what it’s called.
When the outer ear is small,
or has an unusual shape,
or maybe it’s not there at all!
Dada has no ear canals.
And he has no outer ears.
So he wears a BAHA hearing aid,
And that is how he hears.
He has prosthetic ears,
which snap onto his head.
The BAHA cannot go in the ear,
But uses bone conduction instead.
Asha has real ears,
much unlike her Dada.
But her ear canals are small,
and she might still need a BAHA
Zoe is a super sister.
Of her new baby, she is proud
She loves to run and play,
and she can be quite loud.
But Asha keeps on sleeping.
She does not hear a sound.
Zoe loves music,
and singing, she enjoys.
Yet Asha keeps on sleeping
in spite of all the noise
Sometimes friends come over to play.
All those children running around,
To Asha, it sounds like thunder.
She is scared to be on the ground.
Asha reaches for Mama to pick her up.
Then she asks, “go night, night?”
Safely tucked in her crib,
Asha knows everything will be alright.
Dada and Mama took Asha to the doctor
To find out how well she hears.
The doctor ran some tests,
which confirmed everyone’s fears.
When a child hears strange sounds,
Normally, they turn and look
But Asha kept on playing
Looking at her toy book.
The Doctor explained: Asha cannot hear well.
Like when you are swimming
While under the water, sounds are muffled.
That is all she is hearing.
The doctor got two little BAHA’s,
attached to a soft headband,
“Put this on her head,
for as long as she can stand.”
The headband felt strange,
Asha did not like it,
She wants to take it off,
But kept it on for a bit.
The doctor turned them on,
And suddenly Asha can hear!
All the sounds became louder,
and even more clear.
With her softband on snuggly
holding both BAHAs by her ears.
Sounds travel to Asha’s brain
and she is amazed by all she hears.
For the first time,
Asha hears the hum of the fridge.
and stares at it in wonder.
She is startled by the vacuum
Which roars like thunder.
She hears a distant sound,
“Beep. Beep. Beep”
Asha runs to the window to see,
a truck is backing up.
Now when children came over to play,
it does not sound like thunder,
with all the sounds jumbled together.
Asha can hear clearly
The footsteps of children running
and the voice of each friend talking.
It is not scary anymore,
so Asha does not want to hide in bed.
Now she wants to stay awake
and play with her friends instead.
Once Asha can hear,
she listens as her sister talks.
Zoe teaches her many new words
Then Asha starts to share her thoughts.
Now when Asha wakes each morning,
“I want my hears please!”
Is the first thing that she says.
Mama puts in the batteries
to turn the BAHAs on.
Then Asha picks which softband
she wants to wear today.
With her BAHAs on her head,
Asha is ready to go play.
(The End)
