"Her Mom brought her in here and shoved her in front of me and said, 'She's not retarded,'" Lynn says.

By now, Kim Tackett is a freshman at Flagstaff High School. She masquerades as the Eagle mascot during Flag High football and basketball games. She volunteers through several clubs at her school, wrapping Christmas gifts for kids and offering company to elderly people. She's kept after-school jobs at Dairy Queen and the Golden Aspen toy store in downtown Flagstaff, among other places. And for most of her life, she's worn hearing aids.

As for the effect her impairment has had on her life, Tackett is well rooted on the bright side.

"Well, I can turn them off if I don't want to talk to anybody," she says.

Karon Lynn is proud of Kim Tackett, holding her up as an example of a hearing loss patient with a stellar attitude. In her 15 years as FMC's primary audiologist, she's treated thousands of children with hearing loss -- and she's seen, and heard, it all.

BELLS AND WHISTLES

Twenty-five years ago, Lynn was working in aviation when she met an audiologist who piqued her interest in the field. But at first, it wasn't necessarily a noble drive to help others that drew her in.

"I liked the equipment," she says. "It was technical, with lots of buttons and knobs." As for the kids, she initially didn't want anything to do with them. But the job opened at FMC, and it required work with both adults and children.

"When I came up and saw the kids, I thought, 'Oh my God, this is cool," she says now. "I like their innocence. They're so flexible, and they usually don't have a problem with whatever we're doing."

For kids, hearing loss can translate into difficulties understanding or making speech - and therefore problems adjusting to life socially and even emotionally. The consequences are similar to the ones hearing-impaired adults face: inhibited understanding of speech, frustrated relationships with family and friends, and depression. Fortunately for both camps, hearing aids provide relief in up to 95 percent of cases.

But not all people who need hearing aids are willing to wear them. With her happy acceptance, Kim Tackett is a best-case patient, Lynn says. The biggest obstacle is embarrassment, Lynn says. "If the parents can't accept their children as hearing impaired, the kid usually picks that up. They're embarrassed and they tend to get picked on. A lot of the child's success depends on ... the parents."

HIDE AND SEEK

When Suzanne Tackett found out more than a decade ago that her daughter suffered from hearing loss, "I just started crying," she said. "Finally, we have a problem and we can solve it."

For Flagstaff residents Carrie and Dan Caputo, whose 3-year-old daughter Courtney failed her newborn hearing test, the solution proved a little more elusive.

Courtney hears perfectly out of her left ear. Her speech is developing fine, as she revealed in December while introducing a plastic Mickey Mouse to a plastic Rugrat in Lynn's office: "Nice to MEET you," she crooned. But her right ear hardly seems to work at all. It presents an issue mostly when it comes to her comfort in crowds and with localizing the origin of sound.

That's the part her Dad was noticing the most. "Will we be able to play hide and seek?" he asked Lynn and her colleague, audiologist Sue Bassett, at Courtney's hearing aid fitting.

In December, Lynn and Bassett doubted the hearing aid would work for Courtney. They suspected the nerves in her brain -- not her ear -- were causing the trouble. But they felt obligated to try, and they've been pleasantly surprised by the results. Courtney showed improvement in a follow-up test last month, placing a toy bear in a hole when she heard a tone in her right ear. And her brain seems to be learning to process the speech that enters on that side.

HEARING AT A PREMIUM

The Caputos have been dedicating time and money to their daughter's hearing since she failed her newborn hearing test. To them, the costs are worth it.

"I would say we just don't want her to be left behind," Carrie said. "She's a really smart little girl, and we want to make sure she has the same opportunities as everyone else."

For some parents, the cost is daunting both financially and in terms of time. Especially for parents in rural areas, driving to appointments can be a bear. And some rural parents are unwilling to move closer to cities, where services are more available and where their kids can interact with at least a few others with the same issues.

A hearing evaluation and fitting runs about $3,000. An average hearing aid is $1,500 a year, up to $5,500 a pair. And semiannual ear molds, a must for growing kids, cost $150 a pair. Batteries cost about 75 cents, and must be replaced at least twice a month.

Most of Lynn's patients have state health insurance, and many others are privately insured. Often times school systems will pitch in to cover travel costs for patients who have to drive from Kingman, Show Low, Colorado City. The SafeRide program helps patients make their doctors' appointments from the Navajo reservation. Many uninsured adult patients get help through state programs like Vocational Rehabilitation, or pay out of pocket.

As far as Lynn is concerned, the price of addressing hearing loss is always worth it, particularly for her youngest patients.

"These kids who have hearing aids early, they're going to college," she says. "They get to have a life."

TIPS FOR PARENTS

* Toddlers aren't likely to be stubborn, and they don't usually ignore their parents. These "personality traits," sometimes dismissed by less-than-astute doctors, can be signs of hearing loss.

* If it seems like your child lives in his own little world much of the time, suspect hearing difficulties.

* If you do suspect hearing loss, don't wait to check it out. Your child could lose valuable language-learning time. Call Flagstaff Medical Center's audiology department at 214-3728 to schedule a test. "With or without insurance, we will find a way to make it so," says Karon Lynn, the hospital's primary audiologist.

* Kids and adults alike are invited to a free hearing screening as part of FMC's health fair on May 6. Call 214-3728 for details about the hearing screenings. Watch the Daily Sun for information about the rest of the health fair, or follow the link to FMC from www.nahealth.com.

By Anne Minard
http://www.azdailysun.com/articles/2006/02/19/news/20060219_news_69.txt