Our 11-y-o daughter acquired mild-to-moderate low-frequency hearing loss with auditory neuropathy at the age of six. She does not wear hearing aids, as they make it even harder for her to perceive speech. She relies heavily on people repeating what they have said, often multiple times. She has experienced much of the same upset and the struggles you describe, and we feel we have always been behind the curve in helping her.

Probably the one adjustment that has had the most impact for her at school has been the use of radio aids. She refuses to use them at home, but in the classroom and during assemblies she wears a receiver on each ear which is connected to a touchscreen microphone worn by the teacher (or a talk partner). She still has difficulty participating in group conversation and struggles socially, but the radio aids have significantly improved her experience in the classroom.

I hope that there is more that can be done to help your daughter and that you are getting support from a Teacher of the Deaf. I would recommend asking them about the possibility of using radio aids at school.

One of my daughters has a mild hearing loss and another two has moderate. To me it makes no difference. Each of them struggle without hearing aids. My audiologist acutally reccomended and said that once they reach high school they can either swith to using nothing or an aid without a full mould. A raido aid is also very helpful even for a mild hearing loss when it comes to a noisy school setting. I know it can be difficult getting what you need when it's 'just' a mild hearing loss but know that it does make all the difference and worth advocating for. The fact that it's only soem frequencies doesn't make much difference nowadays as the digital hearing aids are set to only amplify the necessray missing sounds. Certainly worth a try... likely once she's tried being aided she'll love it. Good luck!

I am sorry to learn about the difficulties your daughter is facing.  I would like to share my son’s experience with you. 

He was diagnosed as high frequency mildly sensorineural hearing impaired at 4 years old after 3 tests.  The hearing loss of one of his ears is mild and the other one is moderate.  The education audiologist advised him to sit within 2 meters from the teacher in class to facilitate hearing and speechreading and reminded the teacher to face him while talking.  He was supported by a special education needs teacher at kindergarten and a speech therapist but was not given any hearing aid.

The speech therapist identified that hearing aid(s) might help him and wrote to the audiologist.  We had to wait nearly a year when he was due for review by the audiologist with his primary one report showing that he had failed all his English dictations.  I still remember our frustration when I helped him to revise for his primary one dictations.  He was eventually prescribed a behind-the-ear hearing aid for his better ear.  He only used it in class and took it off when out of the classroom.  He passed his English dictations since then.

As the policy changed, he was given two in-the-ear hearing aids when he was 12 years old.  He is now a university student and is using two NHS prescribed behind-the-ear hearing aids mainly in class.  He was given a Roger Pen (a wireless microphone) but he prefers to use just the hearing aids.  His pronunciation was not accurate when he was a teenager but has improved over time.

I hope the professionals have helped your daughter to find the most suitable solution for her.  All the best!