Can we use protected method instead of private method?

[ln8711]

Hi,
In the previous version, I can simply override the method from the package (to better handle text in Vietnamese)

function convertVietnamese(str) {
    return str
        .normalize("NFD")
        .replace(/[\u0300-\u036f]/g, "")
        .replace(/đ/g, "d")
        .replace(/Đ/g, "D");
};

NiceSelect.prototype._onSearchChanged = function(e) {
    var open = hasClass(this.dropdown, "open");
    var text = e.target.value;
    text = convertVietnamese(text.toLowerCase());
  
    if (text == "") {
      this.options.forEach(function(item) {
        item.element.style.display = "";
      });
    } else if (open) {
      var matchReg = new RegExp(text);
      this.options.forEach(function(item) {
        var optionText              = convertVietnamese(item.data.text.toLowerCase());
        var matched                 = matchReg.test(optionText);
        item.element.style.display  = matched ? "" : "none";
      });
    }
  
    this.dropdown.querySelectorAll(".focus").forEach(function(item) {
      removeClass(item, "focus");
    });
  
    var firstEl = this._findNext(null);
    addClass(firstEl, "focus");
};

Now the method has been changed into private aka #onSearchChanged
Is that possible switch back to old method instead using private one?

Thanks