Wesley's Hearing Assessment
We went to the hospital this afternoon for Wesley's hearing assessment. The appointment was booked for 1:00, exactly Wesley's nap time so I thought it was going to be a disaster. Really, it couldn't have gone better.
We checked in a few minutes early and Wesley was his charming self to the women in the reception area. We then waited only a few minutes before being called in to see the audiologist right on time. She was really helpful and clearly skilled at testing kids that young. She made it really easy for Wes and for me which was great.
The first thing was to test to see if he has any fluid in his ears. She told me we were looking for a lot of activity on the graph in front of us to indicate a lack of fluid. We saw a straight line for both ears which mean both have a lot of fluid in there.
We then entered the sound booth to check his hearing. He had little probes put in his ears and he responded when he heard things in them. She then attached a special headset to the bone behind his ear which would somehow simulate how he'd hear without the fluid present. Between the two tests she was able to determine that his hearing would be normal without the fluid, but with the fluid he has a 30 decibel hearing loss. This loss is not permanent and will be corrected once the fluid is gone.
So how does that happen? I'm not sure but I think it's pretty likely that we will have to get tubes inserted in his ears. The results from today need to go to the pediactrician first and then we'll go from there.
So that's the latest update. I'll post more as I know more!
We checked in a few minutes early and Wesley was his charming self to the women in the reception area. We then waited only a few minutes before being called in to see the audiologist right on time. She was really helpful and clearly skilled at testing kids that young. She made it really easy for Wes and for me which was great.
The first thing was to test to see if he has any fluid in his ears. She told me we were looking for a lot of activity on the graph in front of us to indicate a lack of fluid. We saw a straight line for both ears which mean both have a lot of fluid in there.
We then entered the sound booth to check his hearing. He had little probes put in his ears and he responded when he heard things in them. She then attached a special headset to the bone behind his ear which would somehow simulate how he'd hear without the fluid present. Between the two tests she was able to determine that his hearing would be normal without the fluid, but with the fluid he has a 30 decibel hearing loss. This loss is not permanent and will be corrected once the fluid is gone.
So how does that happen? I'm not sure but I think it's pretty likely that we will have to get tubes inserted in his ears. The results from today need to go to the pediactrician first and then we'll go from there.
So that's the latest update. I'll post more as I know more!
posted by Sue Matthews at 5:18 PM
5 Comments:
Good to hear the appointment went well, even if the outcome is not what you wanted to hear.
Hey, nothing to worry about really...both my boys had hearing loss before their tubes! And the tube surgery itself isn't invasive! Now their hearing is just selective! ;-)
Is that fluid what gives him so many ear infections?
Thank you. Sue-Ann I'm glad to hear it's not invasive. I didn't think it was but it's good to hear your input on it. How old were your guys when they got them?
Stef, it is the fluid that causes the infections. From what I understand from the audiologist yesterday, as long as it is there, it will continue to re-infect his ears.
Yes, the fluid is what causes the ear infections as well as the hearing loss.
Sue, Kai was 2 when he had his first surgery and then he had a 2nd last year when he was 3 (this time he had his adenoids removed as well, doctor said if they did that it would be less chance that he'd need a 3rd surgery)....CJ was 3 when he had his surgery (they took his adenoids the first time due to other reasons).
Btw - both my boys had mild to moderate hearing loss and are both now well within the normal range.
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