Anyone have their DC hearing checked (long)

[steph2003]

My DH has hearing loss in his one ear - they think he was born with it. My mom & her brother both have hearing loss & wear hearing aides. Fortunately both my brother & I have not had any problems. My uncle never had kids.

DS's hearing checked out fine on the newborn screening. Fast forward to now & his 9 month checkup. Prior to that he had an ear infection in one ear & then the next. At the 9 month checkup his ears looked better. I mentioned being concerned about hearing loss in light of our family's history. My ped said we could/should have his hearing checked if I was at all concerned. But she didn't think it would be a problem - I did note to her that at times I felt like DS would not "respond" to me when I called his name, etc. I feel like he has "selective" hearing at times :)

So my DH took him for his hearing test today at the same audiologist who will ultimately outfit DH tested him this afternoon.

Test results - he still has fluid in both his ears so he passed 3 out of 5 test in one ear & only 1 out of 5 in the other ear which has more fluid. The audiologist said there is no infection in the ears but still fluid hanging around which is perfectly normal for months after an ear infection. But is this normal?! I can't help worrying about his hearing & long term effects....the audiologist also said it is unlikely that my husband only having hearing loss in one ear that he would pass anyhing onto our son. Also that if he did fine on his newborn screen it is unlikely he would have major hearing loss which I don't think DS has major hearing loss - it is evident he does hear some things (phone ringing, loud trucks & the like) but I just want to circumvent any problems now - as minor as they might be.

Any experiences/input?

[bluej]

When Alex was a toddler she use to have a lot of ear infections and a couple of ruptures. I know with the ruptures her hearing was affected and it took several months to return to normal. In her case there hasn't been any long term effects, but it was worrisome at the time. I'm sure your DS's hearing will be just fine as soon as the fluid clears up. I would give his ears a couple of more months to clear up and then have him tested again just to put any nagging doubts to rest.

Oh, and that 'selective' hearing, will become dramatically more selective as he gets older!

[MommytoDylan]

My DS has hearing loss on the right side--it is moderate loss and the left ear is fine. Doctors now think he lost his hearing due to a virus I caught while I was pregnant.

DS had three ear infections last winter and the fluid hung on for quite a while. We ended up getting tubes put in during the month of May and he's not had an infection since. He was also dramatically more responsive to his name being called, etc. as the poor guy was just hearing things so muffled before.

Have you seen an ENT? They are good at working with the audiologist to decide if the ears are draining quickly enough so no permanent damage is done to the hearing.

Good luck and take care! I know how worrisome it can be!

Meredith

[hez]

Our ENT has an audiologist team as part of the practice and on-site, which made it all really convenient. DS had leftover fluid in his ears from the last infections, and had some minor (can't remember if it was 'slight' or 'mild') hearing loss due to the fluid. They did a check with this headband apparatus to see if his base hearing (bypassing where the fluid is) was OK, and it was. So, their assessment was that DS will hear perfectly well once all the fluid drains, either on its own or with tubes.

We go again on Thursday to see if he's drained on his own. I know it might not be necessary, but I'm still curious to see if his hearing chart looks better if he's drained. I whispered really quietly yesterday and got reactions from DS, so I'm hopeful!

I specifically asked the ENT if he thought DS's hearing would be affected long term if we waited a few weeks to let his ears drain on their own if possible, and was told no. I would check with yours, Steph, (if you have one yet) to get that kind of reassurance in Griffin's case.

[steph2003]

Thanks mamas for your responses -

We have not seen an ENT - just an audiologist. According to him there is nothing else we can do at this point to help the drainage along & he wasn't concerned with leaving things as is until a couple of months at which point he wants us to bring DS back in to run the tests again under the assumption that then the ears would be fluid free (or so we hope)

Hm, I'm wondering now if I should take him to see an ENT. Just in case?

[hez]

Our ped's generally refer kids to the ENT after a certain # of ear infections within a certain time period, or after fluid's been present in the ear for 3 months. Part of the reason we got referred was because even though his # of ear infections was low, there was a possibility DS had had fluid for that long. The other part was because his ears were no longer infected, but hadn't drained at all in 4 weeks after the two rounds of antibiotics.

Maybe call your ped to see what their referral guidelines are, and if Griffin fits within them?

[steph2003]

Hey, cute updated avatar!

Under our health plan we don't need a referral to see a specialist so I guess technically I could go to an ENT myself. Although I certainly don't want to waste their time - I think I will call my ped tomorrow & just tell her what the results were from the audiologist test & how she suggests I proceed from there.

[hez]

Thanks-- Payton's old avatar was from July & he's changed a teensy bit in 4 1/2 months!

Yeah-- we don't have to get the referral anymore either, but we got sent to the ENT anyway by the ped. Hope the conversation tomorrow goes well!

[Melanie]

Ds also had the newborn test, which turned out fine. He had one long and horrible ear infection, followed by a few threatening amounts of fluid later (it did disipate after the infection). We see a chiropractor for his ears, so they've been fine.

Today he had his first vision and hearing test (Age 3) and his hearing was just fine. Though she detected some negative pressure probably due to him getting over a cold.

If I were you, I would wait until there is no fluid to have him go through another test. Having had an ear infection recently, I can tell you that I couldn't hear well with the fluid.