Anyone Dealing With Hearing Loss in a Child?

[Indianamom2]

We had our 5 year old DD's hearing tested last week at my request. She had passed the newborn screening and a previous hearing test at 18 months. However, she's had persistent speech problems and she is always the loudest child wherever we go. Dh and I are very quite people, so that made is even more unusual.

Long story short, the preliminary report indicated some hearing loss of the lower tones in both ears, more prominent in the right ear. The audiologist also mentioned that her ear drum was not remaining even (for lack of the correct term) but was sucking inward. ( I may be misunderstanding here: DD #1 was VERY EXTREMELY upset about the whole test and DS #2 was very unhappy to not be eating or held so I was quite distracted.)

Anyhow, the nurse from our pedi's office just called and said that the pedi wanted her to return to the ENT for a more thorough workup (she didn't see the actual ENT, just the guy who did the testing).

Anyone BTDT and know what might lie ahead? What do we do next? This is all new territory for me.

Thanks,
Christina

[ohiomom1121]

Hi, I'm an audiologist and just wanted to tell you that loss in the lower frequencies is called conductive loss. That basically means that there's something in the ear not allowing the sound to pass through normally. Sounds like there's probably some fluid in the ear. The good news is that conductive losses are normally treatable...possibly with tubes to clear the fluid. I've known lots of kids with speech issues due to chronic middle ear fluid, and once that fluid has been treated the speech usually improves dramatically. Kids tend to speak like they hear...fluid lowers the volume of what the child hears, plus it sounds like they are listening to sound under water. HTH. Good luck with the follow up exams.
BTW, good for you for getting her hearing tested. You are correct that her loud speaking volume may be due to how she's hearing.

[strollerqueen]

Yes. My DS has had repeated cholesteatomas. He has a short Eustachian tube which causes a "negative downdraft", meaning everything gets sucked back, rather than out. That, in turn, is what causes the cholesteatomas, which are benign tumors. At least that is what my surgeon said. Btw, we went to several ENT's who did not diagnose it. My surgeon saw it immediately, through an operating microscope. A lot of kids wind up with tubes, when in reality they have cholesteatomas that weren't seen.

[Jen841]

Long story short....
Failed 5 yr old hearing test at Ped
Went to ENT (actually 2, but that b/c of his ears, ended up pairing with another that his Urologist could do a combo surgery wtih)
Got tubes
During tubes surgery a cholesteatoma was noted by the ENT (noted his eardrum was very recessed/pulled in)
Second surgery to have the cholesteatoma removed (largest and most extensive our ENT at CHOP has seen)
Third surgery scheduled for 12/3

If this is your case, feel free to reach out to me.

NEW I forgot to add that the tubes put his one hear instantly into normal range. Neither ENT noted anything during their orginal evaluations that both yielded the conclusion to go the tubes route. The one lesson we learned a bit outside of this is you can do combo surgeries with a Children's Hospital if other issues are present. In our case he has a retractile testi and a hernia that was noted during the same exam (hence Mom fainted). We were comforted to have 1 combo surgery vs. 2.

I hope you did not get freaked out by us. Go to a specialist. If these word are present have comfort knowing you are not the only one and our children are just fine. I was so scared, and have found great comfort in knowing we are not the only ones. Through friends, family and this website we know 4 other children with this and all are just fine.

[DrSally]

No BTDT experience, but I'm hoping that it's something that can be corrected with surgery for your little guy.

[oneplustwo]

It may also turn out that your DC has fluid that is not draining from the ear -- no infection necessarily, just fluid that accumulates and won't drain. DD has had issues with this, especially around the age of 4-5 yrs. Her hearing tests would show similar results to what you are describing, but once the fluid drained her hearing returned to normal.

Did they do a bone conduction test? This can help tell you whether there is some blockage (like fluid) causing the hearing loss or if there is a sensorineural component.