Failed hearing test, both ears, being sent to ENT - any BTDT?

[rafiki]

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[MOM24WONDERS]

My daughter had to have her tonsils and adenoids out at 22 months. Before that she was almost completely deaf - we had no idea.

[Heather in MD]

I wouldn't worry too much about the failed hearing tests yet. He could have fluid in his ears that interfere with the test, it could be allergies, etc. You didn't say how old your ds is - it could just be that he is too young for the tests they are using. We didn't get really definitive test results with ds until he was almost 5 years old. The ENT will look at his ears to determine if anything is messing with the test results, and may order some more hearing tests.

 

But, if it does turn out that he has he has hearing loss, my best recommendation is to find a good audiologist - one who works well with your son (and you) and is able to get the best results for him. A good ENT is important, but not as important as the audiologist.

 

My ds, who is now 11, was diagnosed with mild hearing loss at birth. Around age 5 he had hearing tests (with an audiologist who had no business working with children) and we were told that he would have to wear an FM device when he started school. And that he could not use a hearing aid because he had a unilateral hearing loss. We decided to get another opinion, and found an audiologist that we have come to love. DS was fitted almost immediately with a hearing aid and the staff at his preschool couldn't believe the improvement in his behavior (now that he could hear!).

 

After a recent hearing test, we found out that ds's hearing in his 'good' ear had gotten much worse, and he now wears hearing aids in both ears. I don't think he would have taken the news as well as he did if he did not have such a great relationship with his audiologist.

 

Hope that helps a little.

Heather in MD

 

 

New territory for us, any links or book recommendations to read more about this?

 

Any thing I should be sure to ask while there?

 

What can we expect our first visit?

 

Ds has never had an ear infection, his ped says his ears look healthy, but ds says he has trouble hearing. Ds has always been sensitive to certain noises and does have articulation issues. I believe he did have a hearing test two years ago at his well child check and passed in a different state.

[Surfside Academy]

How timely...we just had an appt. with an ENT yesterday. My 4 year-old didn't pass his hearing test at his last check-up or on a return visit. I've never noticed hearing issues before although he doesn't articulate that well.

 

The ENT checked his ears and found he has fluid built up behind his ear drum. She didn't seem too concerned at this point and just asked us to come back in a couple of months to see if the fluid is gone. She felt most likely it will drain on its own but if not, we'll have to look into other options.

[AngieW in Texas]

I had the opposite issue. I took my middle dd for multiple hearing tests. It was obvious that she was having difficulty understanding us and her speech was way behind. She always passed the hearing test. As it turned out, the problem was with auditory processing, not with actually hearing. The auditory processing, expressive language, receptive language, and articulation delays were all diagnosed by a speech therapist. Six months of Reading Reflex (at 4yo) brought her speech almost up to developmental norms from being two years behind.

[katemary63]

DD17 was about 9 when she had a hearing test and failed. She had fluid filled ears caused by allergies, but no other allergy symptoms. She was put on claritin and it helped. She still gets fluid now and then and her hearing is worse or better because of it.

[krisp]

My oldest dd has hearing aids (nerve hearing loss, probably due to antibiotics she was given in the NICU, we'll never know for sure). She has regular sound booth tests with the audiologist.

 

My second dd, at 5yo, was given a hearing test at her well child check. She failed and we were referred to the audiologist. She tested fine, but the audiologist told me that all kids should have a sound booth test around 3ish (it may have been 3-5) since some low hearing losses weren't picked up by mom and dad. I thought that was interesting.

 

All they did for the 5yo was put her in a soundproof room with headphones. She had to turn and look in the direction of the sound played through the headphones. Easy and painless.

 

Kristin

[kokotg]

My son failed his hearing screen in his right ear when he was 5, and we were initially referred to an audiologist. She did a full audiogram and then had us come back again to redo the test because she wouldn't make a diagnosis based on one day's testing. The ENT was our next step after the hearing loss was diagnosed. The ENT may have an audiologist on staff--ours does...our ENT experience is always that the audiologist does a hearing test if he hasn't had one lately and then the ENT peeks in his ears for 5 seconds and declares them unchanged. But we already knew when we saw the ENT for the first time that Ari's hearing loss was nerve damage and nothing to do with fluid build up or anything. So I imagine the ENT will want to determine if there is, indeed, a hearing loss (as opposed to just something funky going on with the screening) and then, if there is, figuring out why and what to do about it. For us this meant a slew of new referrals--we saw an eye doctor, geneticist, speech therapist, and had a cat scan before we were done.

[Dobela]

Poor articulation is a huge indication of possible hearing problems. Depending on the type of hearing screening done in a pediatricians office, you may pass but still have difficulty hearing. My cousin's son passed all kinds of screenings but couldn't seem to remediate a serious articulation problem. Finally they went to a specialist at a children's hospital where they discovered he was not hearing a small but important range of sounds. He does wear hearing aids now and it has changed his life for the better.

[LNC]

My 8yo son has something called "glue ear" which causes him to at times fail hearing tests. It is basically stuffy middle ears, without infection. He also had speech therapy from agess 3-5, and he still has trouble with medial and ending s's. The ENT taught him how to pop his ears last year. He also told us to give him Mucinex diligently. Docs also prescribe steroid nasal spray for it, but it sends his blood glucose numbers through the roof (Type 1 diabetes). I really need to get to an ENT again. The pediatrician mentioned tubes or adenoids, but I'm not up for that unless his hearing is still bad.

 

http://www.ehealthmd.com/library/glueear/ge_whatis.html