Hearing problems - any advice?

[Peckarollover]

My boy is 16 months.

He failed his original hearing test and was referred to audiology unit of hospital.

Since the first test the nursery have expressed their concern about him being so clumsy and falling over so much.

He had his appointment at the hospital yesterday - the guy testing said that the test showed that there was in fact hearing loss he said that he consistently didnt hear the noises below a certain volume and also at certain pitches etc He also did another test where a little probe was put in each ear and this printed out a graph, this apparently backed up the test results from earlier.

He has now been referred to the surgeone but the guy testing couldnt really answer any of my questions and said I would have to wait to speak to consultant.

Is this fairly common? Could it be temporary? Is he likely to be too affected by it?

I know that he isnt deaf as he can carry out simple instructions (eg Give me a kiss!) and repeats words but he does often seem oblivious unless you talk quite loud.

Just wanted to know some other peoples experience of what these tests mean!

[Peckarollover]

anyone?

[Heathcliffscathy]

becca are you london based>?

[littlemissbossy]

Becca, has he given you any information at all? or a probable diagnosis such as glue ear?

[Heathcliffscathy]

i'm asking cause ds went for his last appointment at audiology yesterday and the consultant audiologist that saw him is absolutely fantastic...and he works privately too...so if you wanted peace of mind quickly, might be worth either getting referred by your gp or seeing him privately (he'll see you soon). our first appointment with him was private and he immediately tranferred us to nhs for follow ups.

i'm so sorry about your ds...but they can do so much for hearing loss now and it's great they've caught it early...

tbh, i'm quite shocked that the audiologist couldn't tell you what was wrong (is it glue ear for eg)...

[Bozza]

Sounds to me like it could be glue ear. has he suffered from a lot of colds or ear infections? My DS also failed his test as a baby and went on to have subsequent tests/consultations. He ended up with grommets to drain the ear which worked really well but unfortunately once the grommets dropped out the glue ear recurred and he had more grommets and his adenoids out. In a lot of cases the first set of grommets sorts out the problem. I know there are people who have tried to sort out the problem without resorting to an operation. Try doing a search on glue ear on here.

[Kelly1978]

The probe test measures response from the aural nerve, and I dont think they can be affected by glue ear etc. It sounds to me like your son does had some hearing loss.
The clumseyness is also typical of problems in the middle ear, as they affect balance. I have a moderate hearing impairment, and used to be terribly clumsy! I still have poor balance but it's not too bad, I can ride a bike or a horse perfectly well.
That's prob not what you wanted to hear, and I might be wrong. Good luck with the consultant.

[geogteach]

Hi, my 3 year old has recently been diagnosed as moderately deaf. He has a severe loss at high frequencies, has one aid and will get another next week. He has good speech and I only took him for a test because he said 'huh' all the time. My son has taken to his aid well and it makes a big difference especially in situations like the car where he sits behind me and couldn't hear anything - we have since realised he lip reads. The national deaf children's society have a good web site or cat me if I can be of more help.

[NatureDoc]

Cow's milk products is a big one when it comes to blocked ears - cranial osteopaths are also brilliant. A good naturopath or herbalist would be able to sort this out. Try www.babydirectory.com.

[Peckarollover]

I have just worked out that Harvey absolutely, definitely doesnt hear whistling. Absolutely oblivious to it. Also, his sister was shouting and screeching for him the other day and he was totally oblivious - can children be deaf only to certain pitches?

[Peckarollover]

bump

[LIZS]

Not sure it is pitch as much as frequency which may or may not be heard. ds often loses the lower range when he as a cold for example - if he happens to be tested then he will fail or be borderline but a retest when the congestion has cleared is then fine.

To reassure you I was plagued by ear trouble as a small child, with hearing loss picked up after I had started school. I have partial deafness in one ear (not enough to need an aid, at least back then) and coped at school well enough to go to university. It did rule out certain jobs for me (telephonist for example) but probably only in the same way as shortsightedness or colourblindness would.