Ds (13) had hearing test and result is Bilateral mild sensori-neural hearing loss. Anyone with experience of this?

[SweetMarmalade]

I’ve posted in children’s health but it doesn’t seem very busy so thought I’d post here too.

Ds has been complaining of tinnitus so the GP referred him. Hearing test has come up with the above diagnosis, to be repeated in 1 month.

Dp took Ds to the apt, tbh I really didn’t think there’d be an issue so it’s thrown me a bit.

Anyone with experience in this field or have a dc with a similar diagnosis?

I have lived with this my whole life, diagnosed at three, likely triggered by prematurity/Rhesus incompatibility at birth. My hearing impairment is mild to moderate but that still means I was born with the hearing of an average 70 year old.

I wear hearing aids (digital) - they're better than they used to be, but while they help in the right conditions, they're not like glasses and they don't restore hearing. They take quite some getting used to - you do need to wear them continuously for a couple of weeks at least for your brain to adjust to the extra sounds you're hearing. Nevertheless it's important that your son wears them (if recommended) as it can impact his language and social development otherwise.

He's going to need some input from the SENCO at school to assess what kind of reasonable adjustments he'll need. Back in my day this tended to mean sitting at the front of the class and getting shouted at (as well as some extra written resources), but he might need quieter surroundings with some lessons in a separate room, extra time and some 1:1 with things like language learning, and where possible backing up spoken instructions with written or visual ones. Don't be surprised if he doesn't necessarily like the same kind of music as his peers. I found the boom boom boom of discos and parties very difficult to handle.

That's all I can think of for now (and probably as much as you can handle) but feel free to PM me if you want to know more.

Hi, I was diagnosed deaf at 17. I'd encourage him to try hearing aids if they are recommended as they can help with tinnitus.

Did they say if they think his hearing has been damaged by something or if it's just one of those things?

For a teen I'd also ask for advice about wearing headphones.

He'll be okay, I know it's a shock though. We found out our 6yos hearing is much worse than we thought last week.

DS2 (10) has this. He was premature but the audiologists think it might have a genetic cause. DS2 doesn’t need hearing aids. Busy environments like a classroom aren’t the best so he sits near the teacher. The only other time it’s noticeable is if people talk when he’s watching TV. He always turns it up very high.

I don’t mean to minimise your son’s hearing loss - especially as I can imagine tinnitus is very distressing - but DS has quite a few other issues that make his life difficult. For us mild hearing loss doesn’t really affect much.

@ArthurDentsSpaceTowel thank you so much for your detailed reply. I’m sorry you’ve had to live with this too.

Interesting you mention about Rhesus incompatibility, I’m RH negative, is this what you mean? I had to have extra injections. Ds was full term and nothing until now seemed amiss.

Really funny you should mention his music choices, absolutely spot on! He’s also mentioned how he finds the classroom environment too noisy? Has asked to finish his work in a room alone? Unsure if this all ties in.

I’ll definitely be going with him during the repeat test. Could this be anything else, is this why they’re repeating? They asked if he feels congested a lot, he gets the normal amount of colds, suffers with asthma. They didn’t mention anything about hearing aids, wonder if it’s a wait and see approach after the next appointment.

Thanks so much again. I hope you didn’t struggle too much at school (and beyond) with this.

@SushiGo and @Anselve thank you for your replies.

@SushiGo I’m so sorry you were diagnosed deaf at 17 and you’ve had the news that your dd is worse than you thought. My heart goes out to you. I’m glad the hearing aids make a difference though.

They haven’t talked about what’s caused it yet. Might be more info at the next appointment following the repeat test.

@Anselve I’m so sorry your Ds has other difficulties too, yes, apart from this recent diagnosis we are lucky.

for you both

NDCS (Deaf Children’s Society) are very helpful.
I doubt he’ll qualify for support from a teacher of the deaf with only mild loss but as it’s bilateral there may be some support in the postcode lottery... who knows.
Contact SENCO ASAP. He’ll need to be sitting at the front at the very least for now. NDCS can send you advisory info for schools but he will need to think carefully about which classes he can hear well in and which he struggles. Some classrooms have better acoustics than others.
IF his hearing tests at the same level next time you will be referred so they can ascertain what may have caused this. Some times they never get to the bottom of it. My DS2 is profoundly deaf in one ear and has good hearing in the other. This is since birth. We never found out what caused it.

The level of support that you will receive at school will depend on the school. My DS is 9 and has severe unilateral loss (cause unknown), and wears a hearing aid in the affected ear. His school offers no extra support and the teacher of the deaf has visited a couple of times but her advice has largely been ignored. Teachers comment that he doesn’t pay attention but I can’t seem to get them to make the connection regarding how he is seated - we’re hoping that high school in a few years will be better!

I'm sure it was a bit of a shock given his age, but a mild loss shouldn't affect him massively. Assuming he gets hearing aids, he may find they take a bit of getting used to but they should give him good amplification that he will find useful; they are great nowadays. Do contact your local NDCS group - some are busier than others, but they will have lots of info and be able to signpost you. My dc was diagnosed at birth, it's a lot of information to take in at first.

Sorry, may I just ask, does one need to get tinnitus in children investigated then? DS says he has tinnitus, think it's been quite a while. As I have it, I never thought to do anything about it

My situation is similar to ArthurDentsSpaceTowel. I was told I was partly deaf since birth with up to a third loss in the higher frequencies, possibly genetic as my dad and an uncle are the same. The Rhesus incompatibility bit is interesting. I'm O neg, and Mum was A neg, and Dad is RH positive.

I now have digital hearing aids, have had them for about 6 years, and I'm now 51. I wouldn't be without them now, it's amazing the difference they make.

I wasn't told that the aids would help with tinnitus, but I have certainly noticed a massive decrease in the amount of tinnitus I get.

MatterhornMadness I'd say it's worth getting the tinnitus checked out.

Dd2 was diagnosed from birth with mild-moderate loss.
She has worn hearing aids since she was a baby so doesn't know any different & has had a radio aid provided by council hearing impairment unit since she started reception in Sept which she loves & which removes clothes of the need to always be sat at the front in view of teacher (although I think she could lip-read before she could read!)
She does get overwhelmed in noisy environments and hates people talking over people because she struggles to follow & she's not so good at social norms/making friends but generally she's doing fine and it doesn't stop her.
Echo previous suggestion of ndcs for info & support.

Thanks everyone.

Still a bit shocked by the findings but all things considered, compared to some of you and your dc diagnosis, it appears this is mild and he possibly won’t need hearing aids?

Will see what happens in a month and come back to this thread.

@MatterhornMadness definitely make an apt to see your GP who may refer you. I was the same as you, I sometimes hear ringing and assumed that what D’s was experiencing was the same as me. Quite shocked that this is the outcome but will know more in a month and go from there.

Thank you all for sharing your experiences. I’m sorry some of you don’t seem to have much support in school. I hope this changes for you. Doesn’t bode well if ds needs any kind of support but his school might be different, as it is, atm it’s mild so this might not affect him too much.