Sudden deterioration in hearing in already partially deaf child.

[StillSlightlyCrumpled]

Hello, DS2 (10) has a mild / moderate conductive and sensorineural hearing loss. This is mostly linked to his genetic condition although there is some thought that it is also due to some severe poorly treated infections as a much younger child.
At the end of last year he had the surgery for bone anchored hearing aids and all has seemed okay. He has very recently however become distressed with tinnitus to the point of tears at night time etc.

He had an audiology appointment on Friday which showed a dramatic loss in one ear going from 40db to below 70db in just four weeks. The audiologist is arranging an appointment with the consultant as soon as possible and mentioned he may need a scan as she feels it's a middle ear problem. It's the same ear that has been giving him the aggravation with tinnitus.

Does anyone have any experience of this please? What could cause such a dramatic loss in such a short space of time.

Thanks in advance :-).

Did they do both regular audiometry and bone conductive testing? That would give an idea of whether it's the conductive or sensorineural hearing that's deteriorating (if the audiologist thinks it's middle ear then that suggests they may have done). Did they do tympanometry? Was glue ear ruled in or out?

DD's consultant has said that there is no condition causing progressive permanent conductive hearing loss (although I would have thought that cholesteatoma might qualify) although plenty causing progressive sensorineural hearing loss.

She seemed to think it was conductive, but she was concerned. His ears are a mess, very badly scarred & an almost permanent infection going on.

I'm guessing cholesteatoma unfortunately.

Thank you so much for replying .

Hi, caught your link to this on the AIBU d/Deaf slugfest

Did the audiologist say if the drop in the one ear was across all frequencies, or was it just confined to low or high?

I don't know of anything causing progressive permanent conductive hearing loss either - would cholesteatoma be readily identifiable from an inspection of the canal?

Both my DSs have a progressive sensori-neural hearing loss - EVAS (sometimes seen as LVAS). EVAS can lead to big, rapid drops in hearing levels; how it does it isn't exactly clear, but it can be triggered by a minor head trauma or abrupt change in pressure.

EVAS is usually diagnosed via an MRI scan - once we were clear what it was that the DSs were dealing with (including other factors), we went for cochlear implantation. They weren't getting anything out of HAs, because their hearing levels changed so frequently that the audiologists couldn't keep up.

Hi ugger, yes totally across the board, the graph looked exactly as it usually does but lower down iyswim. She said that his ear was wet when she looked but not oozing (that's as good as it gets for him).

One of my worries is that it may be caused by the trauma of having the surgeries for the BAHA's. He does now have screws in his head!

Will wait on the appointment with the consultant, I got the impression it won't be long & I'm guessing when the audiologist said he would need a scan it would be a ct or MRI scan?

This is the audiologist at the childrens hospital we go to btw so I'm sure he's in very good hands, but it sometimes feels you sort one thing to create something new to be worried about!

He is getting into the "right" age bracket for cholesteatoma to become more common. But (from what I've read, no direct experience) she would likely have been able to see more than just "wet" in that case (but maybe his other scarring is clouding the picture?).

If they are looking at middle ear I'd have thought CT would be more likely -- MRI more likely for inner ear/neurological stuff.

Have you tried asking on the NDCS Parent Place forums?

Thankyou , have just registered with NDCS for their forum and asked the question.

His ears are very scarred and they never get a clear view.

Thanks again.

It's a bit patchy whether and when you get responses on there, but at its best you can get some valuable experience.

I hope they get him in for a scan quickly, so you at least know what you're dealing with.