Hearing aids for glue ear?

[MinPinPuzzz]

My 4 year old DD had audiology/ ENT yesterday for the first time. Serious Mum guilt, but I’ve spent years telling her off for ignoring me until it clicked about 6 months ago that she may have poor hearing. Went to the GP in February and got referred, was told at that point she was blocked with wax and to use olive oil.

Left ear, some wax, glue ear, mild hearing impairment 30dB.

Right ear, fully blocked with wax, they are assuming glue ear but can’t assess it, moderate hearing impairment greater than 50dB.

Plan to change to sodium bicarbonate drops, use otovent and return in three months then possible grommets if not cleared.

At the time, I didn’t realise how significant the hearing test results were, that’s quite a large loss of hearing which has been going on a long time.

Now I am reading around the topic... is it possible to have hearing aids for these issues instead of surgery if the otovent doesn’t work? I do not want to put my daughter through the risks of surgery which may then need to be repeated or the anxiety (she is terrified of doctors, I had to pin her down to allow the doctor to look in her ears). She has never had an ear infection.

Also, can long term wax impaction cause damage to the inner ear or the nerves leading to hearing loss even when removed?

Thank you, I am a bit of a worrier and like to know everything!

We didn’t twig our DD had glue ear until we realised she had issues with the soft consonants eg f for s. GP reassured us that they’d had the same thing with their child. Grommets were great, although we were lucky that DH’s bupa meant we didn’t have to wait months.

I would be very careful, don't just accept the grommets operation if it is offered. My son had glue ear and was recommended an operation. We declined because we felt that time would probably sort it (we were prepared to consider it a year later if no improvement). The operation itself has a small risk of damage to the eardrum. OK, it is small, but it is still a risk, and sometimes glue ear just sorts itself as the child gets bigger and there is more space around the tube in the ears. He was fine a year later so the op WOULD have been unnecessary (NB we asked for a hearing aid which he wore while he waited for it to correct itself). On the other side, we have a friend with permanent hearing damage from this operation as a child.

Don't worry about the guilt. We brought our daughter to the ENT specialist because of the constant runny nose for 2.5 yrs but within about 60 seconds of meeting her he told us her hearing was impaired and she was lip reading. Felt terrible!
My daughter has had grommets 3 times and had her adenoids removed twice! We were told that grommets were the best thing as she had sever glue ear which would have damaged her ear drum. She did have a bone conducting hearing air (hairband type) for a short time whilst waiting for the last op. She went for her last set of grommets and had eustation (sp) tube dilation which we are hoping is the long term fix.
Make sure you are happy with all the options. The consultants are always more than happy to answer your questions.
I was happy for her to have the op as I had had it when I was a child as well.

Thank you all, I’m feeling much better about it. I have ordered a little badge for her to wear to her school settling in sessions. With 60 new children for the teachers to navigate it might be helpful for her to have a visual reminder pinned on.