Newborn hearing test

[GreenMeerkat]

DS was born yesterday by elective section and has just failed his newborn hearing screening in both ears and been referred to audiology.

The screener said it can be quite common in section babies due to fluid not being squeezed out during birth. But still can't help but worry.

Has this happened to anyone else with section babies?

With very new babies it is very common not to get a responses from the hearing screen. The fluid surrounding the baby in the womb can go down the ears and it is quite normal for it to take a few days for it to dry out. The screen tests at a quiet level about 35db so sometimes the sound played to the babies is blocked by the fluid. It is much more likely for a newborn to be refereed to audiology then a baby who is say a week old. It is impossible to say why the screen showed no clear responses, but it is highly likely to be birth fluid, which will dry out by itself and your baby will probably not have hearing loss. However it is very important to attend the audiology appointment just in case.

Please don’t worry! Two of my children have failed the newborn hearing test. The last one is just 2 (last Saturday) and in fact he failed it twice! Once as a newborn and again when he was a few weeks old. At that audiology appointment they then did a more in-depth hearing test (little cups over his ears and a couple of sticky sensors attached to his head - nothing painful and he happily fed/slept through it all) which he then passed. The screener reassured me that even if he had failed this test it still didn’t mean he definitely had hearing loss but would mean he would need to go to the hospital for an even more specialised test. Again please don’t worry - the most likely reason for failing the test is normal fluid in his ears that hasn’t dried out yet. Xxx congratulations!!