Glue ear - what is it?

[mckenzie]

Title line says it all really!
What is glue ear please?

DS (2 and a half) is getting upset in loud places and putting his hands over his ears saying "what's going on mummy?" and covers his ears when they do singing at playgroup etc and today a friend suggested that it might be glue ear but I didn't think to ask her what it was!!

Glue ear is a build up of fluid and usually leads to temporary hearing loss. I don't know if it would make loud places sound strange.

Your ds sounds hypersensitive to sounds. Sometimes called hyperaucus. Auditory Integration Training can help if it continues.

thanks very much jimjams.

If it is any comfort our 2.5yo dd also reacts to noise - not background noise but things like drills, chainsaws and low register piano notes. The flat above is having some work done and even random hammering is upsetting her.

Not to say that your ds doesn't have glue ear, or temporary hearing loss due to fluid or congestion if he has a cold etc, but just that it is not necessarily the only potential cause of this behaviour. GP would be able to have a look in his ears to rule such things out.

My ds (same age as yours) has glue ear...he does get upset when there's a lot of backgroud noise as it means that he cannot hear what he wants to hear..if he is trying to listen to someone speaking but the general noise level is high he can't make out the words. This doesn't sound like the discomfort your ds is having...as Jimjams says, it sounds like hypersensitivity to sound.