Children's hearing tests - can anyone help?

[SkirtingBored]

Bit of a long shot, but DD saw the audiatrician today at school. One of the hearing test measurements was displayed with a chart on a page. DD said one of her ears was a flat line, the other a slope. One friend had little hills, while another had mountains. What does it all mean?!

The audiatrician will be phoning me to discuss the results, but out of curiosity I am wondering what the lines meant .

Not sure if Im totally correct but one of dds measurements was flatter in the ear she has problems with,glue ear.She doesnt pick up the higher frequency sounds IIRC.Hopefully a hearing expert will be along soon.

Ta wrinklytum. DD has glue ear too. Do you notice that your DD doesn't pick up the high frequency sounds?

TBH Its quite difficult to assess with dd as she has severe delays and very limited speech.

Hope things go Ok for your dd

Thanks for taking the time to reply to me wrinkly (love the name btw). DD's issues aren't mega serious, but are impacting on her, so I would like to get it sorted

It rather depends where the "flat line" is. If it's near the top of the chart that just shows even response in all frequencies at a normal level. Lower down it could mean that there might be a conductive hearing loss (where the transmission of sound to the inner ear are blocked rather than a problem with the nerve of hearing) which would seem to suggest some sort of glue ear; a little bit like hearing under water.

The line is a record of the loudness a sound (at different pitches) needs to be before she can detect it.

Perhaps this might help to explain how the hearing test is recorded.

Thanks smartiejake - your explanation and the graph are helpful . I am therefore interpreting that on one ear she hears all frequencies badly, and on the other, it is the higher ones that are the problem. I shall wait the official view from the audiotrician!

Main thing is that she can't hear unless she can read your lips or if you shout. I hope there will be more of a plan than 'retest next term'...

Sounds like you need an urgent referral to an audiologist if her hearing is that bad. If you don't hear something with in the week I would get your GP to refer you.