hearing fine. or is it??

[Chundle]

Dd1 ADHD. Severe ear infections and perforations as a toddler requiring grommets. She's now 8 yrs old and grommets no longer needed and no more infections. The only ear problem she has is a wax build up about twice yearly fixed with olive oil.

Had hearing test 18 months ago and they said although her eardrums are badly scarred her hearing is 100% perfect. However, over the last year I've been doubting all is well with her hearing as she mishears things frequently at home or doesn't hear at all and its happening more and more.

What I want to know is how reliable is the standard nhs hearing test?? Will gp refer for another hearing test if last one was fine if I still have concerns??

Chundle - a NHS hearing test only tests if your child has hearing loss or not.

Whereas it's far more complicated than that :)

You child can hear differently at each frequency. So they hear 't' fine, but struggle to hear 'sh' and 'z' hurts their ears.....

My DS says 'I could hear when people were speaking, but I couldn't hear what they were saying. I could only hear static. The sounds were muffled'

This won't be picked up in a normal hearing test.

Thanks indigo that makes sense as when I say something to her she thinks I've said something totally different!! Would it need to be a private test then or can nhs do specialised testing??

The only place I know who tests this is the Sound Learning Centre.

If your child has spiky hearing (like my 2 did) then they can do Auditory Integration Training to cure it.

It was excellent. Seriously helped DS and DD. But it's very expensive. Approx £1200.

It did however cure their hearing. I have before and after audiograms for both of them, and afterwards both of them had very close to perfect hearing.

No-one on the NHS was at all interested.

There are cheaper auditory therapies, the listening therapy, therapeutic listening, the Johansson method.

AFAIK Auditory Integration Training is the best and the most expensive.

I would get a CT scan done. This will show conclusively if there is any damage to the hearing. The mastoid air cell system is a sort of honeycomb and it can be glue filled.

Thank you indigo and sally! I will have a chat with her teacher and see how school is going then approach gp and see where we end up :)
Mumsnet as ever always helpful many thanks

Chundle

Otitis Media with effusion (grommets etc) is a way of acquiring auditory processing disorder (APD). so your DDs issues are more than likely APD issues or problems processing what she hears. APD according to the Medical Research Council affects 10% of children, and is a listening disability.

Those who have APD have problems processing all sound based information including speech, which can make following conversations difficult, and problems following multiple verbal instructions. There can be other issues such as poor auditory memory, poor sequencing abilities, dyslexia, and working memory issues caused by having to run alternative compensating coping strategies, so self organisation and an awareness of time can be an issue for some. some who have APD can also become phone phobic, as their visual compensating skills (lipreading, and reading body language) to help fill in the information processing gaps are not functional when performing that type of task

Thank you dolfrog. Awareness of time is def an issue. Think will need to look into this more next term with the school. Thanks all a great help