Shane and I took Maddie to a doctors appointment this morning to make sure her hearing was good. When Madelyn was born they did a hearing test on her (which is standard for all children). She passed, but because of the close family history of hearing loss they suggested that we let our pediatrician know. He recommended we take her to an audiologist just as a precaution because my hearing lose was diagnosed as unexplained(I went deaf in my right ear when I was in 7th grade).
She did well and passed all of the test with flying colors! They want to see us back in 6 months just to run more test and to make sure everything is going well with speech. It looks like this will become routine for us. We have to go back once every year, and do the same for any future children.
Hear are the tests that were preformed on Madelyn today:evoked otoacoustic emissions (EOAE) - a test that uses a tiny, flexible plug that is inserted into the baby's ear. Sounds are sent through the plug. A microphone in the plug records the otoacoustic emissions (responses) of the normal ear in reaction to the sounds. There are no emissions in a baby with hearing loss. Madelyn did not like this test at all! She did NOT want the plugs in her ears...
play audiometry - a test that uses an electrical machine to transmit sounds at different volumes and pitches into your child's ears. Your child usually wears some type of earphones. This test is modified slightly in the toddler age group and made into a game. The toddler is asked to do something with a toy (i.e., touch a toy, move a toy) every time the sound is heard. This test relies on the cooperation of the child, which may not always be given. In our case a screen with Elmo sat on her right and left side. She turned her head according to which direction the sound was made. She liked this test!
