More Hearing Tests

Peter had a follow-up screening test 3 1/2 weeks after he was born. They used little foam ear tips and an electrode taped to his forehead, and played a series of low clicking noises for each ear independently. It wasn't loud, but I guess it might have been as loud as normal speech. Peter showed no response for either ear. He was asleep in his sling for this test, comfy and snug, so he didn't care about it, but I was starting to be more concerned. The test had taken about half an hour, and since he got Refer, Refer (I was starting to dislike those words) we got to schedule a visit with the ENT and a three hour ABR test with the audiologist. Another 2 1/2 weeks later we had the first ENT visit. She said he had beautiful ear canals :). But no wax, debris or anything like that. She used a special speculum with a little air puffer to see if his ear drum could vibrate. It did, so there wasn't water behind it. Right after that, in the same set of offices we met with the audiologist for a short diagnostic test that was called a tympanogram I think. It showed that Peter's eardrum worked just fine. Then came the test that bounced sound off the cochlear "hairs". Very few echos came back. The audiologist explained that it looked like there might be some inner ear issues, and tat the hair cells might be damaged. I asked hopefully, "can they grow back?". Sorry, no, once they are formed, that's it. She wouldn't give any diagnosis until the ABR, but when I asked "Possible or probable that he's deaf?" she said "Probable". I cried a little then. Not because my baby was most likely deaf, but because it was a whole new world that I knew nothing about, and it was a bit overwhelming. My husband knows I'm a litte kooky, and he makes fun of me for this, but one of my first thoughts was, "man, now I need to learn TWO sign languages!" (I have been teaching my girls French, and I hope they become bilingual someday. I would hope the same for my son, whether in speech or sign!) The flags were all red for hearing loss, but the diagnosis wasn't official yet. A week before Peter was 2 months we had both his 2-month well-baby visit and the ABR a couple hours later. I love that my health care team is all connected. The pediatrician knew all about Peter's tests before we got there, and asked how I thought things were. I told heri didn't thnk he could hear anything, and when we got to the audiologist, she already knew what I had said. I am glad they are a team. I am glad I don't have to keep all the records at hand and memorize a bunch of information. The pediatrician was happy with Peter's growth. The audiologist was happy Peter was sleeping soundly...he was once again in the sling for the ABR test. Little electrodes, little ear tips. Lots of noises over the different frequencies and decibel levels. No response. Peter was still snoozing happily (we had paused the ABR so he could nurse, then he went right back to sleep) so there was time to do an ASSR, no idea what tat stands for, but it can go louder to measure more profound hearing losses. Same electrodes stayed on, same ear tips, just a different machine. Finally there was a response! So Peter did have an auditory nerve :) And Peter was severely to profoundly deaf, in both ears. by this point I was not shocked by the news. I had already been reading up on Sensorineural hearing loss, and knowing more or less what we were dealing with was a relief. I was still feeling overwhelmed and tired at the thought of all the work ahead, but now it was time to act. We had a lot to study, learn, decide and do. Next thing to do: amplification. Hearing aid consultation was scheduled on my way out of the Audiologists.