Jordan got tubes in early this month and had his hearing tested yesterday. It’s hard to get an accurate read, because he could care less about looking up when somebody plays static on some speakers at various levels. He does show some interest for his name… but not a whole lot.
Anyway – before tubes, he tested at 60 decibels for voice and 70 for static. That’s not very good, though not horrible. It’s as loud as a normal conversation up to a driving car’s motor. He didn’t respond at all to anything quieter.
After tubes, he was responding to voice at 40 decibels and static at 60, I think. That’s a huge improvement and I think it shows his increased interest and awareness to words and voices. I’m so proud of him! They said he ought to respond down to at least 20 decibels (whisper quiet).
They encouraged further testing (A sedated ABR test at the hospital – it measures your brain’s response to sounds.) Honestly, I’m not sure what is best. If it involved no stress for Jordan, we’d do it for sure. But it’s a day at the hospital, an IV, recovery, etc. and he doesn’t need more stress in his life. Everyday life presents enough challenges for our excelling little fellow! (I need to post a development update on him sometime. He’s doing great but still presenting us with confusing parenting challenges!) BUT, if he isn’t hearing very well, that will affect his development and him being able to hear us and develop is very important.
So…. I am leaning towards believing that he can hear better than the sound booth test indicates. Why? Because he isn’t interested in a stranger saying “uh-oh, ba-ba-ba” through a speaker. He’s just beginning to respond to his name and other spoken words, like “eat.” But, as I said, this is important, so we’ll see.
All for now!
I am shocked they didn’t do the ABR when they had him under for the tubes. Emilia is getting an ABR in August when she is under anesthesia for her echo. Rex will get his ABR next time he needs new tubes (the first set of tubes was placed at the same time they did his palate closure and the plastic surgeon didn’t want audiology “in his way” so they didn’t test). What you could is wait until Jordan’s current tubes fall out and then if he needs another set, ask for the ABR to be done at the same time. Or if he has anesthesia for anything else, ask for it to be combined with the ABR.
I asked if they could do the ABR while doing tubes and they said the results wouldn’t be conclusive and didn’t want to do it then…