A child with hearing loss is routinely tested to ensure hearing aids, etc. are programmed correctly. The typical test is the individual sits in a booth and listens for sounds from the audiologist. When he hears the sound, he is to look left or right and acknowledge the sound. There are all kinds of tricks of the trade to teach children how to do this test.
For awhile, Maxwell was doing great...and we were all excited and proud that he had reached the development stage of understanding this task. However, in the past year or so, Max stopped "performing" as well in the behavior based hearing tests. It seemed as though he was losing interest or simply bored with the activity. Therefore, the team decided a BAER, which is a sedated hearing test, would be the best route to get the most accurate results.
Sedating Max with anesthesia is not usually an easy option for the team, because his medical issues have put him as "high risk." We went through a battery of tests to ensure he was medically stable and he was given the green light this past Tuesday. Then on Friday we went to Children's for the BAER. Medically, he did wonderfully.
However, the hearing test results were quite discouraging. He wasn't getting bored in the previous tests...he truly couldn't hear the sounds. His hearing loss has progressed to the point of severe loss in one ear (which used to be more moderate) and the other has declined from severe to severe/profound. Wow. I didn't expect to get so emotional when I heard the news. But it hit me hard...especially the fact that it is worsening and that could mean he will eventually be 100% deaf.
So we return to Children's soon for another behavior test based on bone conduction hearing loss. This will help determine if we should continue with our typical hearing aids or move on to having a BAHA implanted.
3 comments:
Max sounds like Eva right now, he hearing has gotten worse as well and we are going to do a few more tests and then figure out if or when to go forward with a cohlear or not. Right not the ENT says she thinks Eva would do good with one so we will see.
Good Luck!!
Crystal and Eva
Heavy news especially when you're not quite expecting it. I hope that if he moves forward with the BAHA things will work well.
Sending hugs {{{Incredible Amy}}} and I know you will make the right decision for Max!!
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