Well, today was the day and we took our 3 year old daughter to the hospital for her sedated ABR. I did not get a copy of the audiogram but I have a pretty good memory of what it consisted of. Basically, though, they did confirm that she has a hearing loss. She is obviously not hearing voices and it is easier for her to hear low pitches than high pitches. The audiologist didn't "name" the loss (mild, moderate, etc.) but from what I have researched and if I am understanding correctly, I would say her loss is moderate to moderately-severe. Her loss starts at 40db (at either 250 or 500 hz, can't remember which one they started charting at) and goes down to around 70-85db in the 2000hz range. Her right ear is slightly worse than her left (except at the highest hz where they switch places) but really not that much worse because the lines were pretty close to each other. They are going to refer her for a few more tests to see if they can find a cause and then we will be fitting her for hearing aides. They seem to think that the hearing aides will work very well for her loss and they will also be referring us to ChildFind (a state agency that works with intervention services) to begin intervention services like speech therapy. The ENT threw out the possibility of Large Vestibular Aqueduct Syndrom as a cause of the loss and the audiologist said something about the way that the nerves were "firing" during the test so it could possibly be nerve related too. The tests they will be doing (I think a CT and maybe MRI) will help to determine or rule out some things, but I am not pinning all my hopes on them finding an actual cause (because they might not)- I am just really glad to finally know what her hearing loss consists of and where we can go from here.
I would love to hear any feedback on this and any suggestions as we are now starting on a new journey of learning about all these things. I guess she is considered hard-of-hearing then, correct?
Oh and thanks to all those who were thinking about us today and have helped calm my nerves so far . This is a great place and I am so happy to have found it!
I would love to hear any feedback on this and any suggestions as we are now starting on a new journey of learning about all these things. I guess she is considered hard-of-hearing then, correct?
Oh and thanks to all those who were thinking about us today and have helped calm my nerves so far . This is a great place and I am so happy to have found it!