Re: Question about hearing test in 15mth old

[Guest guest]

Tammy,

I can't say anything about the booth testing but it was interesting to read

because my 6 month old daughter goes tomorrow to the audiologist to be

tetsted. She has had two ABR testing with different results. I know they will

be doing the booth testing tomorrow on her. I often wondered how they can

tell from just that type of testing what they can hear and not hear.(at such

a young age). Especially when I heard that they use the lights and animals.

To me they are just getting their attention. I'll let you know what happens

with our test tomorrow. I wish I could be of some help to you. I'll be asking

alot of questions. Take Care.

Elaine D.

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 12/8/1999 10:03:56 PM Eastern Standard Time,

Erd525@... writes:

<< Tammy,

I can't say anything about the booth testing but it was interesting to read

because my 6 month old daughter goes tomorrow to the audiologist to be

tetsted. She has had two ABR testing with different results. I know they

will

be doing the booth testing tomorrow on her. I often wondered how they can

tell from just that type of testing what they can hear and not hear.(at such

a young age). Especially when I heard that they use the lights and animals.

To me they are just getting their attention. I'll let you know what happens

with our test tomorrow. I wish I could be of some help to you. I'll be

asking

alot of questions. Take Care.

Elaine D. >>

Hi Elaine,

The lights and animals I guess are suppose to be a reward for hearing the

noise, but once Alek saw them he wasn't listening for the noises anymore, he

was looking for the animals wanting them to come back on again...if that

makes since. You could just tell that's what he was doing looking into the

corners for them even when sounds weren't there.

Please do let me know how your test goes tomorrow I'll be interested in

hearing if you see the same type of thing happening.

Best wishes & good luck,

Tammy

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 12/8/99 9:40:24 PM Eastern Standard Time,

all26babes@... writes:

I was at a course for audiologist during the summer and we had a very good

demonstration by a very senior audiologist at Einstein Hospital in NY on how

to (or NOT to) test young infants and children.

First of all, the parent and audie in the booth should be wearing ear plugs,

this is to ensure that neither adult knows when the stimulus is being

presented and therefore cannot unknowlingly cue the child.

The audie in the booth sits in front of the child with a toy, nothing too

exciting, you do want the child to respond to the bear/dog/flashing lights,

but this toy is used to bring the child's attention back to centre. The

sound stimulus is presented from the same side as the flashing light.

Ideally, the audie OUTSIDE the booth has an automated programme which

automatically plays the tones and all the audie does is press a button when

the child looks to the bear/dog/flashing lights.

(Extract from my text- Behavioral testing (which is what was done here) has

been criticized for being a potentially unreliable and invalid means of

determining a young child's auditory status (Berlin & Hood, 1993). This has

been attributed to faulty response-conditioning techniques and lax criteria.)

Tammy, I would recommend that you find an audie who works mainly with

children and have Alek retested. If you let me know where you are, I can

possibly get a recommendation for you!

Follow your instincts!! My son was diagnosed at 5.5 months because I KNEW he

was deaf! Took me a month to prove it, and I didn't want to prove it, but

there you have it!

Good luck, Orla

A pediatric audiologist wannabe

> One audiologist sat outside the booth and ran the

> noises and such and the other came into the booth with us and sat in front

> of

> Alek (I held him on my lap) Then they started the noises. I got really

> worried because he wasn't responding to hardly any of them ~ not turning

his

>

> head at all to most of the noises ~ only the really loud ones. I thought

for

>

> sure the results were going to be bad ~ worse than I expected. And the

test

> continued. Finally they got Alek to turn to a really loud noise on the

left

> side and the lights started flashing over there and a bunny started

playing

> really loud music. Well, Alek thought that was just great and continued to

> stare there. He wouldn't turn to the right until they played another

really

> loud noise and then the lights and such came one again when he turned. SO

> then he started turning back and forth looking for the bear and bunny not

> necessarily because he was hearing noises ~ I could tell because there

didn'

> t

> need to be a noise for him to turn he would just turn back in forth

looking

> in the corners. So we finish and they said well he got 30 dB across the

> board

> which is passing for his age. We'll retest in a year. I guess the audio

was

> shocked because I started crying. I knew he didn't hear all the noises yet

> he

> passed ~ how?? I told her I was hoping to finally get an answer why he

> doesn't respond to voices, isn't talking, doesn't respond to things being

> dropped on the ground next to him ect. Her reply " he's tuning it out " I

told

>

> her " since 2mths old? " and she said well maybe he's more interested in

> something else at the time or maybe he has trouble pin pointing where some

> noises are coming from but he passed for now and we'll retest him in a

year

> maybe 6mths depending on what the ENT says.

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 12/9/99 12:13:09 AM Eastern Standard Time,

scaruso3@... writes:

> Push

> for the ABR

An ABR is not actually a hearing test, it is a test of neural synchrony.

Another extract from my text-

>>Estimation Auditory Sensitivity with Auditory Evoked Potentials - Judith S.

Gravel PhD. and J. Hood, PhD.

While auditory evoked potentials (AEP's) have proven useful in estimating

hearing sensitivity, it is important to remember that the ABR is NOT a test

of hearing. The ABR and other evoked potentials test neural synchrony, that

is, the ability of the central nervous system to respond to external

stimulation in a synchronous manner. This synchronous neural response results

from the firing of a large group of neurons at the same time. When the

central nervous system is functioning normally, we can use these evoked

potentials to record neural responses to stimuli presented at various

intensity levels. Thus, we can find the lowest intensity level where a

neural response is present and relate that to a threshold for hearing. ABR's

can be obtained at intensities close to behavioural thresholds if a

sufficient number of responses are averaged to adequately reduce the

background physiologic noise (Eberling & Don, 1987). In routine clinical

procedures where fewer averages are used, responses can generally be obtained

near, but not at, behavioral thresholds.<< end of extract.

At 15 months, a number of tests can be done.

OAE's: OtoAcoustic Emissions, this will test the viability of the cochlea.

ABR: this will test the neural synchrony. The ABR with emissions should be

done with one positive and one negative polarity click, this will help rule

out Auditory Neuropathy, and also reflexes.

Behavioral Testing: If done correctly, this will give an accurate threshold

of what the child can and cannot hear.

Also remember, children with similar audiograms do not necessarily respond to

hearing aids/sounds in the same way. Each child is individual and should be

treated as such.

Good luck, Orla

[Guest guest]

Tammy,

My son Ben is exactly Alek's age (I think right down to the day!), and I'm

amazed they can get any accurate result from a booth test at this age.

They've tested him in the booth 3 times now: at 9 months (following tubes),

at 12 months, and at 14 months; the audies work in teams of two just as you

describe, but they work really hard to make sure he's a)got something to

keep his attention, but not so well that he tunes out the sounds, and

b)there are different intervals between the sounds. The last time we went

in, he was so tuned in to looking for the moving, clapping bear, that they

fooled him by turning to stare at the spot with him, then playing the sound

from the other side. All the times we've been in the booth, I've had a

pretty good sense of how it was going from his reactions. I think Kirsten

said to another mom, you are his mother, you should go with your gut. Push

for the ABR; you want to make sure he gets all the services/help he needs.

Good luck!

Stefanie

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 12/9/99 10:56:25 AM Eastern Standard Time,

DGiordano@... writes:

> This method described here by Orla is how the audis test at the New York

> League for the Hard of Hearing.

YAAY, nice to hear someone is doing it right!

Orla

[Guest guest]

Tammy,

Well my daughter went for her booth test today. I have to agree with you that

she kepted looking for the lights and the animals to go off. I didn't say

anything to the audiologist today about it. They did another test also that

measures the sound to the coclea. That test showed her hearing is getting a

little worse again. In the right ear she was down to almost normal hearing

and now it is up to a mild loss. The left is also a mild. She started off

with a severe loss in the left ear and a moderate in the right. Then went to

almost normal in the right and mild in the left. Now it's a mild loss in

both. We go back in 6 weeks to have a repeat and if there is a change again

then we have another ABR done. I was telling my husband about the testing in

the booth. He had gone with me and said next time he will sit in there with

her and then ask the audiologist about it. So now we waite 6 weeks. Madelyn

is 6 1/2months. By the time we go back next month she will just have turned 8

months. I just wanted to let you know what happened today. The testing for

little ones in quite interesting. Madelyn heard normal voice sound but when

they were lowered she had a harder time. The other sounds they used she heard

the higher sounds also, but again the lower she had a harder time. Take care.

Elaine D.

[Guest guest]

This method described here by Orla is how the audis test at the New York

League for the Hard of Hearing. Tammy if you are near NY, I would suggest

going there. If not, call and see if they could reccomend something in your

area. Trust your instincts and don't wait six months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

diane, Kara's mom, 2yo hoh

Re: Question about hearing test in 15mth old

From: OMac353@...

In a message dated 12/8/99 9:40:24 PM Eastern Standard Time,

all26babes@... writes:

I was at a course for audiologist during the summer and we had a very good

demonstration by a very senior audiologist at Einstein Hospital in NY on how

to (or NOT to) test young infants and children.

First of all, the parent and audie in the booth should be wearing ear plugs,

this is to ensure that neither adult knows when the stimulus is being

presented and therefore cannot unknowlingly cue the child.

The audie in the booth sits in front of the child with a toy, nothing too

exciting, you do want the child to respond to the bear/dog/flashing lights,

but this toy is used to bring the child's attention back to centre. The

sound stimulus is presented from the same side as the flashing light.

Ideally, the audie OUTSIDE the booth has an automated programme which

automatically plays the tones and all the audie does is press a button when

the child looks to the bear/dog/flashing lights.

(Extract from my text- Behavioral testing (which is what was done here) has

been criticized for being a potentially unreliable and invalid means of

determining a young child's auditory status (Berlin & Hood, 1993). This has

been attributed to faulty response-conditioning techniques and lax

criteria.)

Tammy, I would recommend that you find an audie who works mainly with

children and have Alek retested. If you let me know where you are, I can

possibly get a recommendation for you!

Follow your instincts!! My son was diagnosed at 5.5 months because I KNEW

he

was deaf! Took me a month to prove it, and I didn't want to prove it, but

there you have it!

Good luck, Orla

A pediatric audiologist wannabe

> One audiologist sat outside the booth and ran the

> noises and such and the other came into the booth with us and sat in

front

> of

> Alek (I held him on my lap) Then they started the noises. I got really

> worried because he wasn't responding to hardly any of them ~ not turning

his

>

> head at all to most of the noises ~ only the really loud ones. I thought

for

>

> sure the results were going to be bad ~ worse than I expected. And the

test

> continued. Finally they got Alek to turn to a really loud noise on the

left

> side and the lights started flashing over there and a bunny started

playing

> really loud music. Well, Alek thought that was just great and continued

to

> stare there. He wouldn't turn to the right until they played another

really

> loud noise and then the lights and such came one again when he turned. SO

> then he started turning back and forth looking for the bear and bunny not

> necessarily because he was hearing noises ~ I could tell because there

didn'

> t

> need to be a noise for him to turn he would just turn back in forth

looking

> in the corners. So we finish and they said well he got 30 dB across the

> board

> which is passing for his age. We'll retest in a year. I guess the audio

was

> shocked because I started crying. I knew he didn't hear all the noises

yet

> he

> passed ~ how?? I told her I was hoping to finally get an answer why he

> doesn't respond to voices, isn't talking, doesn't respond to things being

> dropped on the ground next to him ect. Her reply " he's tuning it out " I

told

>

> her " since 2mths old? " and she said well maybe he's more interested in

> something else at the time or maybe he has trouble pin pointing where

some

> noises are coming from but he passed for now and we'll retest him in a

year

> maybe 6mths depending on what the ENT says.

All messages posted to this list are private and confidential. Each post is

the intellectual property of the author and therefore subject to copyright

restrictions.

This e-mail is intended solely for the person or entity to which it is

addressed and may contain confidential

and/or privileged information. Any review, dissemination, copying, printing

or other use of this e-mail by persons

or entities other than the addressee is prohibited. If you have received

this e-mail in error, please contact the

sender immediately and delete the material from any computer.