Tahnee: audiology

Chris has two female cousins who were born deaf (I'm sure they will correct me if I am wrong!), and as a result we have chosen to have our children undergo additional hearing tests, even when their newborn screening tests come back good. I have blogged about Lucas's two hearing tests in the past. These tests have picked up that he has had multiple ear infections that we were unaware of (probably as he has a high pain tolerance) and that he gets a tough of glue ear when he is sick. Neither of these are major concerns, but always good to know.

Tahnee went for her first follow up audiology appointment today. These tests are usually conducted at 8 months, but at our local hospital the audiologist when on extended leave, and we couldn't get an appointment til she was nearly 10 months old. Our "new" audiologist was female and very nice. She was happy to have Lucas come into her office with us, and talk to him on the walk to it. She also showed him to the kids table with puzzles and books.

After getting a general background on Tahnee, she took us into the sound proof room. This room is around 2.5m X 2.5m. There is a chair in the very centre of the room, facing towards a corner. In the corners to the left and right hand side are two towers, with the top half being speakers and the bottom half being a light box with spinning carousel-type toys inside. Both of these are controlled by the audiologist from their computer outside the room. There is a window between the audiologist and the room. I was instructed to sit on the chair with Tahnee, while Lucas remained outside. The audiologist left us alone, and activated the sound proofing - it is very strange when this happens, and it feels like your ears have blocked, when they haven't!!

The audiologist then played a serious of sounds at different pitches and volumes, each played through either one of the speakers, and Tahnee's reaction to these noises were recorded. Babies with good hearing will look towards the speaker that played the noise, and often the audiologist will activate the light and spinning toys as a reward.

There was one pitch where Tahnee looked the opposite way and was rewarded with the light and toys ... and the clever girl refused to look toward the speaker each time the noise was made, looking instead for the light and toys!!

Throughout our time in the sound proof room, Lucas was drawing a picture outside in the office. At one point he realised he could see us through the window and got very exited. Thankfully the audiologist took it all in her stride and wasn't bothered by him talking away!

At the end of the appointment the audiologist said she was happy with Tahnee's hearing and was prepared to discharge us. However, I requested to have a follow up appointment next year just to be on the safe side, as it can be a length wait for an appointment if you are not in the system! Hopefully next year will be both Lucas and Tahnee's final appointments for their hearing :)

As we were leaving, the audiologist commented on Lucas and his vocabulary (quite extensive) and said that just by listening and talking with him, she was not worried about his hearing either! At one point she had spoken softly to him from 3m away, with his back to her and he heard and answered her. If only good hearing meant good obedience and listening to Mum & Dad!

Even though we aren't worried about either child's hearing, its a relief to have them tested and be told that they are doing well, even though both of them have been tested when they were at the tail end of a cold.