Will We Ever get the Results...

I tried not to agonize over the upcoming hearing screen, but it was constantly in the back of my mind. We would try to do our home tests such as clapping our hands behind her back. Watching her to see if she startled in her sleep when the dogs barked etc. Her pediatricians reassured me that it was most likley fluid in the middle ear that was giving a faulty reading. This made sense to me since I did retain a lot of fluid while I was pregnant.

Finally, the long awaited day came that we would get her hearing evaluated by an audiologist (audi). We went into a sound proof room with Sydney and the audi then proceeded with a tympanometry test to test for fluid in the ears. It came out flat. She fiddled with the machine and the ear plugs for probably and hour repeating the test over and over. It kept coming out flat. I asked the audi what that meant, and she told me that she has fluid in her ears. What a relief that was. She repeated the test again, this time the reading on the graph showed a smooth peaked curve. I asked the audi what that meant, and she told me that it meant that her middle ear is healthy and that there is no fluid trapped in there. My heart started pounding a little harder and I started to get really concerned.

The audi then placed sensors on her forehead neck and behind her ears. She then proceeded to the OAE test which took about 10 minutes per ear. Lastly was the ABR test which took about 45 minutes per ear. The audi kept looking at Sydney and checking the wires hooked up to her with a serious look on her face. This was not too comforting to see. Unfortunatley, we were only able to finish the left ear before we ran out of time. The audi told us to come back in two weeks to have the right ear tested. I asked her if there was any information she could give us about her results. She said we would have to wait until all testing is complete.