my two year old son is going in to have his hearing checked because he is not talking much. I was wondering how they did this with a 2 year old who can't sit still.
2007-07-09 07:58:31 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Toddler & Preschooler
he will sit on your lap in a little room and make sounds come from different directions and he will turn his head toward the noise if he hears it. If he has no reaction to the noise they know he cannot hear them. they will also take a good look at the eardrum which will also tell them alot.
2007-07-09 08:10:46 · answer #1 · answered by jon jon's girl 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I am an audiologist. What people have said about the toys and the sound proof room is correct. Audiologists who work with kids are well trained in obtaining true and fast results from kids.
If this is not feasible, they may perform a sedated ABR where they will tape electrodes to various places on your son's forehead or ears and they will pump either tones or clicks through headphones and record his brainstem's response to the sounds. The procedure is painless and should take less than an hour.
This is a last case scenario; well-trained audiologists should be able to perform play audiometry with a 2 year old squirmy kid. My specialty is not pediatrics and even I can handle a 2 year old from time to time- its all about speed, patience, and creativity.
2007-07-10 09:00:40 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm a speech therapist and have done audiology rotations as part of my training. What every has said about the sound proof booth is correct. they have speakers in the corners of the room and will put sounds into the room on the speakers or say words and when the child looks the way of the sound, he is rewarded with a light up toy. this helps condition his reponse. One thing to remember is that this kind of "sound field" testing can only determine hearing levels in the best ear. they should test speech reception threshold (how quietly he can detect words) and tones (they may be pure tones or warbled ones).
they may try ear phones, but some kids cant handle them. it might be helpful to help train him at home... play a listneing game. "when you hear a birdy, put the block in the bucket." you can do this with hidden sqeaky toys or anything with noise. "race" your child to see who heard the birdy first. try not to react to the sound to make sure he can do it himself.
They will also look in his ear (to see if theres excess wax, redness, inflation) with an otoscope.
And they will use tympanometric testing. a device pushes a tiny puff of air into the ear canal and then measures 1. how long the ear canal is (to see if there is blockage or if he has tubes, if the are open, or to see if the ear drum is perforated) 2. if the ear drum (tymapnic membrane) has negative pressure (its sucked into the middle ear) or positive pressure (if it bows out to the outer ear) and 3. how stiff the ear drum is. The picture should look like a mountain with a peak.
2007-07-09 13:40:23 · answer #3 · answered by Meeeeegan 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They started testing my sons ears at the same age as your son. He was tested in Rochester, MN at the Mayo Clinic. Here is what they did. They took my son and myself into a sound proof room. There were two audiologists that performed the tests. One to run the machines outside of the room and one to sit in the sound proof with us. He had on a headset just like my son had on so that he could hear the same things as my son to ensure accuracy. They explained that when he heard a beeping noise like you will hear now, throw a toy into the bucket... then there was a beep in his headset so that he would know what to expect during the actual test. Then they did a practice run, where both my son and the audiologist would throw a toy into the bucket... toys being mini rubber animals, cars, trains, trucks, boats, ect. Then they did the real test where just my son would throw toys into the bucket when he heard the beeps. Then after that test was done, he had to repeat words they said to him. Then they put a small device in his ear to measure air pressures in his inner ear.
My son was later recomended for surgery to insert tubes in his ears. He had re-occuring ear infections, 12 infections in 14 months. Some would not go away for several weeks. As a result of the multiple ear infections he had a hearing loss. Now this may not be your case. Don't worry, the tests they will perform will be pain free and will be fun for your child. If you must to a surgery for tubes after your hearing test, again don't worry. That surgery is very minor and there will be very little pain afterwards. When my son had his surgery's for this, three hours after surgery he was wanting us to stop at Mcdonalds for chicken nuggets on our way home.
2007-07-09 08:49:04 · answer #4 · answered by butterfliesformom 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They will take you and your son into a sound proof room and it will have a few noise making toys behind a clear screen. There is an observation window for the audiologist to see your sons reactions to the objects that he/she switches on to make noises. The toys are geared to get a toddlers attention and keep them somewhat amused. I have had this done with my kids and it was a fairly easy process.
2007-07-09 08:05:43 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
okay i don't know the procedure, but they check a babys ears so i figure they probably do the same with a two year old.
here is what i found on a website:
The latest test is simple, inexpensive and quick. The screening combines the technology of two existing hearing tests -- an auditory brainstem response (ABR) test and the otoacoustic emissions (OAE) test. The ABR records brain waves in response to waves of sound in the child's ear. The OAE records faint noises that come from a baby's ear, specifically from certain hair cells in the cochlea inside the ear, in response to sounds.
In the combination test, three electrodes are fastened on the nape of the baby's neck and forehead, and a ground electrode is placed on the baby's shoulder. It takes an average of 15 minutes to perform the entire test.
2007-07-09 08:05:22 · answer #6 · answered by Havanah_A 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It depends on which test they are using. In my profession we send infants and toddlers to the audiologist all the time. It could be the one with a sound proof room, and then the child has to look in the direction of the sound.
2007-07-09 08:06:40 · answer #7 · answered by Melissa 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They put them in a sound proof room and have them follow simple directions. Like look in the box with the elephant. Then also they will have the child where headphones and repeat words.
2007-07-09 08:02:28 · answer #8 · answered by janeannpat 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They have booths that have stuffed animals and lights that they use. You can sit in it with him. It is great fun for kids that small!!
2007-07-09 09:07:05 · answer #9 · answered by omorris1978 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋