Rant: Hearing test

bklyndad

Rather soon after our daughter was born, a week or so, our pediatrician gave her a hearing test, which she failed. The doc said not to worry, kids often fail the test early on, we'll try again next week. But the following week, she failed again. The doc suggested we perhaps consider visiting a specialist to have the ears properly tested, that we could keep trying but it would be good to know sooner than later if there was an issue, etc. I said that I was sure our daughter could hear because she reacted to fire trucks, etc., going by (common occurrence in Brooklyn) and to me playing guitar. The doc said our daughter's reactions could be caused by reactions to the vibrations of sound or the trucks vs. the actual sounds themselves, and that two or three failures could indicate a problem. Again, she suggested a specialist. My wife was mortified, absolutely scared. We immediately thought about money and the potential challenges in raising a child with hearing issues, etc. To me, though, this all sounded wrong somehow. I decided to do a bit of research before I reacted. 

So the hearing test basically consists of a probe inserted into the baby's ear that sends a signal to the eardrum, then measures the reflection off the eardrum. It's administered by a nurse (usually) with a device that looks like an old Coleco Football game (loved that thing) with an earphone coming out of it. Turns out babies fail these tests more than 60 percent of the time, and as often as 85% of the time. The failures are due to a number of factors, including fluids still trapped in the ear canals (especially in the case of babies born via C-section), the fact that the canals haven't fully developed or opened up yet (especially in the cases of small babies or those born early), or to the fact that the kid must remain motionless until the signal is measured—which can take more than 30 seconds, an impossibly long time for a fidgety infant.

Basing anything on a 60% failure rate sounded ridiculous to me, so on our following visit I asked the pediatrician why they test so early if there are going to be so many failures? Understand that some babies get these tests immediately following delivery, even before they've been put in their mother's arms. "Because we need to know as early as possible if there's a problem," she replied. "Yes, but if the majority of test results are false negatives, you can't count on learning anything from the test," I countered — and she agreed. 

So... WTF? If your kid is born deaf, it's something you deal with, and that is what it is. Doesn't change the kid's potential as a person or the love you share. But why add more to the plate of worries for new parents? Why not wait until the kid is six months old or so, when fluids have drained, ear canals have opened up and when 30 seconds of stillness might be possible? My wife was absolutely terrified, really concerned, after three "fails." Turns out our daughter's hearing is fine. A lot of hullaballoo over nothing. I get that docs like to push you to specialists. There's money involved and a certain amount of ass-covering, but being a new parent is stressful enough without added "problems" that turn out to be nothing. 

My advice to any new dads is to take comfort if your hearing test comes back "pass," but not to give it a second thought if it comes back "fail." It means nothing, and you won't know anything for sure until after the kid has developed a bit. Epic waste of time and potentially unnecessarily stress-inducing to administer the test so early in an infant's life. 

That's my rant for the day.

Coltsdad

Our oldest also failed his 1st round of hearing tests and barely passed his 2nd.  For what it is worth, he wound up having ear infection issues and wound up getting tubes in his ears.  Not saying your child will, or anything, but it doesn't always indicate that the child is deaf...could just be fluid built up behind the ear drum.

bklyndad

I've heard fluid behind the eardrum and the tube insertion is really common. Thankfully, it turns out that there are no issues with our daughter's hearing at all, meaning that the experience of three "fails" was an unnecessary waste of time and stress — hence my rant.  

My issue with the test is that our doctor acknowledges that it's almost meaningless in the first few weeks/month and yet it's standard practice to do it that early, often resulting in worried parents. Much better to wait until a "fail" result can be trusted, at which point it would be actionable. 

Also wanted to post this for any soon-to-be dads. If your LO doesn't pass the test the first time or two, don't be worried. 

Wulfgar

Besides the hearing test when he was newborn, still in the hospital, the only other time that our LO had his ears tested was when he almost turned 2 and they were thinking of putting ear tubes in.

I would not fuss over any hearing test done before the child is older to be able to noticeably react.

Wulfgar

I am always vibrating my leg(s), arm(s), etc so when my LO showed the same signs we didn't worry at all.  I do have to keep reminding MW and MIL about the quirks of my family.