Anyone's baby fail the oae hearing test?

[A1983]

My son who is 3 weeks old passed the oae test on his right ear but the left ear initially said 'too noisy' so the health visitor re-did the test a week later, today on the left ear. No clear response was detected and she's referred us to the specialists to have a more thorough test called AABR which is in a week. I am now really worried. I am trying to test his left ear vs his right ear buy getting mixed results as sometimes he's so sleepy he wouldn't respond anyway. BUT I have just laid him down with his left ear facing upwards so right ear on mattress and he's fast asleep. I gently 'clucked' in his left ear about a couple of inches away and he opened his eyes.

I don't know if this is a good sign or as I don't know about hearing loss, whether this means nothing as it's just vibrations or similar he's responding to. Can't believe I have a week to wait.

Any experiences in this? Thank you

 

[Kitteh_Kat]

DD is deaf in her right ear, so she failed her newborn screening and the more advanced test they did at 3 months. She's finally getting her softband BAHA tomorrow, but she's done well with just the normal hearing she has on the left. She does respond to noises that come from the right side and will look that way. I know what it's like to go through the uncertainty, but if your baby does have hearing loss it's not the end of the world. Technology has come so far now, and there are several options to help them hear depending on what the problem is.

Good luck with his test next week, and if he does have a loss there's a hearing thread in the Special Needs section where several of us talk about our children and how they're doing if you want to join us. Hopefully you won't need to though!

 

[A1983]

Thank you Kitteh and that's good to hear your daughter is getting a softband soon. I'll keep you posted

 

[LilFooshFoosh]

DS failed his newborn test because his ears were full of gunk. We had to redo when he was about 3 months old and the woman who did it was horrid. She tried to fail him again because she wasn't using the machine properly. I had to get someone else to come do it again and he is fine.
GL

 

[A1983]

We're you worried Lil? After the first failing? Why did they make you wait 3 months? Thank goodness you got a second opinion. My DS has a very snuffly nose and there was a bit of wax on the probe (health visitor commented on It-I didn't see it) so I'm praying it's his cold interfering with the test. However he passed on his right ear so I don't know how a cols can only affect one side...

Thank you for replying

 

[LilFooshFoosh]

I wasn't worried, he reacted to sounds and the probe was flithy! Even if there was some slight hearing loss I know there are many high-tech options to assist. We were made to wait because his ear canals were so tiny and full of gunk. They wanted to allow time for the stuff to come out naturally and for the canal to get a little bigger. His one ear still gets clogged sometimes now (like during & after a cold) and that ear canal is more narrow than the other.

Even if your DS does have some loss you have options and it's good to identify it early. I hope it's just gunk but either way you will both be ok.

 

[A1983]

Yes she seemed to be struggling with fitting an probe in that side the first time round. Thank you.

 

[SoBlessedMama]

Hi A--I completely understand how nerve-wracking the wait is. Both of my little guys wear hearing aids (the baby was diagnosed at 6 months, and the big brother at age 5.) Waiting on appointments when we didn't know what to expect was terrible. Big hugs!!!

It is VERY common for little ones to fail early on and pass later for a variety of reasons. I hope that is the case with your little one! Like Kitteh and Lil said--you're getting it checked out early, which is so important. I hope to hear great results from the retest! Thinking of you!!

 

[Eleanor ace]

My DD failed hers several times, then failed the test with the specialist. Then she passed it in one ear and eventually passed in the other ear! It seems she was just full of newborn stuffiness. My DS on the other hand passed his screening but he has moderate loss in one ear.

 

[A1983]

Did your daughter have a cold at the time Eleanor? And does your son cope ok ie no aids?

Well my son had the aabr test and failed again but it only measures one frequency and still doesn't allow for fluid in middle ear so I'm praying fluid is the answer and when he has the abr test next week it measures different frequencies and can actually diagnose the reason for failures. Which one did your daughter have? DS was still conjested and snuffly noises during aabr for a lot of it

 

[Eleanor ace]

Did your daughter have a cold at the time Eleanor? And does your son cope ok ie no aids?

Well my son had the aabr test and failed again but it only measures one frequency and still doesn't allow for fluid in middle ear so I'm praying fluid is the answer and when he has the abr test next week it measures different frequencies and can actually diagnose the reason for failures. Which one did your daughter have? DS was still conjested and snuffly noises during aabr for a lot of it

Nope, not that we were aware of. She was tested over several weeks as they kept giving her a chance to see if she was congested and it would go away. She had the test where they put the probe in the ears 3 times and then a test where they stuck pads to her head and she had sounds played through headphones. She passed in one ear and failed in the other, then when it was repeated she finally passed in both ears.

My son struggles a bit, mainly identifying initial sounds, making out what people are saying when there's background noise, stuff like that, but mostly he hears OK. We only got the initial diagnosis in August and go back in November for a repeat test and to discuss where to go from here, if he needs gromits/aids

 

[A1983]

He passed his hearing test!!! It was extremely intense and I've had to keep him asleep for the 3 hours but he did it! In fact he's still asleep! The verdict is fluid in the ear which is very common and will clear in time. So happy

 

[A1983]

Thank you ladies and I hope it's 'just' from its for your son Ealenor...I know lots of people having had that

 

[_Meep_]

So happy for you and your son!!!! I was hoping it would just be a fluid thing. Hooray!

Relax now and enjoy your even-more-perfect-than-ever baby. Yay!

 

[SoBlessedMama]

Yay! Great report, A! Thanks for updating. : )

 

[Eleanor ace]

Ah brilliant news!

 

[A1983]

Thank you ladies!

 

[A1983]

Ps Ealenor my post was supposed to say grommets not from its!! Silly phone. Good luck x

 

[LilFooshFoosh]

Good news, congrats!

 

[DaddyCool01]

Hi

My 16 week old daughter failed the OAE test 3 times during the first 3 days after birth in the hospital. We went back for a retest after approx a month and again she failed, and recently after 3 months she failed again (this time in a different hospital)

We have an appointment at a specialist in a few weeks time to hopefully get to the bottom of it.

However, if the OAE test didn't exist, I would assume that she has normal hearing, as she is responding to sound both soft noises and loud bangs. She is easily woken during sleep when we softly repeat her name or if a plastic bag is scrunched up. Additionally she is making a variety of cooing noises which is also a good sign.

We were told that the OAE test only measures 100% hearing, so we are hoping that perhaps she has something like 98-99%.

Does anyone else have a similar experience where their child seems to be responding and behaving like a normal hearing child but the tests say otherwise?

DaddyCool01