Hearing Test

We had our third hearing test this week with the Audiologist. She did an ABR (auditory brainstem response test) that requires the baby be sleeping with different monitors taped on his forehead and behind his ears. We were in the office for over 3 1/2 hours. Joaquin did great and slept for most of it. I was so incredibly antsy by the end of the test since I had to have the baby laying on me the entire time and I couldn't move or make a noise so as not to wake him.

The bad news is.....he still has some mild to moderate hearing loss in both ears but mainly in the left ear. They determined that this is due to fluid in his middle ear. So although he can hear us, he hears us best when we are right near his face. He hears the rest of the sounds in the house as if he were underwater. The weird thing with fluid in the ears is that it can become thick with time so it is more like a paste and gets harder and harder to drain or evaporate normally from the ear.

The good news is....he has perfect hearing if they bypass the middle ear which means his hearing loss is treatable. So, we will discuss with the ENT doctor about how to eliminate the fluid in his ear at our next appointment in July. This is usually done with tubes but with little ears these are hard to place so they may recommend baby hearing aids until tubes can be placed so he doesn't miss out on any speech development. Also, we were told that Joaquin's ears are not the "typical" ears of a child with Down syndrome so the anatomy of his ears are "normal" and are to be treated this way by the ENT. Such good news.

I have every hope and confidence that his hearing issues will be resolved and I am so grateful for that. We'll keep you posted.