Failing the hearing test... is this common???

[ElektrykEye]

A friend of mine recently had a baby who failed her hearing test at birth. Apparently they tested her 4 times within the 3 days or so following her birth and she failed all of them. They plan to retest her because there was so much fluid at birth that they feel that she may have fluid in her ears. I was just wondering how common this is. Do you think it's highly likely that she's not deaf or does it sound like she really could be?

[crysmomofthree]

I think its fairly common to fail, the test isn't foolproof, its only as good as the person administering it. As you said if the baby had a lot of fluid in its ears the test wouldn't be accurate, often if the baby is awake or fussing its not accurate, if the baby moves during the test its not accurate.

My dd failed because the ear probe was too big for her tiny ears and it fell out repeatedly.

I would say its a really good idea to take the baby and have its hearing tested again, maybe 6 weeks to 2 months? then again at 6 months then at 1 just to make sure nothing is being missed.

My son was given ototoxic drugs in the nicu (drugs that can cause hearing loss) and we took him to have his hearing tested at 6 weeks, 6 months 1yr and 5 years

[artemis80]

DS failed it twice in the hospital, but passed the third time. They said it was because of the fluid in his ears. It must be pretty common to fail.

[my_sweet_tears]

dd failed the first time
but passed the second
I was so scared that something
was wrong but they assured me
that it could just
be a fluke

[omelette]

my ds failed the test the first time and the second time she had to do it a few times to get a pass.

[deleria]

My DS3 passed the test, but it took forever to administer! It kept giving errors, the probes kept coming off... It was extra important for us that he receive good testing, however, as our two older boys are hearing impaired. Ironically, neither of them was tested at birth, so I'm no help there. Jackson did pass, however, and it's fairly obvious that he has no hearing loss. We're thrilled!

Good luck to your friend and her little one. I hope she passes with flying colours

[LaughingHyena]

It took 3 or 4 tests before DS passed due to fluid. Actually one ear passed before the other as that was the ear which was usually facing down when he slept.

[Flower of Bliss]

DD failed once and almost failed the second time. It's a bit of a silly test IMHO. According to our tech (who I was very unimpressed with) baby's supposed to be sleeping (and so she fussed that DD was awake : ), swaddled to keep still (which DD fought from birth... hands belonged at head ), and in a silent room (baby will pay more attention to Mommy's voice then the sound from the test, but tech kept talking to me : ). Then, of course, there's the fluid in ears thing....

I was unconcerned as DD had been responsive to Daddy's voice since about 18 weeks (a Daddy's girl from the start) and still clearly heard us speak after birth.

HTH

[alexisyael]

Originally Posted by Sage72380

DD failed once and almost failed the second time. It's a bit of a silly test IMHO. According to our tech (who I was very unimpressed with) baby's supposed to be sleeping (and so she fussed that DD was awake : ), swaddled to keep still (which DD fought from birth... hands belonged at head ), and in a silent room (baby will pay more attention to Mommy's voice then the sound from the test, but tech kept talking to me : ). Then, of course, there's the fluid in ears thing....

Wow, your tech was AWFUL. The babe does need to be sleeping, that's very important. (Swaddling is optional. We did not swaddle, and DS moved around a tiny bit, but our tech ROCKED! Also, he was three months old when it was done, which is a harder age to do the tests.)

My DH is a hearing researcher and my little sister has a profound hearing loss that wasn't found until she was 6 years old... believe me when I say I am completely 100% in favor of every child getting this test done. Maybe not as a newborn (I think 2 months would be a better age, that's probably when we'll do it next time) but before speech delay would impact a HoH child.

(I'm also not personally in favor of cochlear implants, but if the parents of a deaf child choose to get them, better to do it earlier.)

[Amila]

DD failed twice in one ear in the hospital. We took her back a week or so later and she passed. Fluid in the ear. Fairly common.

[Amys1st]

My dd1 failed all three times at the hospital she took it. She also birthed with her hand over her ear and thats the ear that kept failing. We took her back a week later and she failed again. I wasnt worried because she turned towards noise etc.

My ped waited a month and then sent me to another hospital hearing dept and she passed. She wanted the fluid in her ear (if she had it) to clear out. We did get a letter though from the local health dept that our child didnt pass.

Fast forward:

My dd2 was in the nicu and the special care nursery at that hospital. I watched them bring in and out the babes to get that stupid test. 85% of the babies tested, failed. The machine was banged around, the kids were not happy, etc etc etc. Its a good test in the long run but what a pain.

[Jessy1019]

ds failed in one ear at the hospital (only tested once) and tested fine at 6 weeks.

[*Karen*]

DS failed the ear probe one, so they took him to the nursery (I went too) and did some high tech one that read brain activity. He passed it.

[itsajenism]

I think it's pretty common. My DS didn't fail the first test and the nurses seemed pretty shocked by that and said that most babies fail the test at least the first time.

[eurobin]

My DD failed her first attempt and passed the second time.