Well, we have good news today — Ben has passed his hearing test with flying colors. We decided to have him screened because he hasn’t really gotten too many words yet and because he has had several ear infections. The summary of today’s test is that Ben does seem to have some fluid in his eardrums, but in spite of that he can hear out of both ears pretty well.
The hearing test consisted of two basic parts. In the first part, the doctor blew some air into each of Ben’s ears to see how his eardrums vibrated. There wasn’t really any response from his eardrums, which is what indicates that there is fluid in there. This might simply be fluid that is still draining out from an old infection.
In the second part of the test, Ben and I sat on a chair in a little soundproof room. There were two speakers mounted on the wall, one on the left and one on the right. The doctor would play various sounds out of each speaker and see if Ben turned towards the speaker. He did turn almost every time, except towards the end when he started to get fidgety.
The doctor says that we should come back in 4-6 weeks to get Ben’s ears rechecked for fluid and also to see how his hearing is. We might still end up needing to get the tubes put in if his eardrums don’t seem to be draining properly. But for now, a good report!
