Hear Our Heart Hearing Loss

Hear Our Heart Hearing Loss

Monday 09 Dec 2019

   

Foolina and her brother are currently accessing Speech services with Luci here at ACTT. During a recent therapy sessions Foolina’s mum was concerned with discharge from one of Folina’s ears. Luci recommended that she head to the Doctor to get it checked out – Foolina had a perforated ear drum.

When the family next came to an appointment, Naomi commented that she was worried about her daughters hearing. ACTT was able to link the family into the Hear Our Heart Ear Bus Project, where Foolina was able to get her hearing tested by a specialist audiologist and this resulted in her being fitted with a bone conduction hearing aid, whilst she waits for grommits to be fitted by an Ear Nose and Throat Specialist.

It is REALLY important to encourage Parents to have their children’s hearing checks every 3-4 months. The reason for this is that if they need to go to see the Ear Specialist then they need the evidence that the child has had regular tests and the condition is ongoing that will warrant booking them in for grommet surgery.

Statistically, for a child with middle ear fluid;

• 70% of the kids it will be gone in 1 month
• 20% it will take 2 months and
• 10% it will take 3 months and more than likely it won't go away so ENT intervention is needed

Therefore it is important to keep the testing gap to 3-4 months between tests. The federal guidelines for ENT for ATSI children is if the child has fluid for 3 months or more sent to the ENT. Check out the Hearing Loss Parent/Carer Checklist attached that highlights some indicators of hearing loss for children ages 6 months to 18 years. Remember up until age 9, ‘glue ear’ comes and goes. Some children may have symptoms some weeks/months but not the next.