Elizabeth had her routine hearing check at Sick Kids last week and as it is becoming quite monotonous. Elizabeth has to listen for the sounds and place pegs when she hears the sound, this is the same activity she has been doing for the past 3 years (see above old picture). I despise this activity for many reasons; the pegs I am sure have never been cleaned, she of course will still put them in her mouth, the abundance of pegs are tempting for Elizabeth and her sensory needs (she loves run her hands through the bucket), I have to attempt to distract her from running her hands through them and keeping Elizabeth still for any length of time is a challenge. Elizabeth does pretty good despite how boring it really is but after 10-15 minutes we have both run out of patience. We have had the same Audiologist since Elizabeth's Auditory Neuropathy diagnosis and she doesn't mind all Elizabeth demands for stickers and for her to play the animal that make sounds. We also saw her ENT and he is still amazed by her progress as she is one of the few children to not need a cochlear implant. Only 15% of babies with AN regain their hearing and she is one of them which is such a blessing.
Normally her test results show a mild hearing loss in her left ear and her right ear tests fine. Last weeks results showed her left ear with a mild hearing loss and now a loss to her right ear as well which is not typical and is not related to congestion. AN can be such a frustrating diagnosis as it is does fluctuate day to day and we do not know how much distortion Elizabeth deals with. A great example of how AN distorts speech is here.
We will go again in 4 months to be retested and hopefully her right ear will be better. It is a good reminder for me to increase how much we use her FM unit at home and when we are out but the times when she really needs she cannot wear it (the pool and gymnastics). I must remind myself to bring a different activity for Elizabeth, any ideas would be much appreciated.