Turn Up the Volume!

Butters Learning About the 'S' Sound at  Our A/V  Therapy

We had our second hearing booth test yesterday.

Good News: Butters' ears got turned up about 40 DB

Bad News: Butters' ears got turned up about 40 DB because  even with his hearing aids, he still can't hear much under 80 DB.

Speech sounds have to be  really loud in order for him to respond.


This was not a shock.   I have been trying to be super observant in his reactions to sounds when we're working on his "Learning to Listen" activities and just through normal, day-to-day activities.   He responds to sounds - but you have to be right beside him.  Move a mere two feet away and forget it.

The EVA has not helped matters either.  As a matter of fact, it made an unwelcome appearance during this hearing booth test in that his audiogram was all over the place. The audiogram showed reactions to sound at as little as 40 decibels and then a sharp dip downwards to almost 100 decibels. Our audiologist had to explain that many times with EVA you can have an air-bone gap which almost acts like a conductive hearing loss.  There's a lot that I have to research.  I know relatively next to nothing about air-bone gaps.  I think I am simply burned out on all this audiology lingo.  I am definitely tired of thinking that I finally understand my son's condition, and then being thrown for another loop and having to figure out what's going on - yet again.

So, is Butters responding better now with more powerful ears?  The jury is still out.  He responded pretty well yesterday after the volume was turned up.  This morning, there seemed to be little difference in reactions from him with the exception of a few quiet spells where he was not vocalizing at all. This could be good or bad.  

The feedback is  slightly more increased which happens anytime the volume is turned up on the hearing aids. However, because Butters is so "vocal" and pretty loud, he ends up drowning out much of it.  And the feedback is still not that high, shrill tone that we dealt with back in May when he first got them.  I seriously think I lost some of my own hearing during that induction month.

Cochlear implants are now on the horizon and there is the possibility of discussing surgery dates around Butters' first birthday. We have to get through this CT coming up on Halloween to get a better look at Butters' cochlea and then we go from there.  And yes, I have woken up during the night in a panic the closer we get to the CT.  What if they find something wrong?   We made it through the MRI.  Of course, that's when they found the EVA.  I guess that's what has my stomach in knots.  Get through the CT and I think we'll be okay.