Missing hearing loss in childhood

[bailey7]

I just found this site tonight!

I hope it is ok if I ask a question!

Apparently I had a hearing loss resulting from complications from premature birth. BUT no one knew it until THIS YEAR (I am 24). I had the yearly hearing tests at school and I must have done well on them because they never found a thing. The only clues that something wasn't quite "right" was that when I started talking I had a very hard time learning to pronounce words right. Everyone in my family says it sounded like I had a Boston accent (and I live nowhere near Boston hehe). As I got older my speech became more "normal" but I still do not pronounce certain words correctly, even words like "mom" - which I've been told I say like "maam". I've been told I have a southern accent, a "unique" accent, and a northeastern accent. No one can figure out where I'm from hehe (but where I'm from in Indiana, as well as my whole family, there is a standard midwestern accent). I had many problems in school because I could not hear in a noisy environment and when I started working certain situations were very hard because I could not understand any speech not very close to me. In a crowded room it was impossible; once at a business lunch I had to have the co-worker next to me repeat what others were saying to me right next to my ear, loudly.

I finally had enough. Even though I had supposedly "perfect" hearing, this year I went and had my hearing tested. I just couldn't deal with not hearing what people were saying anymore. Turns out I have hearing loss in both ears! Though it is only mild-moderate, it was enough to cause my early (and certain continuing) speech difficulties. My doctor said this is likely the reason for my "unique" accent LOL He thinks it's from birth when I had jaundice, which went untreated too long (when a brilliant nurse forgot to turn on the bili lights) and that caused sensorineural hearing loss. To make it more complicated he also believes I have "menere's disease" (sorry if the spelling is wrong). I learned to compensate for the hearing loss in most settings, filling in missing parts of words. On the speech part of the hearing test I scored 100% - it was hard, but I was able to guess my way through (plus my hearing is better in higher ranges - and the audiologist was a woman, which helped, plus she said each word slowly in a quiet environment, which also helped!). The tone part is what showed the loss. I learned ASL in college and it was nice to be able to actually understand what people were telling me for once. Now I'm getting hearing aids so I'm very excited!

But, my question is - does anyone else know of cases where childhood hearing tests at school (lasting about 2 min) didn't show a problem?

Sorry this post is so long!!

 

[deafdyke]

No I don't know of cases where school testing missed loss....however, maybe the reason your loss was overlooked is b/c the school testing really isn't that accurate or extensive. Maybe the school testing only tests certain frequncies....I don't know seeing as I never had to take those tests.

 

[Anij]

I know that most basic school hearing screening ( at least 20years ago) only tested from about ... 30db and up. They're not comprehensive screenings and they NOT always done by Audies ( mine were often done by "trained volunteers"). I was also prompted to raise my hand/press button if I "thought I heard something - which with my tinnitus ... well , I bet I did a lot of extra "yes"s

I'm 27, and I passed my left ear screening thruout school ( i have mild/mod loss on that side) , however they did pick up my profound hearing loss on the right ( I'd REALLY be worried if they hadn't "noticed" that) .


The other thing to remember is that 20 years ago , most schools didn't have onsite Audies, or SLTs ... so MANY mild/mod kids feel between the cracks.

 

[Audiofuzzy]

Hard to believe, but I do believe you. Usually the first thing the drs check when a child is not learning to speak properly is hearing.
What about your family drs, did they ever sent you for an audio test?
BTW It's Meniere's, but why did your dr said you may have it- do you suffer from severe dizzines/ vertigo?

Fuzzy

 

[Hear Again]

baily7: My hearing loss was also caused by prematurity (I weighed 2 pounds at birth, was 4 months premature, had jaundice and high bili levels among other complications). Back in the late 60's and early 70's, newborns weren't given hearing screenings the the way they are today.

My hearing loss wasn't diagnosed until age 3. Hearing aids and ear surgery were recommended at the time, but because my parents health insurance wouldn't cover the cost (for reasons I do not know), I went without until age 15.

I can still remember my ENT asking my parents where my hearing aids were (and why I didn't have them) since age 5. Thankfully my hearing loss was mild and that allowed me to function well academically until my loss progressed to the moderately-severe range.

I was also sent home year after year (starting in kindergarten) with repeated audiograms that recommended hearing aids and further testing.

Sometimes I can't help but think that if my ENT and audis were more proactive about my hearing loss, perhaps my hearing wouldn't have progressed to what it is today (profound bilaterally).

That being said, in my case, the misdiagnosis *may* have had more to do with my parents' health insurance (or lack thereof) than anything else. Each year I was sent home with a note from school recommending hearing aids, but I never received them. I'm not sure why. I don't know if it was because my parents couldn't afford them or because they didn't think I needed them.

When I was evaluated for a CI last summer I found out (for the first time) that my hearing loss was indeed caused by prematurity/low birth weight. I think more ENTs and audis are becoming aware of the fact that low birth weight does put a newborn at risk for hearing loss. They are also discovering that retinopathy of prematurity/ROP (what I was born with) also causes hearing loss as a secondary complication of this disease.

It's frustrating getting a diagnosis many years after the fact. While I can't be sure that hearing aids and/or ear surgery would have prevented my bilateral loss, I do wonder about this from time to time.

 

[HiBluE01]

I was born hearing then I became hard of hearing when I was 3 years old and I became deaf at age of 7. It caused me to lose hearing and could not go back to hearing. It was nothing to do.

 

[bailey7]

Hard to believe, but I do believe you. Usually the first thing the drs check when a child is not learning to speak properly is hearing.
What about your family drs, did they ever sent you for an audio test?
BTW It's Meniere's, but why did your dr said you may have it- do you suffer from severe dizzines/ vertigo?

Fuzzy

Hi Fuzzy,
Even though my speech was like that, because my vocabulary was ok, they decided that the pronounciation problems weren't enough to evaluate my hearing I guess. Nope, family drs never sent me for an audio test. The school tests were every year administered by the school nurse (who also did our eye tests, etc).
I do have very bad episodes of vertigo, mostly in the spring and fall. At the same time my tinnitus gets worse and my ears hurt or feel full and I can't do anything except lie down and hope the spinning stops! Has been going on for a while and I saw a family dr who sent me to a neurologist who did about a million tests and he couldn't find anything so finally I ended up at the ENT dr.
Which is how I found out about the hearing loss and about the Meniere's!