When James was in the NICU they tried to test his hearing on several occasions. For various reasons (possible interference with medical equipment, too many distractions with the machines beeping), they were never able to get any results from any of the hearing tests. After the third or fourth failed attempt, we finally decided that we would take James somewhere to have a hearing test done once he was out of the NICU.
Today we took James to see an audiologist at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago that came recommended to see if she could successfully test his ears. She was very good, but unfortunately, she was unable to get good results. She recommended that we schedule a more advanced ABR. An ABR (auditory brainstem response) test is used to tell how the inner ear (cochlea) and the brain pathway for hearing are working. This test is used for people, like James, that cannot complete a typical hearing screening.
It does seem like James does have some hearing issues, which is honestly not a shock to us. We hope to find out how much hearing loss he has or if there are things we can do to fix his hearing. I remember when Stacy was in college, she did a paper or presentation on cochlear implants. I wonder if that might be an option. We’ll have to wait to see what, if anything, the ABR test reveals.
