My previous blog described a hearing screening for a child of three years. I got the priveledge of observing another hearing screening but this time for a child of four and half years of age. The difference in behavior was tremendous. All results proved normal.
Otoscopy was first performed with all major landmarks visible including the cone of light. Both eardrums appeared healthy and normal. The child was a little nervous at first, but the clinician excited the child by mentioning that his/her ear "would be on TV!" The child became somewhat interested.
Tympanometry was then performed. The child was not all that comfortable about the testing. The clinician told the child that his/her ear would become an artist and "draw mountains." This helped but not much. The child did behave very well even though he/she did not appear to be comfortable. Both tymp. results were normal.
Otoacoustic emission testing was next performed. The child was not fond of this test. He/she complained that it was painful. The clinician assured the child and parent that no harm was being done and that the test would be very short. Both OAEs proved normal. I was excited to see this test because I had never been exposed to it previously. The clinician helped with informing me that OAE testing shows the function of the outer hair cells. I researched OAE testing and found an article from ASHA that stated that if the results proved to be absent or reduced, this was an indication of outer hair cell damage (Lonsbury-Martin)! I found this test interesting! (For more information on OAE testing, visit this website http://www.asha.org/about/publications/leader-online/archives/2005/050322/f050322a.htm )
Puretone testing showed normal audiograms. This is where behavioral problems occured. The child became restless, began moving the earphones off, and quit paying attention at times which made accuracy recording more difficult. The clinician did a great job adjusting to the behavior and refocusing the child. Speechtesting also was somewhat difficult due to the child becoming restless. All results did prove to be normal. The clinician informed the speech therapist and parents that the auditory system appeared to be fine.
This observation was very helpful. I first learned that a small age difference can show a major change in behavioral issues. The three year old was much more difficult to test compared to the four and a half year old. Parental methods may have also made a difference of course, but the maturity level definitely showed. I was also excited to see an OAE test. Hopefully, I will get much more experience with this testing!
Lonsbury-Martin, B. L. (2005, March 22). Otoacoustic emissions: Where are we today? The ASHA Leader, p. 6-7, 19.
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2 comments:
It is good you are getting so much exposure with testing toddlers-Hopefully it prepares you for the all the kindergarten screenings we are going to have to do!
Gina I agree that OAE's are a really intresting test I saw OAE's done and they do asses outer hair cell funtion, because it is our outer hair cells that produce the emissions that are messured by a microphone. However it is important that you also look at how high above the noise floor your results were so that you know to count or disregard that emission. Also you don't want there to be to much noise because then you might actually have a valid emission that gets overlooked because the noise floor was so high! Okay I will stop rambling about OAE's now lol!
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