a more silent world

The first ABR tests for my son were done entirely with broadband frequency "clicks" that range from 1000-4000 Hz, roughly the entire speech range. Those showed that our son could hear down to about 35dB. But when a slope is present, that response is going to be "best case scenario". We went yesterday for pure-tone tests called "toneburst" and we got 500Hz, 2000Hz, and 4000Hz frequencies done. As expected, he has very good response at 500Hz--about 25dB--slightly worse than normal range. At 2000 and 4000 Hz it drops off dramatically to about 45dB and 60dB, respectively, so he will definitely benefit from early intervention services and amplification from hearing aids. With such a dramatic curve at such an early age, we also definitely want him to be bilingual with ASL. This shouldn't be hard because I am already almost 2 years ahead of him learning ASL, and we will have help in the future, I am sure. I'm not sure who will help there, maybe Penn...

I am really excited about taking the level 2 class this year. We were all really worried that it wasn't going to happen since we needed a minimum number of people and a couple people from level 1 moved away over the summer. So it is very welcome news that the class is happening, and I am really looking forward to taking my ASL to the next level!!

So we went to NYU for an EOAE test and my son promptly failed. So we went directly to an ABR test, bone conduction, and tympanogram. Basically, he can hear with a threshold of about 35dB as far as we can tell, and any loss is almost certainly sensorineural like mine. We have a few other tests and ENT appointment, but that's really the information we needed to make choices with. Basically, we will do what we can to make sure he is bilingual, and we will have much help with that task. My 2 year old daughter now knows about 20 signs--not nearly as many as a deaf 2 year old would, but I am very pleased. More to come...