[bbeard72]

Just wondering what peoples experience was w/ the hearing test if your newborn didn't pass in one ear or both. Where they retested...how soon..what happened? Did you have any issues come from it? Or did they pass the second time they took the test months later. Trying to hear if it's not such a concern if they did not to pass as a newborn on the first testing.

Thanks!

[mommytoEli]

When our son was about 3 months old, a doctor realized he leaned to one side when pulled up, and suggested a hearing test. He took one at about 4 months old....the result was that he had so much fluid in his ears, that he could barely hear.....it explained alot.....he didn't respond to loud noises....on the positive side...we could take him to movies and he slept the whole time At about 6 months of age, they put tubes in his ears to drain the fluid. He just had the tubes re-inserted a few months ago due to recurrent ear infections. He had a hearing test after both procedures...and his hearing is absolutely fine....it was just the fluid, which is now gone, that was effecting his hearing. The tubes are really no big deal....I'd rather deal with the tubes and have him hear and not have a million ear infections.

[Guatemomtobe]

My nephew failed his newborn hearing test but when they retested a month later he was fine. My sister was told that it was common that they fail the first time.

Hope that helps to ease your worries.
Susan

[bbeard72]

bumping bumping

[bbeard72]

I wonder how common it is that newborns fail. I'm trying to find some statistics.

[jaenelle]

Well, I'm not adopted, but I am pretty sure I passed my hearing tests when I was born and when I was 2 I was diagnosed as being severely hearing-impaired. Somewhere in between I lost quite a bit of my hearing to an unknown cause. So obviously you can't always tell what is going to happen based on the results of newborn tests.

[Pipercub]

I did a google search on UNHS (universal newborn hearing screening) false positives and found varying information on clinical studies. One said that in the test group they studied, of the newborns that got a positive result on the UNHS test (indicating hearing loss or deafness), 80% passed when re-tested. From the limited amount I read, hearing tests performed after the baby is 6 months old seem to be more reliable. (I'm NOT a doctor - this was just what I was reading).

[mommyoftwo]

My best friend's daughter failed her hearing test at birth..and passed it a month later-she is now 4 and is fine. I adopted my son from the U.S. and he failed his hearing test at birth. He took one a month later and passed. They had him take a test again at 9 months..He just took on in the spring when he turned 3...They say he is fine. He can hear just fine. He does have a speech delay...but it is only slightly behind..and I dont think it is a result of the hearing..

[saranbr]

This isn't the latest statistics, but in my experience doing 15-20 newborn exams/discharges daily in my last job (all were screened for hearing) I would say that at least 5-6 would fail one or both ears. If baby was staying in the hospital a couple days they'd recheck and often they would pass. The most common reason a newborn fails is fluid in the ears left over from delivery. If they fail the basic test on repeat there is a more sophisticated test they will be referred for and then followed closely if they fail that.

[lcrae]

My youngest son failed his first hearing test, in one ear. We had both ears rechecked six weeks later and he passed.