Sudden Hearing Loss in 3.5 Year old...HELP!

My grandson was deaf due to debris in the inner ear that had not been effected by antibiotics. The ENT did a hearing test on him and he didn't even respond to a bass drum being beaten behind his head.

The ENT went in to put tubes in to see if it would help. When he went behind the ear drum he found all this gunk from old infections that the antibiotic could not get too.

I think it is likely possible that your son is having a similar issue.

A sudden onset of hearing loss isn't unheard of. Do you have any family history of hearing loss other than old age? My son was born with moderate hearing loss and it progressed to pretty much total deafness within 3 years. Hearing loss is different for every person.

I would ask your doctor if she could have a tympanogram (if she hasn't had one already). What that does is shoot a small blast of air into her ear, (it doesn't hurt a bit) and it bounces off her eardrum. It will show how the ear reacts to sound. If the results show there is a problem then push for a referral to see an ENT. You can google images of a tympanogram and it will chart out what the peaks mean at different levels.

There are a lot of doctors that blow off hearing loss and I think it is pretty crazy how they do the head turn test in the office to see if they respond to sound. What ever you do don't panic, just be proactive.

Take care, Good luck

i would go to the ent. dont wait. a middle ear infection can cause permanent hearing loss.

Call tomorrow and every day BUGGING them until they make the referral for you. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Just keep bothering them, like a broken record. So what if they don't like it?!

Gamma makes a really good point.
Dawn

Why don't you try an ENT? I would think a specialist would be able to figure out what's wrong.

My son suffered hearing loss a few years ago and it turned out to be a very very thin layer of wax right over the ear drum. In fact we had been sent to a Children's Hospital for an MRI. he had had 3-4 hearing tests, and had been to the ENT multiple times over a year's time before they caught it. Get that referral, your family doc isn't qualified to treat this any more, you need a specialist. But if she isn't in any pain, I don't see what waiting a week is going to hurt.

That said, there were other underlying issues with his ear drum, like a semi-permanent pin hole that they didn't want to repair because his allergies caused so much fluid to build up that his body created an effective way to keep it drained. This was after 2 ruptures, and even then his hearing wasn't affected as much as it was with the wax. Now we make sure he takes allergy meds during the season and all of those problems have disappeared.