Expert: Harriet B Jacobster, Au.D. - 11/20/2008

Question
My daughter just underwent her 5 yr. old checkup (shots & the whole 9 yrds).  The hearing test showed perfect hearing in the right ear and 40 decibels (difficulty hearing) in the left.  I'm not sure what that means but we are off to see an Audiologist soon to repeat the hearing test.  Any thoughts...the doctor said her ear looked fine (no wax build up / infection).

Answer
Hi Todd,
Before I can have any thoughts, I need a lot more information.  First, when you say your daughter has a 40dB loss, what type of loss?  Is it nerve loss or conductive (in the middle ear)? Is it a high frequency loss or a low frequency loss?  Who did the testing?  Did an audiologist do the test?  What type of tests were done?  Was a middle ear evaluation - tympanometry - performed?  The most common cause of unilateral (one ear) hearing loss in children is a middle ear problem.  Even though your doctor said her ear looked "fine," many infections cannot be found just by visual inspection, they need to be tested for the proper diagnosis. Especially if the doctor was just her pediatrician, she could very well miss a middle ear infection. The only suggestion I can make right now is to get to the Audiologist as quickly as possible to have a complete hearing evaluation done.
Hope this helps.
Harriet B. Jacobster, AuD
Board Certified in Audiology