Hearing Loss?

Hearing loss or selective hearing. Sometimes children just don't want to respond. A hearing test is the way to go. Then if it is not hearing, he needs to learn not to ignore you. In the meantime, he can see you, get his attention before you speak. If he won't look at you, he probably just wants to continue doing what he is doing.

Hello H.,

I understand your concerns and you must be worried. Sometimes kids don't respond for various reasons including hearing loss but there are other reasons that he may not be responding too. The best way to find out for sure is to have your child's hearing tested. If in fact your child does have a hearing loss, I would be happy to talk more to you if you would like. I have worked with kids and adults with various hearing loss issues and have family members, one of whom has a moderate hearing loss and another who is profoundly deaf. I hope you don't worry too much until you find out what, if anything is going on. You are getting onto it early, if there is a problem and there's a lot that can be done to help if the need is there. Good luck and take care.

If you think your son has a hearing problem, take him to a ENT doctor. California Ear Institute, Dr. Joe Roberson in Palo Alto office is across from Ikea or Dr. Jennifer Mau in San Jose. They are two of the best in the Bay area. CEI has offices in San Ramon too. Ask your pediatrician for a referral.

Sometimes ear infections do not clear up properly. Also sometimes there's regressive loss; nonetheless, if you have concerns, go check it out.

Does he have speech problems?

I have a deaf child. Diagnosed at 9 mos. (born 2 wks before mandatory screening started). He's now fully mainstreamed heading into 4th grade and is one of the few children/adults with bilateral cochlear implants.

Good Luck.

Have the doctor check his ears for earwax. My daughter tends to get a hard ball of earwax built up inside her ears and if we let it go, she cannot hear everything all the time.

If it is not that, I would have his hearing checked by a specialist. Hope it's just the earwax!!

I agree with the first response. Have his ears checked. My son did the same thing. I thought he was just ignoring us, but we had his ears checked and he had fluid built up and needed tubes in his ears to release it. Its a minor surgery and they are completely fine afterward. Dont write it off as "a boy thing" until you get his ears checked. You dont want him to lose his hearing completely.

Hi H.,
I'm, sure you will have his hearing tested and run down all the likely stuff, but I'd like to mention my own personal experince with hearing loss.
As a kid I did have lots of ear infections and the like, but they seems to clear up with age. But over the years I noticed I was having intermitant trouble hearing. (which by the way can lead to spelling problems!) It didnt really show up too well when being tested.But everyone teased me, when I had to have the TV up loud , or couldnt hear with one ear on the pillow.Didint hear people call me.
I was in my early fourties before a smart Doctor found i was alergic to wheat. An earlier Doctor had found the alergy , but said not to worry about it. Boy was he wrong. Anyway, Once I took the wheat out of my diet, I couldnt belive how my hearing improved. I guess I just didint notice it effected me as I had always had it. I used to think that was a bunch of hooey..but now I know that food algeries can be profound and work in ways that are not the norm we might expect.
It seems the alergy inflames the inner ear. Might want to see if he has "itchy" ears and tugs or sticks his finger in. Also look for slight circles under the eyes, (maybe a bit pink or dark under the eyes) also possibley itchy nose and sniffing with no drainage.It can be very suttle. Just a thought.
But please do take care that teachers and others dont "blame" the kid and say that he is "choosing" not to respond. Stick with it...there will be some reason that its happenting, and your mother instinct is way ahead of everyone else.
Also I hate to bring it up..but a mild autisim can look like that.."The child , might play "AROUND other kids , but not WITH them." And then again, maybe you just have a creative kid who likes his own company and is deep in though.He might be reluctant to come back to the real world when he is so enjoying his own thoughts so much. Some kids have something called "hyperfocus" and it is the sign of a focused mind, a vivid thinker. Is either Mom or Dad the artistic type?
Best wishses and stick to what your Mother instinct tells you..it will be right..
V.

Hi H.,

Whenever you have a concern of this nature, you should always talk to your pediatrician. S/he can refer you to Children's Hospital where they can do an extensive hearing test. This will rule out any physical problems (I've gone through it, and the thought is scarier than the reality, trust me!).

Now, that being said, there is probably nothing to worry about. Many kids, especially boys, at this age get so engrossed in what they are doing that they don't notice anything else. My 3.5 year old son is like that. I'll have to call him several times before he acknowledges me. While it's frustrating, it's also a sign that he has very good concentration skills.

Good luck!
S.

Just make an appointment with and audiologist. If you have insurance they should cover it. I assume your son already has language. Progressive loss is possible, fluid in the ears, it is always good to rule out hearing loss. I am a preschool teacher at CEID, Center for Early Intervention on Deafness in Berkeley at 1035 Grayson St. ###-###-#### .If you need any support or help especially if a hearing loss is identified you can contact us. We also have audiology services, but so does Kaiser and Children's hospital. It depends on your insurance. Children's has a long waiting line. Call now. It would also help to see an ear, nose, throat doctor and your pediatrician. Good luck,
J.

It's hard to know if its a hearing loss or just ignoring you. My granddaughter (5 yrs. old) has a very annoying habit of ignoring people when they speak to her. She will simply continue on with what she's doing as if no one spoke to her. I know she can hear and it's a matter of manners with her. I am working on it. If you really want to know, say something to him when he can't see your lips moving that you know he'll want to respond to like does anyone want ice cream? Do you want to go to the park? and see if he doesn't hear that. If he does, you know he can hear and he's simply ignoring you.

I had the same problem. I was taken to the doctors to get tubes put in my ears. Even my son had tubes put in his ears also. Maybe you should take him to a doctor to get have his hearing tested. Sometimes it happens to kids and we don't expect it. Kids are also good at ignoring the parents on purpose, when they are distracted.

The hearing test should be part of his 4 year check up, but I suspect his hearing is fine. I think it is a 4 year old thing because my son does the same thing. Perhaps you could try a sticker chart or other reward for days when he listens well and praise him: "Mommy sure appreciates that you came in for lunch right away today!" or something like that. Also try not to call him unless you mean business. An example of what I mean: I know I sometimes call my son in for washing hands and then go back to fixing the meal, then go back and call again, and on and on. It's easier when I stand at the door until he moves towards me, then I can ask him what he's been playing or building or whatever, and finish preparing the meal while he's talking to me or before I call him. Hope this helps!

Hi H.,
I, myself, was born with a hearing loss, in which, my parents did not find out 'til I was 3 - 3 1/2 years old. Up until that time, all I would do is point & make sounds at things I wanted. I didn't learn to talk until I was fitted with hearing aids. Both of my daughters, whom are almost 2 1/2 & 4 years old, have normal hearing. I also have a cousin, whom, we told my aunt when she was 18 months old, to have her hearing tested. As it turned out, she too was born with a hearing loss. Does he respond to you at all, are you able to get his attention or does he just stare off into space. When you do get his attention, are you talking extremely loud or in a normal tone of voice. I'd like to tell you, to please, if you have not already done so, to have your son's hearing tested. Go to an Audiologist & have him tested. The sooner you know, the better off he'll be. Also, he may just be ignoring you as most 4 years old do at that stage, which, he'll outgrow.

Have his ears checked....My daughter was the exact same way at 4. She went to a physical for preschool, after a hearing test, the doctor informed me that my daughter had a double inner ear infection and she had no hearing at all ane was probably communicating to us with a form of sign language and lip reading. After medication and time, a month later her hearing was fine. The interesting thing is that my daughter felt no pain or had no complaints at all. I felt bad because I thought she was ignoring me when she would not respond.

When my daughter was 19 months old we had the same problem -- she did not turn around when her name was called as others her age did. We took her to an audiologist who specializes in children and, even at her young age, hearing loss was apparent (although she also had fluid in her ears and needed tubes). She's worn hearing aids since age 2 and with them hears almost normally and communicates extremely well. There are other medical possibilities, so start with your pediatrician. Go with details about language development and any recent changes in behavior, language, health, etc. Go with your gut and pursue answers ntil you get them. My last piece of advice is, no matter what the source of the problem, get in touch with other parents who are dealing with the same issues because they are a wealth of information and support.

I had the same problem when my youngest was 3. We thought it was selective hearing so we waited and then finally took her to the doctor. She had a large chunk of wax built up in the inner ear which we could not see. The doctor took it out and her hearing returned.

You might want to get his ears checked. The doctor can do a hearing test with their machine to verify. Make sure that you ask for it.

Good luck and stay strong!

Like Elizabeth D., my son (2 on the 18th) was the same way. He had non-symptimatic ear infections. My husband was an assistant coach for a high school wrestling team. During one meet, we were standing right under neath the gym's scoreboard and the loud buzzer went off. Our 4 yr old daughter jumped and covered her ears but my son didn't do a thing. With testing we found he had profound hearing loss. One ear had no ear hair movement and the other ear had minimal. Tubes helped it but after 4 months he hasn't progressed with the speech like we and the pedi would have liked. So we're now in the process of going through Early Start and an outside speech therapist. :)

if he is having some kind of hearing loss, you better check it out asap with some kind of audiology however i wanted to let you know that sign language is the best way to give him the fullest n equal opportunity to language.

American Sign Language.

check out www.nad.org or www.deafread.com

I wanted to share with you that speech will not be helpful to your child s development in the long run. adults who sign all of their lives usually are living at the fullest and acquires the best amount of language than if not primary users of sign language.

you can check out www.dbcusa.org

Hello

Have you taken your son in to see an audiologist to test his hearing? If not that is the first thing that you should do. How is your son's language development? I am a deaf educator in the the central valley in CA. I work with a lot of children with hearing losses, their families, school districts and administrators. Please contact me anytime. Best of luck to you!

HI!
I am a teacher that works with children with hearing losses &/or are deaf. My only advice is if you believe he is in fact experiencing a hearing loss take him now to an audiologist. Depending on where you live, sometimes your local school district can help...I work for Mt Diablo Unified School District. They have a screening center to check hearing losses. It's important for language development as soon as you can to find out if in fact it is a hearing loss...& even if he deosn't have a loss...you will have piece of mind...both ways you will be able to move forward. Take care & do what you need to now.

My son is 4 and does the same thing. He also talks really loud. But I have whispered his name and he responds. I have been told that boys just zone out and get really into what they are doing. The vocab part of the boys brain delevlopes slower than girls and that could whats going on. I am going to have my sons ears checked but the more I talk to other mothers of boys it seems to be the norm...:)

Take him to the dr to have his hearing checked and checked for possible autism. Not answering to their names or acknowledging when spoken to can be one of the signs. You are getting an easrly taste of what it is like to be the pasrent of a teenager. I am sure he is fine so don't worry its just always better to be safe.

We had a similar situation when my daughter was younger. It turned out that she'd had ear infections which never completely cleared up, which caused fluid build up in her ears, so her hearing was compromised. It was like she was hearing us from under water, which is why she'd hear us eventually. (Once we yelled loud enough...) Once we figured it out, with her doctor, it was a pretty easy fix. We just needed to get the ear infection completely cleared up. Take your son to the doctor asap. Her ears and hearing have been fine ever since. (She's 14 now.) Good luck!

Two things come to mind, one of course is hearing loss. Please have his hearing tested right away. He is not too young. Also, this could be a symptom of Autism. Check it out and good luck.

Hi! I am not sure about your son's hearing, but I can tell you my 4 year old does the same exact thing. My son's hearing is just fine believe me. I really think the kids get into what they are doing and just wants to keep playing. The kids know if they acknowledge us that means mama might want something and no more play time for them possibly. If you have concerns about your son's hearing then I would get it checked out that wouldn't hurt. Just wanted you to know my son does the same thing it could just be the age. Hope all works out well. Take Care. I have a 22 months old too.

My son was the same way. His language was also delayed. His hearing was tested at 3 and found to be normal. He continued to have trouble so we thought he had an auditory learning disability. At 5, I asked the pediatrician for a referral for a complete hearing eval again to make sure we didn't miss a hearing loss. We had -- he has a profound high frequency hearing loss, which means he can't hear a number of speech sounds. It fooled people because he could hear some sounds and figured out some of the missing sounds to be able to respond. He was also tested for hearing voice in noise and he has a severe problem there as well. If there is ANY background noise, he cannot hear what someone is saying.

I suggest you ask your pediatrician for a referral to a pediatric audiologist for a complete hearing assessment. The earlier you catch it, the better.

S.