Re: Hearing Loss - explanation from our ENT dr.

December 17, 2004

Hi,

Emerence, 22 months, had her first set of ear tubes at 9 months of

age, the 2nd at 16 months of age. Her ENT explained to me that kids

who gets lots and lots of ear infections get " otitis media with

effusion " . I guess this means that the stuff behind the ear may not

always get infected (but there is always fluid there) and the water

of the fluid gets reabsorbed into the body and the fluid becomes more

gluey and thick. This affects the child's hearing and can lead to

hearing loss if not caught and corrected. Also, when kids are born,

the ear tubes are more horizontal to the ground so when kids have

colds the mucus may not drain and instead go out to the ears. (and

my daughter had a blocked tear duct so stuff would come out her eyes

when she had a cold - yuck!). She explained that as kids grow the

tubes begin to drop so that they finally end up diagonally and drain

the ears. Since our kids are not stellar growers, their ear canals

stay horizontal longer and therefore are more likely to have ear

infections or otitis media with effusion, both of which can affect

hearing. This is why they recommend tubes...when kids get infections

or fluid it just drains out the ear.

, mom to and Emerence 22 mo (2 sets of tubes so far), 18

lb 11 oz.

> My parents were told when I was diagnosed that hearing loss was a

possibility,

> but neither of my parents ever remember the doctors providing an

explanation

> for this. I also wanted to add that there was a news story out

maybe six

> months to a year ago about how shorter adults in general (although

I don't

> think the study qualified between " typically " short and " atypically

short) seem

> to be at a higher risk for hearing loss. I wish I could remember

more details,

> but I'm not sure that I read any of the articles that I saw. Does

anyone else

> remember this?

>

> ~Hillary

> 22, RSS

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