Thursday, September 08, 2005
We finally know...
Today we brought Matthew for his ABR (Auditory Brain Stem Response) test at NUH. It seems that he knew that there was something special about today and he woke up before 6:30am.
The test went on without much hiccups. We saw Dr Lynne Lin (Paediatric ENT Specialist) after that. From the ABR test, we learned that he has perfect hearing on his right ear, but suffers a 60% hearing loss on the left ear.
Matthew has a normal left ear pinnal, except that he has a ear tag, like me and my mommy. His ear hole is slightly smaller, but it had never occurred to us that there might be problems. The CT scan showed that his left ear auditory canal (EAC) is blocked and his left ear drum (or tympanic membrane) is replaced by a bone structure. The floor of his right EAC is partially deficient, but it would not be too much of a concern as he has perfect hearing on this side.
Dr Lin offered us a few options: 1. For his age now, a BAHA (Bone Anchored Hearing Aid) Softband system, 2. At age of 5, surgery to reconstruct his ear canal, but there is a higher risk in this sort of surgery as it affects quite a lot of nerves, 3. At age of 5, to have a titanium fixture installed to his skull bone and use a BAHA sound processor.
We decided that we should give Matthew the best. We would be looking into getting him a BAHA Softband system now. In future, to have it fixed with a titanium insertion.
The test went on without much hiccups. We saw Dr Lynne Lin (Paediatric ENT Specialist) after that. From the ABR test, we learned that he has perfect hearing on his right ear, but suffers a 60% hearing loss on the left ear.
Matthew has a normal left ear pinnal, except that he has a ear tag, like me and my mommy. His ear hole is slightly smaller, but it had never occurred to us that there might be problems. The CT scan showed that his left ear auditory canal (EAC) is blocked and his left ear drum (or tympanic membrane) is replaced by a bone structure. The floor of his right EAC is partially deficient, but it would not be too much of a concern as he has perfect hearing on this side.
Dr Lin offered us a few options: 1. For his age now, a BAHA (Bone Anchored Hearing Aid) Softband system, 2. At age of 5, surgery to reconstruct his ear canal, but there is a higher risk in this sort of surgery as it affects quite a lot of nerves, 3. At age of 5, to have a titanium fixture installed to his skull bone and use a BAHA sound processor.
We decided that we should give Matthew the best. We would be looking into getting him a BAHA Softband system now. In future, to have it fixed with a titanium insertion.
