Natalie had her post-ear tubes hearing test this morning. Before the tubes, she was found to have moderate hearing loss due to the fluid in her ears. This morning, her hearing is in "normal" range.
How does a hearing test work for a child? Natalie sits on my lap in a sound booth and I can see the screener through a window in front of us. The screener speaks into a microphone and calls "Natalie, Natalie" and it comes out a speaker on the left side or the right side of us. When Natalie looks in the correct direction, she gets "rewarded" with lights flashing around a toy bird in a box, and the bird whistles and sings. There is also a bird in a box in front of the room that the screener can use to get her attention to the middle. So the screener calls Natalie's name, and can adjust the level of sound, more loudly or more softly. Natalie responded to her name almost every time.
Then the screener uses computerized sounds--a static sound, a hum, a ding--at different tones and at different levels. Natalie responded to some of these, but not as frequently as the voice calling her name.
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