Strange hearing screening question

[Cattz]

I have a student that I screened his hearing earlier in the year. He failed my screening. I visited with mom. She was great to work with. She said he had already had tubes and had been under the care of an ENT for a long time. Since it was for a Special Ed. referral, she went ahead and took him for another hearing test, which he passed.

Today, I screened the rest of his class, and even though I didn't really need to. I re-screened this student. Today, it was much quieter and better conditions for an even more accurate screen. This student indicated the ear that he heard the "beeps" in was the opposite side that the machine actually did. I re-positioned the ear phones, made sure that I wasn't crazy and had them on the correct way. I even turned the head phones around and he still indicated the exact opposite of what he should have been hearing according to what buttons I was pushing.

I visited with his teacher. He is in Title 1 reading and they are beginning to wonder if he may be dyslexic or have some other "wiring" problem.

Have any of you ever heard of anything like this with the hearing screening?

I am stumped and wondering if there may be a connection with a "wiring" problem as associated with possible Dyslexia? or am I just over-thinking this with my "nurse brain"?

[tining, BSN, RN]

Recheck your screener handbook (at least in Texas). Raising right/left with beep is not necessary, any kind of response with beep is the rule. I have had kids say beep, or even high five as a response.

[Cattz, ADN]

Recheck your screener handbook (at least in Texas). Raising right/left with beep is not necessary, any kind of response with beep is the rule. I have had kids say beep, or even high five as a response.

I sure will. Thanks for all these responses. Makes me think I have been making it way too complicated ALL these years. After I thought about it...DUHhhhh...it is only in one ear anyway, so what makes the difference how they indicate that they heard the "beeps"??!!

[kidzcare]

Recheck your screener handbook (at least in Texas). Raising right/left with beep is not necessary, any kind of response with beep is the rule. I have had kids say beep, or even high five as a response.

I work primarily at the preschool and I have the kids put a block in a bucket when they hear a beep. I have also had them just say "beep" or "I hear it!" depending on the kid.

[Amethya]

I make it fun for the kids, I tell them they can "Raise their hand, raise the roof, party over here (Moves to the right, moves to the left) do 'touch down' their arms or even dab (Dabs). Just as long as I can tell you can hear it, show it or say it."

[llg, PhD, RN]

If the child is getting followed by an ENT, he is probably getting the help he needs. I wouldn't worry too much about him. But there are lots of hearing disorders that are not detectable by the traditional "can you hear the beeps" screenings -- and just because a child can hear the beep doesn't mean they don't have a serious hearing problem.

For example: I am completely deaf in my right hear. But I still hear the beeps generated by the machine and sent through the right head phone -- the sound is referred through bone conduction into my functional left inner ear and I hear it at the louder decibel levels. The only way to detect my right-sided deafness is to completely mask the sound in my left ear by playing some loud white noise into it while testing my right side.

Also, a person with "auditory processing disorder" will hear the beeps on the proper side, but still have trouble comprehending speech.

So, while I realize you school nurses are just going to do the very basic screening ... be aware that those screenings do not catch all types of hearing loss and impairments.

[Supernrse01, BSN]

Is it possible that he was just purposely raising the opposite hand?

[Cattz, ADN]

If the child is getting followed by an ENT, he is probably getting the help he needs. I wouldn't worry too much about him. But there are lots of hearing disorders that are not detectable by the traditional "can you hear the beeps" screenings -- and just because a child can hear the beep doesn't mean they don't have a serious hearing problem.

For example: I am completely deaf in my right hear. But I still hear the beeps generated by the machine and sent through the right head phone -- the sound is referred through bone conduction into my functional left inner ear and I hear it at the louder decibel levels. The only way to detect my right-sided deafness is to completely mask the sound in my left ear by playing some loud white noise into it while testing my right side.

Also, a person with "auditory processing disorder" will hear the beeps on the proper side, but still have trouble comprehending speech.

So, while I realize you school nurses are just going to do the very basic screening ... be aware that those screenings do not catch all types of hearing loss and impairments.

Thanks- I am pretty confident that we are very aware that this will not catch all hearing loss and impairments, it is a screening tool, and not met to catch everything. Same with the vision screenings that we do.

[hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I]

I'm no expert but my son was diagnosed with an Auditory Processing Disorder when he was little. This sounds like it may be something like that.

Hppy