When Oscar was born, the audiologist told me to test his hearing, even though we know why Charlie has hearing loss and Oscar does not have the same kind of ear. I went along with it, because that's how I am--I obey authority figures. It was really annoying. Mary had to ride in the back seat of my van and torture Oscar to keep him awake so he would sleep during the test, and then play endless rounds of hide-the-Batmobile with Charlie in the waiting room while the audiologists performed thought experiments on my sleeping infant. (I blogged about it at the time but now am too lazy to go find the link.) The result: Oscar's hearing was dampened in one ear. Because he had a cold. They told me to repeat the test.
I waited just about as long as I could get away with and finally took him back today. Adorable. Sitting up in my lap with big headphones on. Wiggles music, flashing light, mechanical pig and sheep. So much cuter than sleeping in his car seat with electrodes taped to his impossibly soft newborn head.
He had a cold, and fluid in his ears but... tested normal in both ears across all frequencies!
She still wants me back in a year and a half though.
Way back in our evolution we had lions, tigers, famine, pestilence and disease to fear.Very attentive parents who worried about all these things successfully raised their children, passing on the genes to fear. We can use our rational part of our mind to determine that some fears can be ignored. Ignore the fear that your audiologist's annuity will be too small if you don't meet her requirement for a hearing test.
Posted by: Jim | December 23, 2009 at 05:34 PM