Kylie and Dalio describe their seven-year-old daughter, Elyse as having a lovable, funny and cheeky persona that people warm to instantly. This bubbly nature and loud personality are qualities that they adore about their daughter. They were also the same qualities that meant Elyse’s hearing problems went undetected for years.
Although Kylie wasn’t 100 per cent sure, she had an inkling something wasn’t quite right with Elyse’s hearing; it was noticing that Elyse was mispronouncing words, especially those starting with an ‘h’ sound, (which is a low sound for the human ear to detect) that made her take notice. “She wasn’t developing as her older sibling, Abbey, had done previously,” Kylie told Mamamia. “I had a faint suspicion that perhaps Elyse had a hearing loss.”
“I remember speaking to Elyse and having to repeat everything three times,” she said.
“I would say, “Put your shoes on”, in a normal tone but with no response from Elyse I’d ask again louder. By the third time, I’d be raising me voice!”
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Oh I hear ya (pun intended). We knew my son had hearing issues in one ear since birth, when he failed his newborn hearing test. And we’ve been with Hearing Australia since he was around 6 months getting regular tests (they are honestly amazing! And I believe you can get free hearing tests with them?).
Each year the cold season does play havoc with my son’s hearing with all the snot. But last year, we had no idea how bad it had gotten. He was developing words/sentences so well - ahead of his peers (at the time he was only 3 yrs)! But a test revealed he had basically no hearing in his left (normal range is usually at conversational and above) while his perfectly good ear dropped to conversational. Basically his hearing had halved! And yet he was STILL developing language - albeit as a loud mouth!
So I get that guilty feeling. Poor little guy having to work SO hard to hear us properly. And was a trooper regardless. Grommets did fix the retained fluid issue, but his other hearing problems will always be there.
My son was born with microtia of the right ear, the outer ear wasn’t properly formed. He was referred straight to ENT and audiology to monitor the hearing in his left ear when he a newborn. Multiple grommets have been inserted in his left ear over the years to keep that ear clear as he had a lot of fluid buildup. He was nearly 6 when he had an MRI for another issue, and the general paediatrician asked them to review his ears as well so we finally found out that his right inner ear is perfect, but the ear canal is tiny so not much sound, if any, gets through. A bone conduction hearing aid works well for him (when he wears it) and he is now waiting for a hearing implant at nearly 12. Because his left ear has generally remained clear with grommets, his speech and language development has been pretty good and the few issues he had early on were related to his feeding issues affecting his mouth formation rather than his hearing.
That was me .Apparently i was lip reading and my brain was filling in the other words so my worsening hearing wasnt picked up til i was about 5
We had this with our youngest child. I knew his speech wasn't developing normally, but he had never had any symptoms of glue ear like frequent ear infections or pain etc. I started taking him to GPs around two years old, and they said because he was the youngest sibling, his brothers were speaking for him. None were concerned and said it was all fine. When it was finally picked up, at around 3, we were put on a waiting list to see an ENT and because we are regional and there aren't many specialists he was almost 4 by the time the gromments went in. He is now almost 8 and he still has to have weekly speech therapy and has quite a hard time with speech. It could have been so simple if it had been picked up earlier. The outcomes are far better with quick diagnosis.
The waiting lists to see ENT specialists is huge here in Brisbane. I’ve been told by my son’s general paediatrician that if your child needs to be referred to ENT they will be seen quicker if the referral comes from another specialist, rather than your GP.
We don't have any other children's specialists here anyway. We are regional NSW, so almost all our specialsts are down in Sydney, there is a new hospital with heaps of children's specialists 45 mins away, but we aren't "In area" so its a 7 hour round trip for us. Thanks though :)