Hellobee Boards

I work in an audiology clinic, and we test little ones all the time.
You'll answer some questions about his history- ear infections? Speech concerns? Any surgeries on his ears, etc? Family history?
Then, you'll go with him into the sound booth, and then will most likely use toys/puppets to check his responses to sound. They'll probably use a tympanometer, which is a little insert that seals his ear and tests pressure, volume, etc. There's also an automatic brain stem response test (ABR) that they might do, but he is probably too old. That's mostly for young babies or kids who can't/don't respond.

Good luck!! It'll be pretty quick, and not scary/painful.

@Mrs. Oatmeal: said it perfect! Lo#1 went at around 16 months to check for hearing loss and we did those things- I was super nervous and it was actually pretty easy and fairly quickly! Good luck!

@MrsRcCar: We had the first one at 6 months old, first they looked in his ears, then put a little thingie like an earbud in and did somekind of function test that measured the actual movement of the ear cilia (not his visible response). Then we sat in a quiet room, he sat on my lap, and they did a series of 4 tests, the first two were with beeps coming from one of 4 speakers (2 pitches) to see if he would look toward them, the next was voice, to see if he would look toward it, and the 4th we never did because they said he was too tired and wasn't even trying to listen anymore.
(From a non-professional experience). Pretty much what the audiologists said. Good luck!

@MrsRcCar: yes- the audiologist gave us the results right then.

@MrsRcCar: thinking of you this morning

@MrsRcCar: Good luck today! My daughter had recurrent ear infections and needed tubes and then we had some concerns the infections may have affected her hearing, so we are very familiar with the audiologist's office!

You've gotten great advice already. We were able to get our results at the end of the appointment so I hope you do too.

@MrsRcCar: If it's at a children's hospital I bet they'll be great at working with a child his age. Our TOD was describing the booth test recently and there seemed to be a lot of motivators involved like videos and high interest toys. It sounded like they know when a child isn't cooperating anymore and won't keep pushing them. She did say that the parent's job is to try to be a good chair and keep them balanced!

Good luck! We literally just had our first audiology appointment with our 2 1/2 year old. Because my daughter has been to so many appointments in her short life, she HATES any medical procedure...even hates walking into the hospital. So I was expecting the worst.

But, the team was fantastic and there were tons of toys and things to keep her occupied. Since they're used to working with kids, the room and the exam is set up to entertain them.

I thought she would sit on my lap for the exam but she wanted to sit in a chair by herself and she did great.

Our audiologist also reassured me that if things didn't go well that it would serve as a good practice run and we could come back (for another fee, of course).

Good luck! Hope it goes smoothly.

@MrsRcCar: That's good to know and hopefully his docs are willing to work with you and put them on ahead of time! We've started working with a child life specialist and that has changed our lives! It helps so much.