Well as it turns out Collin may have something called auditory neuropathy. Essentially it means that he has nerve damage in his ear. When the brain processes information, it gets garbled and doesn't make sense (translates to a hearing loss, or hearing static to loud annoying noises). Check out this link to hear what it sounds like: (scroll down to 2. http://www.ucihs.uci.edu/hesp/Simulations/simulationsmain.htm)
So what does this all mean? Not sure yet. Apparently it's pretty uncommon and discovered in the 80's, the audiologist and the person from the hearing program weren't too familiar with it and rarely encountered it in one ear only; hopefully meeting with the ENT doctor will provide some insight.
It sounds like A). His hearing aid most likely doesn't help. If he doesn't actually have a "loss" in that ear, the hearing aid just amplifies the annoying noise. Today when he went in for a test, they blasted some sound that he shouldn't have been able to hear near the poor ear and he burst out screaming. As in the noise scared him, so he obviously heard it. This isn't a sure thing yet. Collin will continue to use it until we learn more. B). Sometimes this gets better over time. Sometimes worse. Because he's a baby he can't exactly tell us what's going on so it's not easy to asses. We're holding out hope for the getting better part of course and he'll continually be tested. C). He could have to live with this. In which case we'll learn if there's anything we can do to help. We'll have to be an advocate in classrooms, etc. Teach him to be extra cautious when crossing streets, etc. And he'll adapt.
I'm glad we discovered this early and have a whole team of people working with us. And truly thankful this is only in one ear. Collin has lots of supporters and love so he'll do just fine. And I know he won't know any different if his hearing remains the same. Still when I plug up one ear to comprehend what he must hear, I can't help but to feel a little sad on what he's missing.
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