How it came to be known....Finding out about Harper's hearing loss.

After Harper was born the hospital ran the ABR screening on her hearing, but she did not pass. We were told not to worry about it and that there are several babies that "refer". We had the test ran again the next morning, but the results were the same. Before we went home, the test had been run five times and Harper failed all five times. We took Harper back to the hospital a week later to run the screening again. The nurse performed the test twice. Harper passed once on the right ear but failed on the left ear both times.

We were referred to the health department but Harper's forehead was too tiny for the test. We were then referred to the Hough Ear Institute in OKC. At Hough, Dr. Mark Wood checked Harper's ears and had the audiologist perform the OAE screening on her. Harper's ears looked perfectly normal but she failed the OAE screening. We were set up to have Harper's hearing tested at Hearts for Hearing.

On November 12, we took Harper to Hearts for Hearing to have the ABR test ran on Harper's hearing. The test revealed that Harper had a profound hearing loss in her left ear and auditory neuropathy and dys-synchrony (AN/AD) in both ears. This means that in Harper's left ear, the most quiet sounds heard are from 95 dB or more. With the AN/AD, especially in the right ear, Harper can hear, but there is a break in connection as the sound is traveling up the auditory nerve. Once the sound reaches the brain, it is just noise. It is like turning the radio on only hearing static. The audiologist suggested we begin using hearing aids on Harper and test her hearing at six months to see if there are any changes.

Our prayer is that God would heal Harper's hearing if it be His will, but if not, that we would do what is best for Harper!