The Story of How My Son's Hearing Loss Was Discovered

I'm Tanuki, and I'm raising my 5-year-old son who has mild hearing loss!
My son's hearing loss was discovered when he was 3 years old.
I'm going to write about how that happened.

At Birth

My son was born weighing about 1800g.
My blood pressure went up, so I gave birth at 35 weeks.
He was referred for further testing after his newborn hearing screening.
We had him tested several times after that, but he didn't pass.
However, since he reacted to everyday sounds like sneezing, we decided to just monitor him.

Ages 0 to 2

He grew steadily and could hear the sounds of toys and the TV.
He also started saying words like 'mama' and 'papa'.
He started attending daycare at 11 months old, but the teachers never pointed out any hearing issues.
I think that's because it was a small daycare where they often interacted with him one-on-one.

Sometimes, after being scolded or when his beloved dad wasn't around, he wouldn't respond when called.
I wondered, 'Is his hearing not so good...?'
But I didn't take him to a hospital or anything.

3-Year-Old Checkup to Diagnosis

When he was 3 and a half, he had his city 3-year-old checkup.
The checkup included a hearing test to be done at home.
It involved rubbing fingers near his ears to see if he reacted, and asking him to point to animals on a paper based on verbal instructions.

He got about half of the animal identification right.
He didn't react at all to the finger rubbing.
I think his speech and development were age-appropriate.

When I consulted about his hearing at the checkup, I was referred to a nearby pediatric hearing clinic.
There, he had a hearing test performed while he was asleep using a sedative.
The result was mild hearing loss with an average hearing level of about 35dB.
The cause is unknown.
They said he should wear hearing aids to help with language acquisition.

I remember being so shocked that I cried in the exam room.
I couldn't give birth to a child with perfect hearing.
If only I had noticed his hearing loss sooner...
I had scolded him so many times, asking 'Why are you ignoring me?'
I was a mess of various emotions.

After Diagnosis to Present

After the diagnosis, we prepared hearing aids right away.
First, we took ear impressions and made earmolds.
We rented hearing aids from a hearing aid shop.
They seemed effective, so we bought them afterward.

At first, he only wore them at home, but when he moved up to the middle class at daycare, he started wearing them there too.
In the middle class, he couldn't put them on himself, so he only wore them in the morning.
Now, in his final year of preschool, he puts them on and takes them off himself and wears them all day.

He also started speech therapy at the hospital and began interacting with other friends who wear hearing aids.
My son has speech therapy twice a month, but it seems some children go every week.

When he was first diagnosed, I blamed myself and was full of negative emotions.
But now, I think hearing aids are just like glasses.
He just wears them because it's hard to hear.
It's easier for my son and our family if he can hear well.
Everyone has various difficulties, big and small, and for my son, it just happened to be hearing loss.

I want to support him with all my might so that he can live comfortably.