Essentially this demonstrates that the outer hair cells are behaving normally Usually present, can disappear over time (at the age of 4 Alice still had hers). The table below summarises the various tests that can be performed on adults and children and a comment on how ANSD would show itself.Ībsent / Poor / reflects level of hearing loss Their results are the same, but that is the issue with being a well baby with an unusual hearing condition. Alice was diagnosed at 16 months, Oliver at 16 hours. We have described these tests in the glossary, but essentially, the diagnosis of ANSD is a time-consuming process, unless you know what you are looking for. The experts are learning as much as we are, let’s try and help each other.ĪNSD is diagnosed by a number of tests. We freely admit there will be holes in our explanation, feel free to comment, as we are learning, we are our own great science project. So, with some help from proper scientists (thank you so much to Kai from the University of Manchester) we are trying to put their words into words that parents can understand. Equally, it is now understood that certain types of ANSD are temperature sensitive and can even get worse with a fever frustrating does not explain it. You are not mad, this condition is designed to confuse and confound. As a parent we missed Alice’s hearing disability because we thought she could hear. Make no mistake, a child with ANSD may be able to hear in windows, they may have good days and bad days, moments of hearing and moments of not. So, ANSD – what does it mean? – it means that your child is not a ‘typical’ deaf child, your child could go on to hear and develop speech and language (regardless of what their testing tells you) or it could mean your child is like Alice or Oliver and can’t hear anything useful. ![]() Herein lies the crux of the problem – ANSD is not a condition per se – it is a description of an anomalous set of symptoms and test results which define this type of hearing loss apart from more common sensoneural or conductive hearing losses.Ĭhildren with near normal hearing and children with nerve issues are all lumped together under the umbrella, despite the very obvious differences in their ears. Previously, patients have been given the diagnosis of hair-cell dys-synchrony, auditory neuropathy, auditory mismatch, auditory de-synchrony, neural hearing loss, per-synaptic hearing loss, AN/AD and a whole host of other names. ![]() The definition was coined at a conference 2008 where a consensus was reached on how to refer to the idiosyncratic symptoms which define the condition. ![]() I am sure there are plenty of experts out there rolling their eyes at me for saying this and I have, time and again, been reassured that given the ambiguities of the condition, it is the best name they can come up with at present (until the next one that is). It is the latest in a long line of long-winded misnomers which, thus far, takes the prize for being the longest and, in my opinion, the biggest misnomer. In my own words and, most importantly, those of a parent and layman (you may, like me, need to refer to the glossary page for clarification on some of the many acronyms):Īuditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder (ANSD) is a long-winded misnomer. *** UPDATED*** What is Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder (ANSD)? *** UPDATED***Īs a wise lady once said: “Don’t forget underneath the puzzling science, there is a child and a family hoping for answers”
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |