‘Listening Games’ Can Open a Child’s World

Tell a child--even a very young child--that he’s going to have a test and you’ve got yourself a nervous child. Take him into an unfamiliar room and sit him in front of an equally unfamiliar, beeping electronic gadget and the problem just gets worse.

That’s why Andrea Joyce carries teddy bears along with her audiometer.

Joyce, hearing-screening coordinator for the John Tracy Clinic in Los Angeles, brought both bears and devices last week to the Fluor Corp.’s headquarters in Irvine, where she performed tests on employees’ children.

Or as she prefers to call them, “listening games.”

“Would you like to play my game?” she asks Andy McRae, 3 1/2, son of Fluor employee Ellen McRae. Andy is apprehensive but curious as he walks hesitantly toward the child-sized table in front of him. The audiometer takes up nearly the whole table top. He glances back at Mom for reassurance.

Taking note of Andy’s bomber jacket and airplane T-shirt, Joyce tells him, “You’re going to get a chance to be the pilot today.” At that, Andy gathers the courage to sit down in front of the device. But he doesn’t seem to mind that Mom sits down next to him.

“These are my headphones,” Joyce says. “In a minute, I’m going to ask you to put them on and listen for the beeps.” But for now, she leaves the headphones on the table.

“Now, to play my game, I’m going to give you a cup and a purple teddy bear. When you hear the beep, I want you to drop the bear in the cup. OK?”

Andy clutches the small plastic bear and waits. When he hears the beep, he opens his fingers and lets the bear fall.

“Good boy!” Joyce says, handing him another bear. Several bears later, Andy is ready to put on the headphones. Although he likes the “big beeps” better than the “baby beeps,” Andy’s hearing checks out fine.

Andy’s mother didn’t expect to find any problems, but Fluor employee Darla Wood, mother of 2 1/2-year-old Garrett, isn’t so sure. “He’s had a lot of ear infections,” she says, and a previous test with a tympanogram, which can detect fluid buildup, found a problem with his right ear.

By the time Garrett’s bucket is full of bears, Joyce has good news. “He tests perfect,” she says, “completely within the normal range.”

“That makes me feel relieved,” Wood says.

Joyce says she uncovers a problem in about 10% of the children she tests. “At this age (3 to 5), most of the time it’s a conductive problem, buildups of wax or fluid. And that’s usually controllable. Rarely do we discover a sensorineural problem on children this age.”

When parents usually think of hearing impairments, they think only of the more permanent problems such as sensorineural disorders. John Tracy, son of actor Spencer Tracy, has suffered that kind of hearing loss since birth. His mother, Louise Treadwell Tracy, founded the clinic bearing his name in 1942.

In addition to helping families deal with permanent hearing impairments, the clinic also tries to identify temporary problems before they do permanent damage. Joyce takes her equipment to Los Angeles-area preschools, businesses and community sites to provide the free testing. Fluor was the first Orange County company to take advantage of the service.

Although most children are tested when they enter public school, Joyce says that can be too late for some. “These are the language-building years. By the time a child is 5, his language structure is in place.”

Fluid buildup from a cold or ear infection can last much longer than the initial illness and can cause permanent damage if left untreated. Treatment may be as simple as a round of antibiotics, or the physician may need to physically drain the fluid.

Sarah Weiler, 3, wasn’t too enthusiastic about the test, but her father, Todd, said that might have something to do with the cold she has had. She refused to wear the headphones, so her father held them up to her ears, one at a time.

Although Sarah’s reluctance to cooperate might have been part of the problem, Joyce said, she consistently didn’t react to the lowest tone, 1,000 hertz. She recommended that Weiler take the child either to a doctor or to the John Tracy Clinic for further testing.

All testing and other services at the clinic are provided free of charge. Arrangements can be made by calling the John Tracy Clinic at (800) 522-4582.

Aside from testing, parents should watch their children for speech problems and signs of difficulty in understanding language, Joyce says.

Fluor wellness-coordinator Karen Wotherspoon said the testing fits in with the company wellness program’s focus on prevention and early detection. “We want to sensitize our employees to all aspects of health,” she said. “And we try to open up as many things as possible to families as well. If we found only one child today who needed help, it would be worthwhile.”