Q: My nine years old daughter has some defect in her left ear since birth. Her left ear is not developed and has no opening. We did a BERA test when she was six months old. The test said that there is some cochlear defect on the left side indicating sensory neural hearing loss of a moderate degree. However, conductive hearing loss should be excluded. Please tell us what are the chances of correcting this defect.

A:I think you need to wait till your daughter is at least 13-14 years old. Since she can hear from one ear, there is nothing to worry about development of speech and other functions. After she is 13-14 years old, she needs to be assessed for surgery of the ear. The ear will be assessed by a CT/MRI, Audiological tests, maybe BERA again. A severe conductive loss in the affected ear of your daughter is responsible for the BERA result you have mentioned. I dont think she will have any nerve deafness. So, please wait and follow the laid down protocols.