9. Hearing in the First Year: Expert Interview with Dr. Kelsey Kerkhove | Episode 9
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We have an amazing expert interview today with Dr. Kelsey Kerkhove.
Dr. Kelsey is a pediatric audiologist with a passion for connecting and supporting families of children with hearing loss. With a background in diagnosis, treatment, and intervention, she has worked with hundreds of children and their families. She has seen first-hand the roller coaster of emotions that parents feel when they find out their child has been diagnosed with hearing loss. From sadness, to fear, and ultimately acceptance. Her goal is to support you every step of the way.
In this episode, she talks about how she helps parents and their babies in the first year, how she became interested in audiology, hearing development and milestones in the first year, ear infections, and what to do if you have concerns about your baby's hearing.
Dr. Kelsey also answers some listener questions about sound machines and noise-cancelling or reducing headphones for babies. Join us!
Resources:
How to Support a New (or New Again) Mom
Ollie Swaddle (use discount code 9NWURUWCHW for 10% off π°)
From Dr. Kelsey
Instagram: @kelseykerkhove_aud
Transcript:
Molly Vasa Bertolucci:
Hello there! We have an expert interview today with Dr. Kelsey Kerkhove. Dr. Kelsey is a pediatric audiologist with a passion for connecting and supporting families of children with hearing loss. With a background in diagnosis, treatment, and intervention, she's worked with hundreds of children and their families. She has seen firsthand the rollercoaster of emotions that parents feel when they find out their child has been diagnosed with hearing loss. From sadness to fear and ultimately acceptance. Her goal is to support you every step of the way. I'm so glad I got to connect with Kelsey for this podcast and talk to her about hearing in the first year. Dr. Kelsey is going to talk with us about hearing in the first year and what parents should know. From how to safely use sound machines, to knowing what to expect with newborn screening, and the next steps if your child needs more support with hearing loss. It was so interesting talking to Kelsey about this topic. She's so knowledgeable and puts everything in a way that just makes sense. You can really feel Kelsey's passion and her desire to support parents through what could be a really emotional journey.
Kelsey, thank you so much for being on the podcast. Thanks for joining us.
Kelsey Kerkhove:
Thanks for having me.
Molly Vasa Bertolucci:
Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do. How do you help parents and their babies in the first year?
Kelsey Kerkhove:
So I am a pediatric audiologist and many people when I tell them what I do, they immediately ask what is that. A lot of people aren't familiar with what an audiologist does, so I essentially specialize in diagnosing and treating hearing loss - basically an optometrist for ears, in a way. But beyond that, I specialize in diagnosing and treating babies and children with hearing loss.
Molly Vasa Bertolucci:
How did you become interested in Audiology?
Kelsey Kerkhove:
So it definitely wasn't one of those careers that, you know, at seven years old, it was like Oh, I know exactly what I wanna be. I took a little bit of time exploring different career options throughout college and always knew I wanted to work with people, and I also knew I wanted to do something where I could help people. My husband makes fun of me and he says that one of my hobbies is talking on the phone because I love connecting with people. I love chatting with people. Really that connection is, you know, the thing that makes me the most happy in life.
So throughout college, my older sister said, oh, I've got a friend who's studying to be a speech therapist. And so I started off with the thought that I wanted to pursue speech therapy. And through that, we also take courses for Audiology and the more exposure I got to Audiology, the more excited I became about it because again, connection is always something I really value. And most people say, oh, you must love ears, you must love hearing, I do appreciate that thatβs what they our ears allow us to do, but the most important part of that is that our ears and our hearing allow us to connect people. So when people don't have that opportunity or it might be harder for them, it's a really nice fit for me to kind of lean in and help that population.
Molly Vasa Bertolucci:
That's beautiful. Yes. Like, that's the avenue of connection.
Kelsey Kerkhove:
Yeah. So a lot of people say, you know, that your eyes are sort of your gateway to connection in a way.
Molly Vasa Bertolucci:
Yeah. And I'm thinking especially in the early days, like, that the connection - you're bonding with your child. Right? You're building that lifelong bond. And so having that connection is so important.
Kelsey Kerkhove:
Absolutely.
Molly Vasa Bertolucci:
What is a typical day like for you?
Kelsey Kerkhove:
So I do work clinically as an audiologist, and I also help oversee the newborn hearing screening program at a hospital here in California. So many parents take prenatal classes and they'll tour the hospital and they'll have a lot of information given to them prior to delivery, so they kind of know what to expect in those early days to come. But one of the parts of that that often gets overlooked is that every single baby will have a newborn hearing screening prior to leaving the hospital. And that's actually a state mandated program that started in 1999 because what people were finding is that if your baby was born with hearing loss, it often wasn't identified until, you know, three or four years old when you were expecting your child to start talking.
And at that point, we've missed a critical window of opportunity for language learning. So birth to 3 is the critical window for language learning. And if your child has hearing loss throughout those years, it makes it much harder for them to learn how to communicate because of missing that opportunity. So what they found was implementing the newborn hearing screening program allowed us to identify babies with hearing loss as early as a few days of life. And if it does turn out that your child has a permanent hearing loss, there are a lot of different options we can pursue for communication and language building so they don't fall behind in those connections or their communication milestones. So a big part, back to what you're asking, a big part of my job is helping to oversee that every baby gets the screening and then if a baby doesn't pass their hearing screening. I do the diagnostic testing to kind of see what's going on. And if it turns out there is permanent hearing loss, I help set up a treatment plan, so you don't really miss out on those communication opportunities.
Molly Vasa Bertolucci:
That makes so much sense because I think, as a parent coming in and thinking about newborn hearing, the extent of my knowledge is, oh, my baby had the newborn screening test at the hospital. Right? Like, that waw, and for me, that ended because my children don't have hearing loss. And so there's kind of two paths at that point: that might be the end of your exposure like me, or you might go on and work with someone like yourself to, you said, do more testing and create a plan for supporting the child.
Kelsey Kerkhove:
Absolutely. Exactly.
Molly Vasa Bertolucci:
Yes. And, yeah, just to build their tools and the ability to connect and communicate.
Kelsey Kerkhove:
Yep. You got it. Exactly.
Molly Vasa Bertolucci:
Tell us a little bit about hearing development and milestones. So what are we looking for in the first year>? What are kind of some key points in hearing development?
Kelsey Kerkhove:
Yeah. So that's a great question. So even if your baby does pass the hearing screening, it is possible they could develop hearing loss at some point throughout childhood. Although it's rare, but it is possible. So it's important to be kind of aware of those developmental milestones to know what to look out for if you ever have concerns.
Number one, when they're an infant, I know a lot of people say, well, how can I tell? Infants will startle to sound. So if your baby, you know, wakes or opens their eyes, eye widening to loud sounds or abrupt noises. So startling to sound is kind of that first response you see, you know, just within a few hours of life. And then as they grow, the hearing developmental milestones sort of also reflect the speech and language milestones. So theyβll start to mimic certain sounds, they'll start to coo, they'll start to babble, and they'll start to really turn towards sound.
And then as they get older, they'll respond to their names. They'll learn how to follow commands, follow directions. And that communication, that engagement will really start to connect. If you ever have concerns about your baby's hearing or your child's hearing, they can have their hearing tested at any age. I highly encourage parents - don't wait, you know, that motherly instinct is so powerful.
So if you do have concerns that, oh, they're not startling or they're not turning or they're not babbling, any of those kind of cues that show that they're responding to sound- talk to your pediatrician and your child can have their hearing tested at any point. And a hearing test for a child is really harmless. Not painful. It's not invasive whatsoever. So like I said, if you have concerns, it's definitely worth getting that addressed because the most important thing with childhood hearing loss is that it gets addressed as soon as possible. so we can, like I said, kind of intervene and create an action plan together. So we can help your child communicate the best they can.
Molly Vasa Bertolucci:
What does the hearing tests entail? What does that look like?
Kelsey Kerkhove:
Yeah. A lot of parents will ask, you know, when their baby has the hearing screen, well, how do you test a newbornβs hearing? That's a great question. Typically, what will happen is there's a test called an automatic auditory brain response test. So it sounds a little scary, a little fancy, but it's actually pretty simple.
What it entails is basically just putting little sensors on the baby's forehead or the baby's ears and headphones in the baby's ears. So sometimes they'll go in the ear, sometimes they will go over the ear. And then a sound would be played at a relatively soft level and then the equipment will automatically measure your baby's brain's response to sound. So really the most important part of that test is that you're your newborn stays perfectly asleep because it's trying to measure a really sensitive and very specific response from the brain. So if your little one, you know, has their eyes open or they're crying or they're sucking on a pacifier, there will be way too much interference and we won't be able to measure that auditory response specifically.
So as long as they stay asleep, that sound will play and over a period of time, depending on what equipment you're using, the equipment will automatically give you a response that says your baby passed, meaning that we measured a response from the brain. Or your baby referred, or did not pass, meaning that they have been referred for more testing. So one important thing I feel like for parents to know kind form being in the nursery with parents is that their baby may pass or not pass the hearing screening and if your baby doesn't pass the hearing screening, it doesn't mean that they have hearing loss. It just means that they've been referred for more testing. So many parents will be completely surprised when they receive the news that they didn't pass the hearing screening and of course a lot of feelings and emotions and fears and questions will come up in those moments.
But a screening is just a screening, it's not a diagnostic test. It just kind of helps direct us towards what next steps are necessary to get all the information we need. So many parents will ask you know, what can I do to help my baby in the meantime between that initial referred hearing test until they follow-up with the audiologist? And really, you know, the most important thing is still talk to your baby, sing to your baby, you know, hold them close, let them feel your vibrations as you're talking to them, don't change anything. Those connections are there, whether they can hear you or not.
So just remember that if they refer, it's not a diagnostic. It doesn't mean they have hearing loss. It just means they've been referred for more testing. And once we get to the audiologist and we get a little bit more information, we'll really come up with a plan to be able to make sure that you're able to communicate with your baby.
Molly Vasa Bertolucci:
Okay, yes. As you're explaining that, I'm thinking that's why it's called a screening. Right? Because we do, we think of it as a test like pass/fail, I think, as parents. But it's just the first step in potentially a longer journey where there's the actual testing, that you're involved in. And so what might that look like if you have a newborn who's referred for more testing?
What would that look like over maybe the first year?
Kelsey Kerkhove:
Yeah. So as an audiologist, we follow kind of a schedule called 1-3-6. So what that means for us is by one month, we wanna make sure your baby has received their hearing screening. So if you have a home birth, make sure you make an appointment with an audiologist within that one month or if your baby doesn't pass the initial screening in the hospital, make sure you follow-up within the first month. That's our goal always. That's the one.
The three is if your baby doesn't pass that hearing screening within the first month, we want to make sure they've had a diagnostic test by three months. So if there is any type of hearing loss, we have a plan in place. If it's a permanent hearing loss, we can talk about treatment options for that. If it's a temporary hearing loss due to some maybe fluid in the ears, we can get you connected with an ear nose and throat specialist to see how we can make sure that fluid drains and then the, you know, follow-up to make sure that the hearing improves.
And then by six months, We would want to make sure that we have established a treatment plan in place, so typically for babies born with permanent hearing loss, the recommendation is a hearing aid or hearing aids. So that's sort of the timeline that really important to us. And that's because research shows that if your baby is born with hearing loss that's permanent,
if they receive intervention, meaning hearing aids or other types of hearing devices that may be necessary - if they receive that by six months of age, then they're most likely to stay on track with their speech and language milestones and not fall behind. And that's our goal for kids and for parents is to support them to make sure that they're able to keep up their developmental skills and stay up kind with what we call βnormal hearing peersβ or kids their age that don't have hearing loss, we just want to make sure that they're able to communicate the best that they possibly can.
Molly Vasa Bertolucci:
Yeah. Yeah. It sounds like it's such a part of the foundation for healthy development, which is what makes it so critical.
Kelsey Kerkhove: :
Absolutely. And like I said, I think it's something that often gets overlooked within that first year. So if you ever do have concerns, you know, I really can't stress this enough - it never hurts to get a hearing test at any point in age because then we can address it. And another thing that is pretty common in children within the first year and maybe a few years between ages, six months and three years is ear infections.
Children are very, very prone to ear infections. So, you know, you have kids, I'm sure you've had your experience with a ear infection. The challenge with that is sometimes, you know, you'll go to the doctor, they'll prescribe an antibiotic. The infection will go away, but that fluid, that congestion, kind of stays clogged behind the ears, and that doesn't always drain on its own.
So even just that that fluid that results from an ear infection, if it kind of lingers, that can impact your child's hearing and ultimately impact their speech and language development as well. So if your little one has chronic ear infections, a hearing test can be really helpful to create a good treatment plan and to make sure that someone is following them to make sure their hearing resolves back to normal. So they're really hearing all the important sounds around them.
Molly Vasa Bertolucci:
It sounds like there's all these points of, places you can check-in with your kids to make sure they're on track and be able to access supports, like yourself, that can make sure they're developing using the hearing as the foundation.
Kelsey Kerkhove: :
Absolutely. And one thing I also don't necessarily think it gets addressed enough is that, for many parents who have a baby that's born with hearing loss, most parents are normal hearing or have never met a child with hearing loss. Sometimes they'll say, oh my grandpa wears hearing aids, but 90% percent of babies born with hearing loss are born to normal hearing parents. So if there is a diagnosis of permanent hearing loss, there is you know, a big emotional component that comes to this. There's definitely a grieving period because most parents don't even think about what that could potentially look like for their little one.
And when they do get the news, you know, you kinda have to grieve the loss of the life that you had imagined for your child. Many parents will tell me, you know, they'll ask, will they be able to play sports? Will they get married? All these kind of fears and emotions come rushing through. And as an audiologist, I'm really passionate about supporting parents through that emotional period as well because it is a grieving process. With any unexpected diagnosis, you receive for your child, you feel that also.
You feel for them and as their parent, you wanna do everything you can to support them, not just physically or clinically, but emotionally as well. So I really like to help parents in that first year if they have a little one who has hearing loss, so they've had to go through multiple hearing tests and see different specialists. You know, it's absolutely a rollercoaster. There is a steep learning curve because, like I said, most parents have never met a child with hearing loss. So my passion and my goal is to really guide parents through that journey.
Because as I'm sure you know, through the healthcare system, unfortunately, it can be like, you get this unexpected news sort of dropped on your lap, and then it's usually okay, can you come back in a month? And what happens between the time of diagnosis and the follow-up appointment a month down the road? It can be a really scary and isolating time. So I really like to be able to be there for parents, outside of just the short appointment that we may have in the beginning. I think that's a really important piece of the puzzle and parents deserve support through that especially in the first year.
Molly Vasa Bertolucci:
I'm so glad you brought up that piece because I was thinking about the way that we connected, and I don't even know if you even know this, Kelsey, but I initially found you from Instagram! And the post I found you from has this beautiful baby and you had a reminder and it that said βyour baby is still the same perfect baby they were before they were diagnosed with hearing lossβ. And I was so touched by that post. I immediately started following you and and learning from your Instagram, because it just showed so much about your attunement with the emotional experience that a parent might be having, finding out that their newborn has hearing loss and just, what you just you described as a rollercoaster, and I imagine that's exactly what it's like of, like, your expectations now have changed and you're trying to figure out what this means and you're walking into this whole new world that you maybe had no exposure to before .And you're right, like, you're often just kind of dropped.
Whether this is with hearing loss or another medical diagnosis, you're just kind of dropped into this huge system alone and all of the confusion and fear that comes along with that. And so I think, you know, that post I think just beautifully shows who you are as a a person and a clinician of just being able to support parents through this, through your expertise and acknowledging that really important piece for parents.
Kelsey Kerkhove:
Oh, thank you. Yeah. I think it's important. I always try to put myself in the parent's shoes. And if it were me and someone gave me really unexpected news about my child especially within those first few weeks of your newborn's life when everything is new and everything is overwhelming.
And there's so many uncontrollables happening at once. I always try to think how can I support parents? How can I provide them with this information that's really important, but also very difficult to hear? How can I help them process through this? I don't want parents to feel alone through this.
So if there's you know, ever anything I can do to help bridge the gap between, okay, from a logistical standpoint, you know, the logistics are important, but the emotions that fall within the logistics of appointments and testing and things like that are just as important. My goal is to really help parents bridge that gap. So they feel supported because ultimately if the parents feel supported, then they are able to support their child. So I think it's really important to focus, you know on, family-centered care. Itβs kind of a buzz-phrase that gets thrown around, but it's really true. It's really important that the whole family is involved because, you know, it's not just about mom and baby or dad and baby, but it's also about who's supporting mom throughout this.
You know, or are parents really involved or are friends or are siblings. You kind of become, you know, you become the teacher really quickly when you have a child with an unexpected diagnosis, but you're still the student. So who can help educate you? So you can pass that information along to family and friends so that they can support you as well.
It definitely can be a lot within that first year, but it's so rewarding to see parents get that first year underneath them. And then to see, you know, once that plan has been made and their little one has been, you know, fit with hearing aids or cochlear implants or established in a sign language program, whatever the family chooses from a communication standpoint - and then to see that first year come and see that language come and that connection come, all those fears, too some extent, you know, kind of - you'll look back and say, oh, my gosh. Okay. I made it here.
I'm so proud of myself. You know, I can't believe I did that. Once you get through that first year, it can be really rewarding. It doesn't mean that there's not still challenges to come in the future, but you can kinda come up for air at that point and it's always better to do that with sort of an army around you rather than, you know, doing it alone.
OLLIE SWADDLE
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Game=changer. It worked so well for both of my girls and was so easy. And anything that makes life easier with a newborn is a win. I seriously think that if they made swaddles for three year olds, my three year old would still be in a swaddle. And I would be sleeping much much more than I am now. Ollie World has given listeners of the podcast a discount code, which I will link in the show notes for you to try out the swaddle.
Again, game-changer. Highly recommend! Let's get back to my conversation with Dr. Kelsey.
Molly Vasa Bertolucci:
I had a couple of questions that came in from listeners when I brought up that you were gonna come on as an expert on the podcast. And so I have a few to shoot at you that must be, you know, on people's minds and so you can give us some insight. The first question that came in is are sound machines safe? And what should parents know about using sound machines safely?
Kelsey Kerkhove:
That is such a good a question and a question that I do hear often. So sound machines are safe when they're used properly. Many people have no idea that there is kind of a proper technique or proper way to use sound machines. So I'll kind of go over a few steps that you can make sure, so you don't have to worry that the sound machine could be causing any damage to your little one's hearing. Any exposure to really loud noise for a long period of time can put any of us at risk for what's called noise induced hearing loss.
So we definitely want to be cognizant that the sound machine isn't turned up beyond 60-70 decibels. So anything beyond 70 decibels could potentially cause hearing damage, especially over, you know, a long period of time. If your baby is sleeping for eight, ten hours and that sound machine is right there, that is putting them at risk. So you definitely wanna make sure that the sound machine is, I would say, to be conservative, between 50-60 decibels. And it's pretty easy to download an app on your phone, if you just type in like sound level meter in the app store, there's a ton that will come up. So you can quickly download it and press play on the sound machine and measure the volume just to make sure it's not exceeding a really loud level.
The next thing I would strongly encourage parents is to not put the sound machine in the crib or in the stroller, not don't put it directly next to the ear. The closer that sound machine is to them, the louder it's going to be, the more damage it could potentially cause. So I encourage families to put the sound machine about 6-8 feet away from the crib.
Really, the idea of this sound machine is to kind of drown out sound so the baby isn't disrupted. So I usually encourage parents to put the sound machine by the door. So if you're putting them in the bed, it's6:30 or 7, and then you're cleaning up dinner, or you've got other kiddos that, you know, you don't want them to wake the baby, put this on machine by the door, then that will kind of drown out the external sound and not disrupt them in their sleep. So those are the two things I would really be cognizant about. Making sure that it's not too loud and also avoid putting the sound machine directly next to their ear, several feet away if you can.
Molly Vasa Bertolucci:
I wonder if there's been, like, an increase in the use of sound machines, like, over the last few years?
Kelsey Kerkhove:
I feel like there has. I feel like, just personally from, you know, every person I know uses a sound machine and, you know, swears by it because it doesn't wake up their baby or helps them to sleep and that white noise can help soothe them to sleep, but we definitely wanna be conscious of how we're using it because, you know, it could potentially cause hearing damage over time. And I think it's important to address that many people when they think of hearing loss, they kind of think of deafness and then normal hearing. And it really is such a range. So similar to vision loss, you might have a slight or mild hearing loss that kind of goes undetected from your child because they're still able to hear.
But if there is hearing loss from the sound machine, it's usually pretty subtle and progressive, so it's probably something you wouldn't even notice until maybe they're much older. So I think that's important to be aware of that hearing loss is really just such a range and such a such a scale. So it's better to be cautious.
Molly Vasa Bertolucci:
Yes. Absolutely. That makes a lot of sense. I think you're right, you do kind of think of it as, like, black and white or, like, hearing loss or no hearing loss.
But yeah, that spectrum is really present. That makes a lot of sense. And one of the other questions that came in is what precautions should parents take around loud noises. So and the question actually was specifically, do I need to put the baby noise canceling headphones on my baby registry. Like, when should I be using these? Is this a good precaution? Like, you see that, itβs adorabble, right? You see a baby at concert with these noise canceling headphones. What kind of precautions should parents take around loud noises?
Kelsey Kerkhove:
I think specifically, should you put them on your registry? I think a lot of that depends on lifestyle. If you're not typically going to loud concerts or you're not regularly around loud noises, you may not need to put them on your registry. I think it just kinda depends on what activities you have coming around. Baby headphones or noise cancelling headphones hearing protection, whatever you would like to call it, are super important.
But the reality is, if it's so loud that you're concerned about your baby's hearing, you should also be wearing headphones to protect your hearing. So baby's ears are very very small. So because of that, loud sounds to them are gonna be perceived as even louder. However, like I said, if you're at a concert and it's so loud that you're worried about them, I think wearing your own hearing protection is is smart to do as well. Kind of the same thing with the sound machine.
Like I said, the closer you are to loud sounds, the louder it's going to be, so the more risk there is for any type ofnoise induced damage. So if you're at a concert, you know, stay away from the speakers. You don't wanna stand right next to the speaker. And also I think the headphones, although they help protect hearing, but they also help protect little ones from kind of being overstimulated or overwhelmed in a really loud environment. So that's something that is often totally new to them.
Their little brains haven't adapted to how to process really loud environments such as a concert or a sporting event or fireworks. So by using those headphones, it will kind of help with that overwhelming, you know, auditory input that they may get. But if you want your little one to wear headphones and they're fighting you on it, I think it's important that you have them - kinda leading by example as the parent. If you're gonna be at a concert, a music festival, you'll be there all day. Or even, you know, I see often parents who are, like, mowing the lawn and they're on, like, a riding lawn mower.
And they'll take their little one along for the ride and and hearing protection on something like that is definitely a good idea to use it. So the louder the sound and the longer you're exposed to it, the higher risk you're at. So do you need to register for it? Think it depends on lifestyle. Is it helpful to have in certain situations? Absolutely.
Molly Vasa Bertolucci:
Yeah. I I'm thinking as you're saying that, I'm thinking of all these situations that, yeah, they could come in handy. I would have never thought of, like, the lawnmower. But, yes, the loud noises we are exposed to - so many loud noises. And when you have a newborn with you, they're exposed to the things you're exposed to.
Right? I'm having this whole new perspective on hearing. Kelsey, is there anything that we didn't get a chance to talk about that you wanna talk about or that you want parents to know about hearing in the first year?
Kelsey Kerkhove:
You know, I think it's important for parents to know that if their baby doesn't pass the hearing screening, you are not alone. I would highly encourage you to follow-up in a timely manner just so we can address any concerns that might be happening. And if you find yourself on the unexpected journey of raising a child with hearing loss, there is support out there. There is a light at the end of the tunnel and what can be a very scary and overwhelming time. And I am more than happy to lend a helping hand to any families that could use any additional support if they find themselves on that emotional rollercoaster because I really don't want parents to have to feel alone throughout that journey. So if there ever is any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out. And I'm happy to support anyone that could use it.
Molly Vasa Bertolucci:
How can people connect with you if they have questions for you?
Kelsey Kerkhove:
Absolutely. You can find me on Instagram. My Instagram is @kelseykerkhove_aud, for audiology, and then you can also find me on my website kelseykerkhoveaud.com. You're welcome to send me a message through my website or send me a message through Instagram. I'd love to connect with any parents that could benefit from learning more about pediatric hearing or pediatric hearing loss.
Molly Vasa Bertolucci:
And I have learned so much, Kelsey, through your Instagram and through your blogs on your website. So I highly encourage people to find her there, and we'll link this information in the show notes too so they can easily find you and connect with you.
Kelsey Kerkhove:
Amazing. I do have some resources on my website that show what to expect at your child's first hearing test. Because a large part of that can be confusing and overwhelming. So if you are planning on going for a hearing test, feel free to download that guide. And hopefully it'll give you some tips on how to prepare so you can feel comfortable during that time.
Molly Vasa Bertolucci:
What an amazing resource for parents and for kids. Thanks so much, Kelsey, for coming on the podcast, it was so lovely talking with you. And I just, like, every time I interact with you through, Instagram or in person, I just learned so much about this, so I'm so thrilled that you're here to support parents through this unexpected journey. Thank you so much for sharing your expertise.
Kelsey Kerkhove:
Thank you for having me.
Molly Vasa Bertolucci:
I hope you enjoyed this conversation as much as I did. If you loved this episode, please share it with a friend, review it, and subscribe to the podcast. Be sure to check out the show notes for links and information about any resources we mentioned in this episode. Thank you for listening.
