18 months and after that he appeared to stop hearing, even his developing speech stopped, we took him to our doctor and was told there was nothing wrong. I would appreciate your opinion on this as we feel our son has possibly been robbed of a normal hearing life. Dear Mrs. AB, I am so sorry to hear about your son. He has indeed been robbed of a normal hearing life but robbed by Fate rather than Physician. It is unlikely that medical intervention would have changed the outcome.
Some virus infections get into the nerve itself and do irreparable damage.
Mumps is another nasty virus which virtually wipes out hearing in the affected ear. Some aggressive physicians use steroids in valiant attempts to try everything but with little or no success. I am glad that your son is a candidate for hearing aids and that you are proceeding to get them. These devices are truly becoming better each year. I would strongly encourage their full time use so that he continues to get the language stimulation not just from speech directed toward him but also in overhearing more complex linguistic content as older family members converse among themselves.