Middle Ear Monitor

Every parent should have one of these in their house. Great for evaluating children ears for a middle ear infection. Very good at detecting fluid behind the eardrum. This device does have issues working on children with small ear canal openings. If your child has small ear canal openings, then I do not recommend it until they are a little older. Otherwise it is an excellent product.

I used this for several months on my boy (from 6 mo. till 1 yr) and it never showed a positive result (red light) or even a "monitor" warning (yellow light). Nothing but green. When he kept waking up at night crying inconsolably, I knew something wasn't right. A visit to the pediatrician revealed a significant, ear infection that the doctor suspected had been ongoing for a while. So even though the positive control test that accompanied the monitor consistently gave a positive reading, this thing could not catch a real ear infection. I ended up just throwing it in the trash, and now I just take my son to the doctor when I am suspicious of an ear infection.

Our pediatrician recommended the EarCheck, as well as my own doctor, and Dr. Block (the Block Center) and other doctors on the internet. So I decided to give it a try. My 7 year old son has had many ear infections and ruptured eardrums. I've always caught it too late and after his eardrum burst, I learned he had an ear infection. I was at the pediatrician after an eardrum burst and the eardrum holes were healing nicely, and there was no fluid. I ordered my EarCheck, and when I got it, the ears showed a "1" so fluid not likely. Then my son got another cold, and the reading was a "3" in one ear, and a "1" in the other ear. Fearing a ruptured eardrum (always happens during the night), I had my son clear out his nasal passages with Nasaline, then had him yawn wide and chew big (can release fluid), then put a mixture of alcohol/apple cider vinegar in his ear, then re-checked. The reading was a 2, so he went to bed. The next day we repeated all the procedures and kept re-checking the ear. It varied from a "2" to a "3", then the next day it varied from a "1" to a "2", then the next day (and until now), it's been all "1". He never got an infection or eardrum burst since I had the heads up fluid was there and we could work with it. I did notice over time that I have to be real specific on the angle of the Earcheck to get an accurate reading. At times when I knew he had fluid, I would get a "1" reading but tried again moving the angle and then got a "3" consistently at that angle.

As indicated in recent reviews, the batteries were corroded. A small amount leaked onto the plastic piece used to test the device, but it was easy to clean off and did no harm. Upon inserting my own batteries the device did not come on, so I reinserted them and it then worked as expected. I received an error message on my first try, but then got a green signal when I tried again, lifting my ear a bit more. I have reduced hearing in one ear that I thought might be due to fluid, but ears tested green. I then tested it on my wife and both of her ears tested green, lifting the ear as instructed. It should be noted that this device is evidently no longer being sold by its maker, so as a reviewer noted you should not expect any replacement unit if it fails.

My 3yr old hasn't been getting ear infections, but she has had fluid in her ears, and her hearing noticeably decreased for a couple of weeks, which started to turn into months. The ENT didn't push tubes or steroid treatment right away because her ears weren't infected, and he said sometimes it will clear on it's own. We used this Earcheck Middle Ear Monitor (we call it 'the quacker' since it makes a sound similar to a quack in the ear) to track the variation in her hearing and level of fluid. When this arrived, she seemed to be hearing well, and she got 1's & 2's on the monitor. Then we had a day that she kept saying "What?" or "Huh?", and the monitor showed a 4 in one ear and a 2 in the other. (As others have stated: Make sure to pull back the ear, so you can see farther down the ear canal before you check with the monitor, or the results won't be accurate). We then used "My EarDoc Plus", a behind-ear vibrating device, to try to help shake the fluid out of her middle ear. We used it mostly on the side that had the '4' on the monitor that day (because my 3 year old doesn't still for long). The next day, the better ear got a '1' and the worse ear got a '2'. And she seemed to be hearing a lot better. So far, this has been working well to help us monitor ear fluid patterns in our preschooler's ears.

It is most likely user error, but I can't get consistent readings with it. I do it in one ear and get a reading, do it again right after and get a different reading. I like the idea of it since our daughter doesn't always get a fever with an ear infection, so I have no other way of knowing something is wrong. I just wish I felt more confident about the results/readings.

I bought this despite seeing of the negative reviews and I wish I hadn't. I got it for my 14 month son and it has never been able to register a reading for him. I can occasionally get it to register on myself however, it does not work if you move even slightly and it's not worth buying if you have young children. I wish I could return it, it was a major waste of 50 bucks and has not saved any trips to the ER.

This works great for toddlers, children and adults, but I am not sure for infants. The reason why I say this is because the instructions clearly states that you have to be UPRIGHT sitting or standing - also have to be STILL. A lot of times when infants are sick they are sleeping/cranky, they might struggle, hard to hold upright, and can effect the accuracy of the Earcheck. To ensure accuracy, you have to follow exactly what the instructions say: 1) be still, upright (sitting or standing) 2) pull the ear outwards (I think it's to straighten the canal in a way that would help the ear check measure) 3) RECALIBRATE EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU USE IT. My 3 year old son has reoccurring ear infections, and this has definately helped. I haven't had an inaccurate readings so far. ******Tips from experience: *****When you suspect your child has an ear infection, measure each ear at least 3 times just to make sure. Also measure your own ear - just as a check that the Earcheck is accurate. After seeing some reviews about the Earcheck being inaccurate, I got paranoid and made sure I did this just to be safe, even though I never had any problems with it. *****A lot of times a stuffy nose can cause the Earcheck to show a level 2 (monitor). The Earcheck is sensitive enough to pick up that pressure from the ear easily.