EarCheck Review & Giveaway

*This giveaway is now closed.*
When I was younger I suffered from chronic ear infections. I remember countless times when my friends where outside playing and I was stuck inside laying on a heating pad. My husband, C, also suffered from ear infections when he was a child. Only his were so severe and so frequent that he developed a speech impediment because of them. So naturally, I have a fear that Princess P (and I hope I am wrong!) will suffer from them as well. But right now she is so young that she cannot tell us when her ear hurts. That is why I am so glad (and relieved) that I found the EarCheck Middle Ear Monitor from Innovia Medical!
EarCheck is a home-use device that can detect the presence of middle ear fluid, which is a key sign of an ear infection, by using reflectometry (sound waves). By sending chirping sounds into the ear canal, EarCheck's built-in processor analyzes the reflected sound to determine the likelihood of fluid in the middle ear. After analyzation is complete, EarCheck will display one of five results: 1. Green - Fluid Unlikely (Low Probability of Fluid), 2. Yellow - Monitor (Low to Moderate Probability), 3. Red - Consult Doctor ( Moderate Probability), 4. Red - Consult Doctor (Moderate to High Probability) and 5. Red - Consult Doctor (High Probability).

I was lucky enough to try EarCheck for myself. Upon first inspection EarCheck looks very similar to a tympanic thermometer. But its function is nowhere close. Battery installation was a breeze and so was the verification test to ensure the EarCheck was functioning properly. However the next part was tricky. Getting Princess P to sit still! After a brief wrestling session (all in good fun of course) she sat still in my lap long enough for me to pull her ear up and back, this allows the monitor to send sound waves straight down the ear canal. I inserted the tip and hit the scan button. A brief second later her results were in, "Green - Fluid Unlikely"! One down, one to go. This time she knew what was coming and allowed me to insert the EarCheck tip and hit the scan button without any hassle. Her results were the same on that ear, fluid unlikely. After curiosity got the best of me, I tried it on myself. The chirping sound was a lot different than I expected it to be, but it was not unpleasant. One ear came back in the green the other in the yellow, which means monitor. C tried it also and got two green results. The EarCheck Monitor will definitely save us time and money. And I think it would make a great addition in every parents medicine/first aid kit.

EarCheck is available at Wal-Mart, Babies 'R' Us and CVS. You can also purchase the EarCheck monitor on the EarCheck website. And right now my readers can take 20% off their purchase of an EarCheck monitor at www.earcheck.com by using the code TWEET20.

One lucky person will win a EarCheck Middle Ear Monitor!

To enter: You must visit EarCheck and tell me something you learned from their website.
Please leave an email address, I have to have a way to contact the winner!

Extra Entries:
1. Subscribe to my feed. (Must be verified to count!)
2. Grab my button. Leave an address where it can be found.
3. Follow me on blogger or twitter. Or both!
4. Enter any of my other giveaways. Leave a comment on which one(s).
5. Tweet about this giveaway.
6. 5 extra entries if you blog about this giveaway. (Please leave 5 separate comments) Leave an address where it can be found.

Please leave a separate comment for each entry. This makes it much easier when a winner is drawn.

Giveaway will end on May 16th at 11:59pm ET. The winner will chosen by random.org and announced here as well as emailed. The winner will have 48 hours to contact me or a new winner will be chosen. Giveaway open to US residents only.

A big thank you to EarCheck for sponsoring this review and giveaway!