Hearing Loss in Children: Early Intervention and Support

When your child begins speaking, they mimic the sounds from you and your surroundings. However, if their hearing is impaired, this learning process can be challenging. Children with hearing difficulties might struggle to pick up language and communication skills as easily as normal children. That’s why it’s very important to quickly discover if your child has any hearing issues.

Now, let’s explore the measures to safeguard their hearing health.

Importance of Hearing in Children

About five to six out of every thousand babies born in India may have trouble hearing. Many kids with hearing loss who aren’t screened at birth might not be found until they are between 1½ and 3 years old, since there aren’t any clear visual signs. Sadly, this is past the most important stage for healthy speech and language development. Children with hearing loss can be found and helped early on, though, thanks to newborn hearing screening.

Did you know that your child needs to learn language, whether it’s spoken or signed, in the first three years of their life? It is at this point that their brain is rapidly growing and developing. Kids whose hearing is normal, usually start to understand speech and language around six months old. In light of this, it is very important to check for hearing problems early on and get help if required. According to research, kids who get help early on for hearing problems tend to get better at language skills than kids who don’t get help.

Remember how they checked your baby’s hearing in the hospital after they were born? If that didn’t happen or you still don’t have the results, you need to make sure that your child’s hearing is checked within the first month of life. Don’t wait to talk about this with your child’s doctor today. It is very important to act quickly on the screening results. If your child shows any signs of hearing loss, getting it checked out right away can make a big difference in how they learn to talk.

Early Intervention and Support for Hearing Loss

Helping children who are losing their hearing right away is very important. If you catch hearing problems in a child early, you can help them grow and speak better. The long term benefits of hearing tests, hearing aids, cochlear implants, and speech training for kids who have trouble hearing and speaking are many.  Getting help early in many ways is the best way for kids who have hearing problems to do well and reach their full potential in every part of their lives.

Children with hearing loss are helped to communicate and interact using various methods, like these:

1. Hearing and Spoken Language (Auditory-Verbal): This method uses natural hearing and hearing aids or cochlear implants to improve listening, speaking, and reading. Manual communication is not used.

2. Auditive-Oral: This method uses residual natural hearing and amplification devices to develop speech and spoken-language skills. Speech reading and natural gestures may be used.

3. Cued Speech: It requires hand shapes and placements to represent consonants and vowels. It works with lip movements to improve communication.

4. Combination Approaches: These methods expose deaf or hard-of-hearing children to multiple communication modalities. 

Certain devices and tools may help your child communicate, depending on their hearing loss and needs.

Behind-the-ear hearing aids boost sound volume and clarity. They can be used for 1-month-olds with various hearing loss levels. To choose the right hearing aid and ensure proper fitting and adjustment, consult a paediatric audiologist.

If your child cannot wear hearing aids, consider cochlear implants. This device converts sounds into electrical signals and sends them to the brain via the non-functioning inner ear. Cochlear implants can be surgically implanted in 12-month-olds or earlier.  Many eligible children who receive a cochlear implant before 18 months can develop spoken language skills at the same rate as children with normal hearing. A cochlear implant-specialized audiologist can help you decide if your child needs one.

As your child grows, other assistive devices may help. These devices can improve classroom hearing, amplify one-on-one conversations, and aid phone calls and TV/video watching. 

Types of Hearing Test for Children

It’s important to know that your child’s hearing is made up of two main parts: the cochlea (front part) and the brainstem (back part). Some tests can tell the difference between these two parts. But there isn’t a single test that can find all kinds of problems with the hearing system. That’s why two tests should be used to check the hearing of newborns.

• Sequential Testing: It starts with otoacoustic emissions (OAE), a test that is less invasive and costs less. A plastic probe is put into the baby’s ear for this test to see how different parts of the ear react to sound. It sends sounds into the inner ear, and the microphone picks up the vibrations that the hair cells make in response to the sound. An Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) test, which is more invasive and costs more, may need to be done again if something strange is found. ABR is more likely to cause hearing problems because it is more sensitive and specific.

• Operant conditioning: It is used in behavioural screening, which is another method. For babies older than 6 months, this kind of testing is usually accurate. However, behavioural tests might not be accurate for very young babies, who have developmental delays or certain physical disabilities. When compared to evoked OAE testing, behavioural tests are 66.7% sensitive, 86.9% specific, 5.6% positive, and 99.6% negative predictive. One benefit of behavioural testing is that it can help find hearing loss that starts later or gets worse over time.

It’s important to know about these testing options and talk to your child’s doctor about them to make sure their hearing health is being properly monitored.

Conclusion

Healthy hearing is essential for newborns’ development, especially during speech and language acquisition in the first three years. Comprehensive screenings are needed to detect hearing issues early and provide support. Hearing aids, cochlear implants, and other assistive devices improve a child’s communication and daily activities. By being proactive about hearing health and using appropriate interventions, you help your child succeed in all areas of life.