What to do if you think your child has a hearing loss
First, try not to worry, there is a whole range of technological and medical solutions to help and now more than ever children with hearing loss are able to live full and successful lives. The first step is to meet with a medical practitioner who may refer your child for tests which help determine hearing levels in infants or children. No child is too young to receive a thorough hearing evaluation. In fact, hearing assessment can even be completed at birth.
While simple hearing screenings may be conducted by nurses or trained volunteers, a complete assessment of hearing in a child should only be completed by an audiologist.
The purpose of the audiological evaluation is to determine if a hearing loss exists in one or both ears, to what degree, and to help determine the type of hearing loss. Test results are recorded on an audiogram.
Communication milestones
The cochlea which is the sensory organ of hearing, attains full adult size and enables the child to hear by the 20th week of pregnancy. This means that children can be used to the sound of their mothers and other voices even before they are born. It is therefore possible for the child to be aware of music and other sounds which can prove soothing when the child is born as they are associated with the protected life in-utero.
After birth, a newborn child's cochlear sensitivity is similar to adults, but babies must learn how to use their hearing to form the foundations of communication.
Your child's speech and language development - age developmental milestones
The following milestones are rough "rules of thumb" for the majority of children. If your child is more than 2-3 months delayed compared to the age-groups mentioned below, it might indicate hearing loss or delayed speech-language development.
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9 months:
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Demonstrate an understanding of simple words "mommy," "daddy," "no," "bye-bye."
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10 months:
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Babbling should sound "speech like," with single syllables strung together ("da-da-da-da").The first recognizable words emerge at about this time.
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1 year:
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One or more real words spoken
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18 months:
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Understand simple phrases, retrieve familiar objects on command (without gestures) and point to body parts. Also should have a spoken vocabulary between 20 and 50 words and use short phrases ("no more," "go out," "mommy up").
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24 months:
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Spoken vocabulary should be at least 150 words, coupled with the emergence of simple two word sentences. Most speech should be understandable to adults who are not with the child daily. Toddlers also should be able to sit and listen to read-aloud picture books.
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3 to 5 years:
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Spoken language should be used constantly to express wants, reflect emotions, convey information and ask questions. A preschooler should understand nearly all that is said. Vocabulary grows from 1000 to 2000 words which are linked in complex and meaningful sentences. All speech sounds should be clear and understandable by the end of the preschool period.
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Localization
One of the earliest and easiest auditory skills to observe in your baby is localization, the ability to pinpoint the source of a sound. Because we hear through two ears (binaurally), we can localize sounds with extreme accuracy.
Observing your child's localization ability
In general, newborns will move or widen their eyes when they hear a sound, this is known as the startle reflex. Any loud sound should induce this reflex. When your infant gets older, about five or six months, you can better observe a true localization response by making soft sounds behind or to the side of your infant while your baby is looking straight ahead. (Be sure you are out of view when making the sounds!) A soft rattle, shake or a whisper should prompt your baby to turn his or her head toward the sound.
While we expect infants to startle when presented with very loud sounds, it is most important to see how well your baby responds to soft sounds (such as the speech sound "s").
During the first year, your baby will refine listening skills and should alert to and look for the sources of common sounds around the home, such as a ringing doorbell or telephone, slamming door, children playing, a musical toy and speech.
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