Hearing Disorders

Childhood Hearing Loss

Have you ever wondered about your child’s hearing abilities or noticed an impairment in their hearing? While many parents do not notice the initial signs of childhood hearing loss, early detection and intervention are important to minimise problems with a child's speech and language development.

Hearing loss occurs when any part of the ear is not working in the usual way, reducing a child’s ability to accurately detect sound.

Children who have hearing loss or hearing impairments often have trouble hearing or understanding some or all sounds. They may report muffled hearing, difficulty hearing sounds coming from some directions, or having trouble hearing certain frequencies (for instance, high pitched sounds). Hearing loss can be present at birth or develop later in childhood, and it could be an isolated condition or a feature of a syndrome that causes additional symptoms.

Hearing loss can affect one or both ears and its severity ranges from mild to profound. However, even mild hearing loss can interfere with a child’s speech and language skills. Early detection of hearing loss is thus essential to provide early intervention for the child to manage their condition.

Types of Hearing Loss

There are several types of hearing loss:

1) Sensorineural hearing loss

The most common type of hearing loss, this occurs when the inner ear or hearing nerves are damaged. This prevents information about the loudness or clarity of sounds from being accurately transmitted to the brain.

2) Conductive hearing loss

This occurs when obstruction or damage to the outer or middle ear affects sound conduction to the inner ear.

3) Mixed hearing loss

This occurs when a person has a mixture of conductive and sensorineural hearing loss.

4) Central hearing loss

This rare condition occurs when the structures in the brainstem or brain encounters difficulty interpreting sounds, despite normal functioning of the ear.

5) Central auditory processing disorder (CAPD)

Like central hearing loss, this occurs when the brain has difficulties understanding speech despite normal functioning of the ear.

 

The importance of hearing screening

Hearing is critical not only for the development of a child’s speech and language, but also their social, emotional, cognitive, and academic skills. Newborn hearing screenings are thus vital for early detection. Additionally, it is advised to repeat the hearing test whenever there are concerns, as hearing loss may occur at any time during a child’s development.

What Causes Hearing Loss?

Most children with hearing loss do not have parents or family members with hearing problems. Infants can develop hearing loss due to non-hereditary causes such as:

  • Maternal infections during pregnancy, such as rubella

  • Low birth weight

  • Severe jaundice

  • Lack of oxygen at birth, also known as birth asphyxia

  • Overuse of drugs during pregnancy

Children may also develop hearing loss at a later stage of their lives, due to:

  • Physical injuries to the head or ear

  • Prolonged exposure to extremely loud noises

  • Infection in the middle ear, also known as Otitis Media

  • Infectious diseases (e.g., meningitis, measles, chicken pox and encephalitis)

  • Medications (e.g., those used to treat certain cancers and infections)

Signs of Hearing Loss

The signs and symptoms of hearing loss are different for each child. It can be hard to tell if a child has hearing loss, especially in young children. Children with hearing loss may not respond to sounds or speech, hindering their language development. Even if a child had previously passed a hearing screening, it is important to keep and eye out for the following signs:

Signs in babies or newborns

  • Does not startle or ‘jump’ at sudden loud noises.

  • Does not recognize a parent's voice by 3 months of age.

  • Does not turn their eyes or head towards a new sound or repeating sounds (like ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’) after 6 months of age.

  • Does not make babbling or cooing sounds.

  • Does not respond to their name or say single words such as “dada” or “mama” by 1 year of age.

  • Does not turn their head when he or she sees you.

  • Seems to hear some sounds but not others.

Signs in older children

  • Delayed or no speech.

  • Limited or unclear speech.

  • Does not seem to pay attention or follow directions. This is sometimes mistaken as inattentiveness or plain ignoring but could be the due to partial or complete hearing loss.

  • Not responding to conversation-level speech or answering inappropriately.

  • Being easily frustrated when in environments with a lot of background noise.

  • Turns the television volume up too high.

  • Learning difficulties.


Intervention Options

There are various types of interventions for hearing loss such as medical treatments, therapy, or surgery. Ultimately, the best option depends on a number of factors such as the type of hearing loss, its cause, its extent, and severity. The first step, however, is typically speech therapy. Children with hearing loss should be attended to by a team of specialists that includes an audiologist, ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialist, speech and language therapist, and education specialist.

Early Intervention for Childhood Hearing Loss

Early detection allows for prompt intervention that minimises the impact of hearing loss on a child’s development. Early intervention includes therapies, education and other support methods that will help your child reach their full potential.

Speech therapists help clients with hearing impairments improve their quality of life by:

Ψ Helping parents understand how hearing loss affects communication development

Ψ Assessing communication skills and provide the necessary intervention

Ψ Working with family members to develop communication techniques and strategies to best support the child

Ψ Evaluating and establishing communication devices as needed

Working with a speech therapist can help children with hearing loss and their families learn how to effectively cope with communication issues. As the experts of their children, parents also take on an active role in the habilitation of a child’s hearing. With a good support system and appropriate intervention, a child with hearing loss will be able to understand and use spoken language effectively.