Aston Hearing Services | Can My Child Hear? (Dec '05)

The First Signs. Can My Child Hear?
Hearing difficulties are something we probably normally associate with the elderly, but that isn’t necessarily always the case. Did you know that every year in the UK around 840 children are born with at least partial deafness and many more children have some intermittent hearing problems. There are two main types of hearing loss; conductive – this is when any swelling, foreign body, fluid (such as glue ear) or abnormalities of the middle ear block or restrict the vibrations of sounds reaching the inner ear, many of these problems can either be resolved, often with surgical procedures or may disappear as the child gets older; or sensorineural hearing loss – this is when there is a problem with the inner ear or the auditory nerve, sometimes through hereditary conditions or illness during or after pregnancy, or through unknown causes. Often these conditions can readily be helped with the use of hearing aids that help boost affected frequencies.

Susan Webster, Managing Director of Amersham based Aston Hearing Services, has worked in Audiology for over 20 years and explains, “Hearing loss can vary tremendously, but even a slight impairment can effect speech and development skills. For example, sometimes a child may appear to be hearing normally i.e. reacting to a large variety of sounds but he still may miss certain pitches or frequencies in the sound spectrum. This can make it difficult to comprehend speech at a normal volume, and they may misunderstand and be confused about the things that are happening in their environment. This makes hearing loss tricky to spot and may give the impression that the child is slow to learn. But it’s the child’s chance to learn which is restricted due to the absences of certain sounds, and therefore the complete picture, reaching the brain.”

So when is it time to get concerned? “Intuitively as parents we’re naturally motivated to interact with our children and as they are all different and develop at different rates, we often have to rely on instinct to notice if anything is wrong,” says Susan.

“In a very young baby, if you find that there is no response or an inconsistent response to your voice, or if the baby doesn’t smile or seems startled when someone comes into view then there might be a problem. Also if your baby is unusually quiet and doesn’t babble or stops babbling by 6-12 months, then it’s important to check their hearing.

In a slightly older child it becomes harder, because by then they’ve learnt the art of ‘selective hearing’, seeming oblivious to the outside world but hearing you eat a sweet from 3 rooms away! Children, if paying attention, should be able to hear a very low voice or a faint rustle of paper from about 3ft. If they’re continuously asking you to repeat yourself, turn up the TV volume or seem to misunderstand what you say – then get it checked. Sometimes a hearing problem can be intermittent, which is not uncommon with glue ear, and again it’s important to seek assistance.

In the old days if there was an expected hearing loss, it was normal practice to wait until 5-6yrs for treatment. But now it is understood that between birth and 2½, a child is programming the basic systems and therefore its best to see specialist as soon as possible."

The first port of call is your Health Visitor or G.P, who can then refer you to the local Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Department. They will perform a series of tests to assess the whole picture. At Aston Hearing Services we refer young patients through NHS system, but some parents find that they’d like a little bit longer to have their child’s condition explained and we can perform various verification tests and provide more time for the family to learn what is medically available. We’re a family-run practice with child friendly acoustically treated consulting rooms, which enable us to perform a series of tests using various toys and techniques to get an idea of what might be wrong. From our initial assessment, we can write and forward a report to the G.P and if necessary, the school.