Hearing Loss in Children

Children with hearing loss can have difficulty learning to communicate because they cannot hear all or part of the sounds around them or even their own voice. Keeping this in mind, the sooner your child gets help, the better. Because the sooner a hearing loss is identified, the better the chances of successful rehabilitation.

Children are born with an open mind, completely free of information, and completely receiving the world around them. A child with a hearing loss has no concept of being "handicapped" unless he or she is made to feel that way.
Humans are marvelous at compensating for physical or mental weak points. In fact, each and every one of us have something, major or minor, which we work around every day, be it bad vision, a weak constitution or a bad temper.
The influence your child’s family and friends have about hearing issues can have great influence on your child’s self-image and self-confidence. Your efforts to be well informed, open, supportive and positive about hearing loss-- helps your child keep the wonderful open mind and positive attitude he or she was born with.

Hearing loss, in some form, affects 2 in every 100 children under the age of 18. Fortunately, there are very few hearing losses that cannot be helped with modern technology. The most effective treatment is achieved through early intervention. Early diagnosis, fitting of hearing aids, and an early start on special education programs can help maximize a child's hearing.

Studies show that exposure to harmful noise levels triggers the formation of molecules inside the ear, which play a main role in hearing loss in children. Although noise is harmful to people of all ages, childrens hearing is particularly fragile because their ear canals are much smaller than adults.' As a matter of fact, even a brief exposure to a very loud noise can result in permanent damage

Parents Keep this in mind:
1) Get childrens hearing tested annually. This helps teach them that their hearing is important in life.
2) Parents should model good :aural hygiene" themselves - use earplugs when around loud equipment - like lawnmowers, leaf blowers, and also power tools.
3) Help a child to appreciate silence - it's becoming a rarer commodity, as population densities in cities & towns increase, traffic noise, airplanes, combustion engines, etc. invade the soundscape.

There are very few hearing losses that cannot be helped with modern technology. The most effective treatment is achieved through early intervention. Early diagnosis, early fitting of hearing aids, and an early start on special education programs can help maximize a child's hearing.