children s health issues
Hearing Impairment in Children
Screening and Diagnosis
For newborns, routine hearing screening tests For older children, a doctor's evaluation and tympanometry Imaging tests Because hearing plays such an important role in a child’s development, many doctors recommend that all newborns be tested for hearing impairment by the age of 3 months. Most states require that newborns undergo Newborn Screening Tests to detect hearing impairment. Newborns are usually screened in two stages. First, newborns are tested for echoes produced by healthy ears in response to soft clicks made by a handheld device ( If results of the ABR are abnormal, the test is repeated in 1 month. If hearing loss is still detected, children may be fitted with hearing aids and may benefit from placement in an educational setting responsive to children with impaired hearing. If doctors suspect the child has a genetic defect, genetic testing can be done. In older children, several techniques are used to diagnose hearing impairment: Asking a series of questions to detect delays in a child’s normal development or to assess a parent’s concern about language and speech development Examining the ears for abnormalities For children aged 6 months to 2 years, testing their response to various sounds Testing the response of the eardrum to a range of sound frequencies ( Testing ), which may indicate whether there is fluid in the middle ear After age 2 years, asking children to follow simple commands, which usually indicates whether they hear and understand speech, or testing their responses to sounds using earphones Imaging tests are often done to identify the cause of hearing loss and guide prognosis. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) (MRI) is done for most children. If doctors suspect bone abnormalities, 