How to detect hearing loss early in children?

How to detect hearing loss early in children? 

Each month is a milestone after a baby is born. Even though each child achieves milestones like looking at the direction of sound, responding to mom or dad’s voice, or being able to make different sounds for different needs, there is a time-frame for each of these milestones. Here are a few important signs one should know for early identification of hearing deficit in a child : 

 

 1. Birth to 3 months: Startles at sudden sounds, makes a noise, reacts by moving legs or hands rapidly when spoken to or called by name. 

2. 4 to 6 months: Smiles or quietens down when either of the parents is speaking to them. Stops crying after listening to their mom or dad’s voice. 

3. 7 to 12 months - Looks at the direction of the sound, uses sound to get attention by making noise, or gets quite vocal with different unfamiliar sounds.

4. 12 to 24 months - Will be able to utter words like dada and mama, listens intently to songs or simple music, responds to simple questions like ‘where is mama? / where is papa’ etc   

 

Ultimately, it boils down to the fact that - the earlier one can doubt or detect signs of hearing loss in a child, the better we can take appropriate actions to leverage the treatment modalities to help the child communicate better. If we are observing more 3 of these signs together, it’s better to reach out to your nearest ENT surgeon / ENT clinic and seek remedial measures.

For enquiries :
DR. MOHANTY’S SPECIALITY ENT CLINICS
Manapakkam , Chennai
Website : www.drsanjeevmohanty.com
Email: drsanjeevmohanty@gmail.com
Phone : +91 9840131091