According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, children with listening difficulties are likely to face developmental problems, but those problems can be minimised with early detection. How can you tell if your child has a problem?

While hearing is critical to speech and language development, communication and learning, many children won’t be able to tell you they can’t hear properly. If the problem has developed gradually, a child is likely not able to distinguish normal sounds from muted ones. The communication and academic trouble hearing loss often causes can also lead to social isolation and poor self-concept.
What should you look for? The experts at MED-EL say that a child with hearing difficulty:

• does not react to loud sounds
• is unable to detect where a sound is coming from
• may start to babble, but soon stops
• babbles but the babbling does not develop into understandable speech
• does not react to voices, especially when he or she is not being held
• does not follow commands or misunderstands directions
• may start acting frustrated

If your child is demonstrating any of these issues, you may need to take him for further testing. These methods of assessment vary depending on the age of the child. An audiologist can perform a test on a baby while she sleeps while older children can participate in audiometry tests, indicating when they hear a sound or understands speech.

Once tested, an audiogram graph is used to document your child’s ability to hear. Its purpose is to illustrate the degree and type of hearing loss in each ear. The loudness of sounds will be measures in decibels (dB) while the frequency will be measured in hertz (Hz). Continued hearing assessment can indicate whether your child’s level of hearing loss is changing.

If your child does have a problem, there are plenty of options available to help including hearing aids which amplify sounds and cochlear implants which are surgically implanted into the skin behind the ear. Because they bypass the damaged portions of the ear and directly stimulate the auditory nerve, cochlear implants can help with severe deafness, even in some children born without the sense of hearing.

What causes hearing loss in children?
Children are usually either born with poor hearing – either as a genetic defect or as the result of an illness to the mother during pregnancy – or they develop it due to an injury or illness. Hearing loss in children can be caused by ear infections such as otitis media, meningitis, measles, encephalitis, chicken pox, influenza or mumps and by damage resulting from a head injury or exposure to excessive noise.

Where can I go to get my child tested?
Most hospitals and clinics in the capital, Al Ain and the Western Region have an ENT on staff – that’s someone who specialises in the ear, nose and throat – and a qualified ENT can perform a standard hearing test for your children. There’s also a specialist audiologist at the reputable Sheikh Khalifa Medical Centre. To find more hospitals and clinics in the emirate, check out our Really Useful Guide to Health Services on our website abudhabiweek.ae.

Laura Fulton