The most critical clue that can suggest a possible hearing loss in youngsters is delayed or absent speaking. It is critical to treat and manage hearing loss in children as soon as possible in order to provide the best potential outcome for their language development. Hearing loss can be discovered in 80-90 percent of people with a simple hearing test. Even if your child passes the newborn screening test, genetic or progressive hearing loss can present itself when your child is a toddler or older.
Parents should keep an eye out for their child’s critical developmental milestones, as they can be used as a guide to detecting a possible hearing loss. Delay or absence of speech is the most telling sign of a suspected hearing loss.
From toddlers to teenagers
Infants and toddlers are easier to detect and diagnose a suspected hearing loss than older children. Parents should keep an eye out for particular developmental milestones in toddlers, as well as other specific indications that may suggest a probable hearing loss in older children. If you are learning for deaf children, you should see your family doctor or general practitioner.
Early indicators of hearing loss in babies and toddlers
Parents can look for developmental milestones in infants and young children to see if they have a hearing loss.
- Your infant recognizes your voice and makes cooing noises around the age of three months. Your baby should be startled by sudden, loud noises.
- Your baby recognizes speaking sounds and familiar noises at the age of six months.
- Your baby turns their head when they hear something interesting, and they laugh and play with their own voice. Your baby’s voice can also be used to express joy or pain.
- Your infant knows simple words like “?mommy’ and “?daddy’, “?no’, “?bye-bye’, and their own name by the age of nine months.
- Your toddler should be able to say one or more real, understandable words by the age of one year.
- Your toddler understands simple phrases and retrieves familiar things on order by the age of 18 months, says 20 to 50 words and short phrases, and learns new words every week.
- Your toddler’s spoken vocabulary should be 200 to 300 words and he or she should be able to speak simple phrases by the age of 24 months. Adults who aren’t around your youngster on a regular basis can grasp what he or she is saying. At this age, a child should be able to sit and listen to books being read to them.
Speech and hearing are more vital to a growing child than they are to an adult because they are the instruments of learning, playing, and acquiring social skills during the developmental years.