Hearing Aids, Speech Therapy, Cochlear Implant

Hearing should be evaluated in all newborns. WHO recommend the test should be done in the first 4 to 5 weeks, but it can be done at up to 3 months of age. Watch for signs that hearing is normal; if there is delay you should get hearing assessment done immediately. Some hearing milestones your child should reach in the first year of life:

• Most newborn infants startle or "jump" to sudden loud noises.
• By 3 months, a baby usually recognizes a parent's voice.
• By 6 months, a baby can usually turn his or her eyes or head toward a sound.
• By 12 months, a baby can usually imitate some sounds and produce a few words, such as "Mama" or "bye-bye."

As your baby grows into a toddler, signs of a hearing loss may include:

• limited, poor, or no speech
• frequently inattentive
• difficulty learning
• seems to need higher TV volume
• fails to respond toHearing should be evaluated in all newborns. WHO recommend the test should be done in the first 4 to 5 weeks, but it can be done at up to 3 months of age. Watch for signs that hearing is normal; if there is delay you should get hearing assessment done immediately. Some hearing milestones your child should reach in the first year of life:
  • Most newborn infants startle or "jump" to sudden loud noises.
  • By 3 months, a baby usually recognizes a parent's voice.
  • By 6 months, a baby can usually turn his or her eyes or head toward a sound.
  • By 12 months, a baby can usually imitate some sounds and produce a few words, such as "Mama" or "bye-bye."

  As your baby grows into a toddler, signs of a hearing loss may include:

  • limited, poor, or no speech
  • frequently inattentive
  • difficulty learning
  • seems to need higher TV volume
  • fails to respond to conversation-level speech or answers inappropriately to speech
  • fails to respond to his or her name or easily frustrated when there's a lot of background noise

  -level speech or answers inappropriately to speech

• fails to respond to his or her name or easily frustrated when there's a lot of background noise

No, the world apparently sounds very different to infants than it does to adults. Several methods can be used to test hearing, depending on a child's age, development, and health status. A baby's hearing evaluation may include the OAE, ASSR and ABR (BERA) tests. Ideally these tests are used with Behavioral Audiometery:

• Behavioral audiometry.A screening test used in babies to watch their behavior in response to certain sounds.

During behavioral tests, an audiologist carefully watches a child respond to sounds like calibrated speech (speech that is played with a particular volume and intensity) and pure tones. A pure tone is a sound with a very specific pitch (frequency), like a note on a keyboard.

An audiologist may know an infant or toddler is responding by his or her eye movements or head turns. A preschooler may move a game piece in response to a sound, and a grade-schooler may raise a hand. Children can respond to speech with activities like identifying a picture of a word or repeating words softly.

Hearing loss is a common birth defect, affecting about 1 to 3 out of every 1,000 babies. Although many things can lead to hearing loss, about half the time, no cause is found. Hearing loss can occur if a child:

• was born prematurely
• stayed in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU)
• had newborn jaundice with bilirubin level high enough to require a blood transfusion
• was given medications that can lead to hearing loss
• has family members with childhood hearing loss
• had certain complications at birth
• had many ear infections
• had infections such as meningitis or cytomegalovirus
• was exposed to very loud sounds or noises, even briefly

A cochlear implant is a small electronic device that is implanted surgically in patients with severe hearing loss or those who are profoundly deaf. Unlike traditional hearing aids, which amplifies sound, a cochlear implant delivers electrical stimulation directly to the auditory nerve.

Speech therapy is an intervention service that focuses on improving a child's speech and abilities to understand and express language, including nonverbal language.

 Speech therapy for kids is about more than just speaking – it also encompasses feeding and swallowing issues, social skills, sensory processing disorders, expressive language disorders and more.

Whether your child is completely non-verbal, never stops talking or falls somewhere in between, they can benefit from speech therapy. It can be very frustrating for children when they are struggling with social skills, have trouble making the correct speech sounds, or have difficulty understanding and using language appropriately.

Signs of common speech and language disorders in children between birth to 4 years of age, an important stage in early detection of communication disorders.

Signs of a Language Disorder

• Does not smile or interact with others (birth and older)
• Does not babble (4-7 months)
• Makes only a few sounds or gestures, like pointing (7-12 months)
• Does not understand what others say (7 months-2 years)
• Says only a few words (12-18 months)
• Words are not easily understood (18 months-2 years)
• Does not put words together to make sentences (1.5-3 years)
• Has trouble playing and talking with other children (2-3 years)
• Has trouble with early reading and writing skills* (2.5-3 years)

*Early reading and writing skills include:
8 months–1 year: Likes to hear you talk and read; looks at pictures in books when you read
1–2 years: Makes sounds or words when looking at pictures in books; points or touches pictures in books when you name them; turns pages in books
2–3 years: Knows that books have a front and back; enjoys books that have rhymes; points to and names many pictures in books

A pediatric audiologist specializes in testing and helping kids with hearing loss and works closely with doctors, teachers, and speech/language pathologists.

Audiologists have a lot of specialized training. They have master's or doctorate degrees in audiology, have performed internships, and are certified Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI).

Speech-language pathologists, also called SLPs, are experts in communication.

SLPs work with people of all ages, from babies to adults. SLPs treat many types of communication and swallowing problems. These include problems with:

• Speech sounds—how we say sounds and put sounds together into words. Other words for these problems are articulation or phonological disorders, apraxia of speech, or dysarthria.
• Language—how well we understand what we hear or read and how we use words to tell others what we are thinking. In adults this problem may be called aphasia.
• Literacy—how well we read and write. People with speech and language disorders may also have trouble reading, spelling, and writing.
• Social communication—how well we follow rules, like taking turns, how to talk to different people, or how close to stand to someone when talking. This is also called pragmatics.
• Voice—how our voices sound. We may sound hoarse, lose our voices easily, talk too loudly or through our noses, or be unable to make sounds.
• Fluency—also called stuttering, is how well speech flows. Someone who stutters may repeat sounds, like t-t-t-table, use "um" or "uh," or pause a lot when talking. Many young children will go through a time when they stutter, but most outgrow it.
• Cognitive-communication—how well our minds work. Problems may involve memory, attention, problem solving, organization, and other thinking skills.
• Feeding and swallowing—how well we suck, chew, and swallow food and liquid. A swallowing disorder may lead to poor nutrition, weight loss, and other health problems. This is also called dysphagia.