It’s importat to have your Baby’s hearing screened

Hearing is an important faculty in a child’s development.. Many of these children may need to learn speech and language differently, so it’s important to detect deafness or hearing loss as early as possible. For this reason, universal newborn hearing screening programs currently operate in all U.S. states and most of the territories. With the help from the federal government, every state has established an Early Hearing Detection and Intervention program as part of its public health system. Our foundation is working toward this objective of bringing  awareness  and facilitate hearing screening in India.

Your baby’s hearing should be screened before he or she leaves the hospital or birth center. If you and your baby are already at home and you haven’t been told the results of the hearing screening, please ask your doctor. If the results indicate your baby may have hearing loss, it’s important to work with your doctor to make an appointment with a hearing expert, called an audiologist (aw-dee-AH-luh-jist), to perform a more thorough hearing test before your baby is 3 months old.

The most important time for a child to learn language is in the first 3 years of life. In fact, children begin learning speech and language in the first 6 months of life. Research suggests that children with hearing loss who get help early develop better language skills than those who don’t. The earlier you know about a child’s hearing loss, the sooner you can make sure your child benefits from strategies that will help him or her learn to successfully communicate.

Two different tests are used to screen for hearing loss in babies. In both tests, no activity is required from your child other than lying still.

  • The Oto Acoustic Emissions (OAE) test shows whether parts of the ear respond properly to sound. During this test, a soft sponge earphone is inserted into your baby’s ear canal and emits a series of sounds to measure an “echo” response that occurs in normal hearing ears. If there is no echo, it could indicate hearing loss.
  • The Auditory Brain stem Response (ABR) test checks how the auditory brain stem (the part of the nerve that carries sound from the ear to the brain) and the brain respond to sound by measuring their electrical activity as your child listens. During this test, your baby wears small earphones in the ears and electrodes on the head. Your baby might be given a mild sedative to keep him or her calm and quiet during the test. If your child doesn’t respond consistently to the sounds presented during either of these tests, your doctor will suggest a follow-up hearing screening and a referral to an audiologist for a more comprehensive hearing evaluation. If hearing loss is confirmed, it’s important to consider the use of hearing devices and other communication options before your baby is 6 months old.