Newborn Hearing Screen
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Comment| Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 | | CWK Producer |
“If you don’t have that crucial time development of birth to six months and having that child hearing all those sounds…their speech and language will most likely start being delayed.”
– Laura Castell, Pediatric Audiologist
A musical toy, a favorite video and the voice of mom. All are comforting sounds to healthy ears.
“Say hi,” Victory Ashmore tells her little boy, Gibson, who in turn says ‘hi’. “Good boy,” she praises.
“If we call his name he’ll start to turn towards us to look to see who’s talking to him,” she gleams.
But some babies are missing out on those sounds.
Hearing problems aren’t normally detected until 2 ½ years of age, but according to the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force, that could be too late.
Experts say, the first six months of age is a critical time for building language and communication skills in children.
“They are really taking that into their brains, they are starting to use it, going this is what sounds are like,” explains Laura Castell, Pediatric Audiologist. “So if you don’t have that crucial time development of birth to six months and having that child hearing all those sounds…their speech and language will most likely start being delayed.”
And being delayed now could lead to problems later.
“Sometimes it causes emotional difficulties … it causes behavioral problems. Sometimes they might not notice it …a lot of parents will claim well I called them, but they just aren’t paying attention,” says Castell.
Experts recommend a newborn’s hearing be screened before leaving the hospital, but unfortunately, most hospitals only screen ‘at-risk’ babies. And since more than 50% of hearing problems are found in babies with no risk factors, many cases are being missed.
If your child isn’t screened in the hospital, find a pediatric audiologist as soon as possible.
“For piece of mind, to know that your child is going to be able to communicate with you, that when you’re speaking to him, or singing to him or reading to him or her that they can hear you,” says Ashmore.
Tips for Parents
Hearing loss occurs in newborns more frequently than any other health condition for which infant screening is required. Three out of 1,000 babies are born with permanent hearing loss, according to the Marion Downs National Center for Infant Hearing. Without screening, children with hearing loss are usually not identified until 2 years of age, which results in “significant delays” in speech, language, social, cognitive and emotional development. The Marion Downs Center calls late identification of infant hearing loss “a significant public health problem.”
Early identification and intervention before the age of 6 months can have a positive impact on a child’s development. Researchers at the University of Colorado found that children identified at birth with a mild-to-severe hearing loss and who received intervention before 6 months of age fall within a normal range of language comprehension and expression, as well as social development. However, children with hearing loss diagnosed after 6 months of age experience significant delays in both language and social development.
The National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management offers these facts about newborn hearing loss:
- Each day, 33 babies (or 12,000 each year) are born with permanent hearing loss in the United States.
- Average age that hearing loss is identified is 2.5 to 3 years.
- Many children are not identified until 5 or 6 years of age.
- Eighty percent of the language ability of a child is established by the age of 18 months.
- Hearing is “vitally important” to the healthy development of language skills.
- Children with hearing loss who do not receive early intervention and treatment may require extensive special education services.
- Even mild hearing loss or hearing loss in only one ear has substantial detrimental consequences. Research shows that children with hearing loss in one ear are 10 times more likely to be held back at least one grade.
- Infants with hearing loss can be fit with amplification before they are 1 month old.
The implementation of universal newborn hearing screening has been endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Speech-Language Hearing Association and the American Academy of Audiology, Head and Neck Surgery.
Not every hospital offers newborn hearing screening. In fact, as of 1999, only about 35% of babies in America were born in hospitals with universal newborn hearing screening programs (and 75% of birthing hospitals did not screen hearing for all babies prior to discharge).
References
- Marion Downs National Center for Infant Hearing
- National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management
- U.S. Preventative Services Task Force
