Hearing Problems In Children: What Parents Need To Know

Realizing your children have problems with their hearing can be difficult. This is especially true if your child has not learned to talk or respond to verbal commands. Once your child reaches a certain age you may start to wonder if he or she is not talking and responding because he or she can't hear or for some other reason. Autistic children, for example, are commonly tested for hearing loss when they do not start talking with other children in their age group. As a parent, knowing more about hearing problems in children can be extremely beneficial to you and your child.

Congenital Hearing Loss

Several conditions are caused at birth even if they may not appear until later in life. Causes can include certain infections and medications the mother may have had during pregnancy, family history, herpes, prematurity, and brain or nervous disorders.

Acquired Hearing Loss

The causes of acquired hearing loss are easier to pinpoint. They include the lack of treatment for a middle ear infection, meningitis, perforation of the eardrum due to injury, certain medications, or head injuries.

Temporary hearing loss can also happen with a buildup of earwax that needs to be flushed out. In other cases, minor surgery may be required to restore hearing loss.

Sometimes the condition is corrected on its own with the help of ear drops, ear tubes that will require minor surgery to have them taken out, hearing aids, and implants. Other hearing devices can be ordered if needed, but a hearing specialist referred to you by your family doctor will know best after testing your child to find out the level of hearing loss. Contact a company like Advantage Hearing & Audiology to find out if your child would benefit from hearing aids.

What Should You Do if Your Child is Diagnosed With Hearing Problems?

Regardless of why your child will need a great deal of support whether the condition is temporary or long-term. This change will affect everyone in the family, especially your child, and how social interactions will need to happen.

First of all, educate yourself on deafness and the condition that caused it. You need to be able to communicate these matters to your child, so it is understood what is happening. It can be a scary experience to lose not just a sense, but a sense of belonging and a way to communicate.

Look for local support networks for parents of children with disabilities. It is, however, important that you allow your child the freedom to seek out support too. After all, your child is the one who lives with the condition.