Learning it by ear

• Hearing is perhaps our first sense.
  Babies are bathed in the sound of the rhythms and melodies of their mothers’ language even in the womb, months before birth. And infants’ brains are brilliantly designed to master the complexities of language by sheer immersion in sound within just a few years.


• Hearing Loss
  Hearing Loss robs children not only of the sensation of sound, but also of the ability to learn the spoken language of the community. In turn, this can have a profound impact on a child’s options in friendships, education and career. Now, thanks to new mandatory infant hearing screening, continually improving hearing technologies and early intervention at auditory-oral centers, children who are deaf and hard of hearing are learning to listen and talk for themselves.


• For infants who are deaf and hard of hearing, early intervention makes all the difference.
  A child’s first six months may be the most important in language development, new research shows. It’s essential to identify hearing loss and address it early.

  Infant hearing loss is surprisingly common - Of every 1,000 children born in the United States, between two and four will have a hearing loss. This makes it the most common birth anomaly—more common than sickle cell, cystic fibrosis and spina bifida combined. Yet until recently, children were 2 ½ years old on average before their hearing loss was diagnosed. New laws enacted in most states now require hearing screening tests for all infants at birth. Using tests that directly measure brain activity, doctors can identify hearing loss even in infants just days old.

  The auditory (hearing) brain needs sound to develop - Infants don’t talk—but they do listen and learn. A newborn’s brain, including the auditory brain where sound is processed, grows new neurons and pathways by the billions in the months after birth. Long before a child is actually speaking—the critical period seems to be the first six months—the auditory brain is busily building the language centers the child will need for life. This growth, however, happens only in response to stimulation from the environment. If the auditory brain is not stifulated by sound during the early months, the auditory brain does not develop to its full capacity. The child may have ongoing difficulty with language, even if access to sound is improved later. The early growth of the auditory brain is why it’s important to provide infants who are deaf and hard of hearing with hearing aids as early as possible, ideally within days or weeks of birth and certainly within the first six months.

  • The first six months are critical to language development
    Researchers at the University of Colorado have found that children who are deaf and hard of hearing develop language skills within normal range by the time they reach grade school - if their loss is identified and addressed before the age of six months. Children identified after six months of age had a much harder time catching up to their peers in language skills. In fact, the child’s age at intervention was the only important variable. Surprisingly, the degree of hearing loss—whether mild, moderate or profound—didn’t matter. Neither did socioeconomic status, race or ethnicity.
  • Today, new technologies provide an increasingly powerful and dynamic range of sound to even the most profoundly deaf child.
    Sophisticated new hearing aids can be tuned and amplified to match a child’s particular hearing loss. Special aids channel a parent’s or teacher’s voice directly to the child’s ear, limiting distracting background noises and helping the child focus on speech. For children who are profoundly deaf, cochlear implants bypass the ear entirely, channeling sound directly to the brain.

• What parents need to know about hearing loss.
  Most children who are deaf and hard of hearing can learn to listen and talk for themselves through a program of early intervention and oral deaf education. Growing up oral gives children the widest range of options in a hearing world. They can interact with their communities, participate in mainstream schools and social events, talk with neighbors and ask directions without help. Studies also show they have more career options as adults.

• Hearing and talking are important to literacy. New research shows that reading is a function of the auditory brain, where language is processed—not, as one might expect, a visual process. This is one reason that children who use spoken language have a much easier time learning to read.


• Hearing loss is easy to miss or misdiagnosed as a behavior or leaning problem. Hearing loss is rarely expected: ninety percent of all children with hearing loss are born to hearing parents, and even after the diagnosis, a cause for the hearing loss can be identified only about half of the time.

• Milestones in Hearing:
  If your baby isn’t achieving these common mile-stones in language development, it may indicate a hearing loss or other problem. Talk to your Doctor if you have concerns.

Newborn: Cries, startles to loud noises
2-3 months: Laughs, forms noises in the back of the mouth (“goo”), recognizes familiar voices
4-6 months: Turns head toward sound, puts sounds together to make syllables, makes non-speech sounds like growls and squeals.
6-12 months: Babbles (repeats syllables: “ma-ma-ma”), uses facial expressions and gestures to communicate
One Year: Recognizes her or his name, understands “no” and simple instructions
12-18 months: Says first words; by 18 months, understands 50 words, uses 20
18-36 months: Rapidly develops speech


• Suspect a hearing loss? Here’s what to do…
  Have your child tested immediately. Not all hearing losses occur before birth, so even a baby who passed a hearing screening can develop a hearing loss later. Go with your instinct. If you think there’s a hearing loss, you’re probably right.

Risk factors for hearing loss:
These conditions can be associated with hearing loss, and may indicate that you should have your child’s hearing checked:

• Family history of hearing loss
• Infection during pregnancy (such as rubella, CMV, syphilis, toxoplasmosis or herpes)
• Anomalies of the head or face
• Birth weight under 3.3 pounds
• Hyperbilirubinemia (Jaundice)
• Bacterial Meningitis
• Ototoxic (ear damaging) medications
• Mechanical ventilation longer than five days
• Symptoms of syndromes known to include hearing loss
• Apgar scores of 0 to 4 at one minute or 0 to 6 at five minutes


• If you discover your child has a hearing loss:
• Laugh, sing, talk and play with your child. Your child needs more stimulation with sound—not less. Make a lot of noise. Have fun together.


• Get educated. There is a lot to know about hearing technologies, schooling options, your rights under the law and more—and the sooner you’re up to speed, the better. Fortunately, there are also a lot of organizations ready to help you find the information you need.


• Get your child hearing aids as soon as possible. Don’t wait. Even tiny infants can be fitted with hearing aids. There is no benefit to waiting, and every reason to give your child the best possible access to sound as early as you can.


• Become an advocate for your child. There are many different schools of thought about educating children who are deaf and hard of hearing. You’ll need to make choices about the direction that’s right for your child and family. You may also need to stand up for what you want rather than accepting what’s offered first.


• Ask a lot of questions. When you’re choosing a school for your child, ask about literacy rates, where graduates go, and for references to other families. Ask your child’s doctors about their experience with pediatric hearing loss. Ask the audiologist who tests your child’s hearing about all the options in hearing technologies, and why they recommend a particular solution for your child. You have a right to answers.


• How children who are deaf and hard of hearing can learn to listen and talk.

For more than a century, dedicated teachers and researchers have been helping children who are deaf and hard of hearing to learn spoken—or oral—language. This “oral deaf” education includes intensive tutoring in speech and language, as well as regular academic courses. Now, as hearing losses are identified in younger children and as new technologies offer them better access to sound, oral deaf education is more effective than ever. In fact, in a growing number of cases, oral deaf children’s language—including pronunciation—is age-normal by the time they reach Kindergarten.

The oral deaf education team includes many members who work closely with each other and with the parents. Oral deaf education puts parents at the center of a team that also includes:

• Audiologist: tests hearing, prescribes hearing aids, tunes and adjusts aids as needed
• Oral deaf educator: is specially trained to work with children who are deaf and to teach parents proven techniques for helping the child notice and use language.
• Speech pathologist: teaches children to enunciate correctly—even those sounds that they can’t hear well.
• Oral deaf education prepares children for mainstream education
  Sophisticated new hearing technologies give children who are deaf and hard of hearing access to better sound than ever before. But improved hearing aids and cochlear implants don’t, by themselves, make a hearing child. Children with hearing loss still need extra help in their formative years, learning to notice and process sound and to use language fluently.

That help is available through auditory-oral schools, which provide an intensive, family-focused early education program where children who are deaf and hard of hearing learn to listen and talk. At these schools, specially trained educators help infants and toddlers to develop listening and speaking skills in step with their hearing peers, and prepare them to join mainstream schools as soon as they are ready.