We know that early medical interventions can increase the success of a treatment. This is how hearing limitations are detected after a hearing test, but most of the time it is discovered by observation. Therefore, paying attention to certain symptoms will help to seek professional guidance and avoid cognitive and developmental complications in the short term.
In fact, when the baby is born prematurely or complications arose in the delivery or it became necessary to carry out a blood transfusion or there is a family history of decrease or loss of hearing. It is mandatory to carry out an auditory response test; in the first months of life; to check how the auditory function is and ensure the possible treatment, adjusted to the clinical picture individually.1
Factors that reveal hearing limitations
First of all, it is important to highlight the risk factors. Since, the causes can be diverse, including inheritance. But they can also be the product of circumstances that affected the mother in the prenatal period; such as the presence of rubella, the use of ototoxic drugs and the consumption of alcohol, cigarettes and drugs; that somehow caused irreversible damage to the fetus.1
In the same way, hearing limitations in infants may arise as a consequence of complications in the perinatal phase or because the baby has a low birth weight. In addition, infections and diseases such as meningitis, otitis or some type of trauma; as a result of a fall after childbirth; they should also be considered as risk factors, which should be evaluated by a health professional.2
Therefore, outside of knowing the possible causes, you should also be attentive to their symptoms. Since, in reality, evaluating the behavior of the baby before noise, the voice of the parents, music or any other acoustic emission, is the first phase to discover hearing limitations at an early age. Because otherwise, it is only up to the stage when children begin to speak that this disability becomes noticeable.
Visible symptoms to consider
Above all, because hearing limitations complicate communication, learning and socialization. Hence, to recognize the absence of babbling at 6 months, the lack of imitation of simple words; like mom; After a year or having difficulty putting together a vocabulary of at least 10 words by 24 months, these are clear signs that something is wrong.
Likewise, not answering the call by name or showing a confused face in the face of situations that arise around him; they may indicate a conductive, sensorineural, or cochlear hearing loss; that in any of the cases can have a satisfactory treatment if it is discovered in time. Especially, because today there are high-tech medical devices to correct.2
So much so, that increasingly smaller and more efficient special sound amplification devices appear on the medical market. In addition, cochlear implants send sound signals to the brain, allowing hearing capacity to be restored in a high percentage. In this way, hearing limitations in children are reduced, improving well-being and performance at all stages of their life. 3
References:
1.Delgado Domínguez JJ Early detection of child hearing loss. Rev. Pediatr Aten Primaria [Internet]. Jun 2011 [citado 2021 Jun 22]; 13 (50): 279-297. Available in:
http://scielo.isciii.es/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1139-76322011000200012&lng=es.
2.Monsalve González Asunción, Núñez Batalla Faustino. The importance of early diagnosis and intervention for the development of deaf children: programs for the early detection of hearing loss. Psychosocial Intervention [Internet]. 2006 [citado 2021 jun 22]; 15 (1): 7-28. Available in:
http://scielo.isciii.es/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1132-05592006000100002&lng=es.
- 3. Eulalia Juan Pastor. Cochlear implant rehabilitation. Rev. Med Condes. [internet] 2016 [ consultado 22 jun 2021]; 27 (6): 834-839. Available in: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0716864016301183.