Community Hospital began a universal newborn hearing screening program in March, which enables all infants born at the hospital to be screened for hearing impairment prior to hospital discharge.

 

Why Should Your Baby's Hearing Be Screened?

Hearing is essential for your baby to learn to talk. Without early detection and services, a baby with hearing loss misses many important learning experiences. Hearing impairment is the most common disability at birth. Every year nearly 24,000 babies, or three out of 1000, are born in the United States with some degree of hearing loss.  Hearing loss in babies is easy to overlook because it is not visible, and they cannot tell us they are unable to hear. Before newborn screening, many hearing losses were missed until 2 1/2 years of age or later, well after the most critical period for language development has passed. Because undetected hearing loss may delay a baby's speech, and language development, the first six months of life are the most critical for speech and language development.

 

Many people do not realize that hearing aids and therapy are available for infants as soon as they are a few weeks old.  Research shows that infants identified at birth for hearing impairment have a greater opportunity to develop within the normal range of language comprehension, verbal expression and psycho-social development, than do children identified later.

 

How is your baby's hearing screened?

A baby's hearing can be screened as early as 24 hours of life. Community Hospital uses a screening technology based upon the ‘Gold Standard’ Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) test.  The newborn hearing screener tests the baby’s entire hearing pathway, from the ear to the brainstem.  It records the baby’s brainwave responses to a series of soft clicks and compares them to a pattern of normal responses.”  The testing is conducted while the baby sleeps and takes from four to seven minutes.  The ABR screening uses miniature earphones and band-aid-like electrodes placed on the head that detect brainwaves. Parents have the results prior to discharge from the hospital.

 

Babies identified with an abnormal screening will be referred to their physician. Because of the accuracy of the equipment, we only expect to refer four percent of the babies screened a year for further testing. An even smaller amount would be diagnosed with a hearing loss.

 

Passing the hearing screening indicates that your baby's hearing is within normal limits at the time of the screening test. Some children with a family history of hearing loss, recurrent ear infections or serious illnesses may develop hearing loss later in infancy or childhood. It is important to be observant and to ask your doctor if you have concerns about your child's hearing, speech or language. The checklist below offers a list of some things babies and toddlers with normal hearing should be able to do:

 

Birth to 3 months

·         Recognizes and quiets to parents voice

·         Startles to loud sounds

 

3 to 6 months

·         Awakens to sounds or speech

·         Turns towards interesting sounds

 

6 to 12 months

·         Understands first words such as "Da-Da," "Ma-Ma"

·         Responds to his or her name

·         Enjoys sounds form rattles, and similar toys

·         Coos to music

 

12 to 18 months

·         Says first words such as "Da-Da," "Ma-Ma"

·         Responds to names of favorite toys by pointing to them when asked

·         Responds to sounds coming from far away

 

18 to 24 months

·         Has a vocabulary of approximately 20 words

·         Speaks two word phrases

·         Understands simple "yes" and "no" questions

·         Refers to self by name

·         Follows simple directions

 

24 months to 3 years

·         Has a vocabulary of approximately 270 words by 24 months, 1000 words by 3 years

·         Wants to speak to communicate needs, wants and experiences

·         Speaks simple sentences

·         Recognizes different sounds

·         Understands most of what is said to him or her

 

This checklist is a basic guide for normal hearing and speech development from birth to age three. If your baby's progress does not match the milestones listed below, and if you suspect there is a problem, contact your physician immediately.

 

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Health hearing is essential for your baby's development. Information about hearing and typical speech and language milestones is valuable for all parents. If you have concerns about your baby's hearing, remember that no child is too young to be tested. Early identification of hearing loss is imperative. It's true that medicine and surgery can clear up some hearing problems. However, for other kinds of hearing loss, hearing aids and early intervention education programs are critical. For children with permanent hearing loss, early identification, early amplification and early education are essential.

 

If you are concerned about your baby's hearing, contact your baby's doctor, your school district, and a licensed audiologist.

 

In Nebraska, your school district is required to provide educational programs and services for infant and preschool children with special needs.  In the McCook area, call the Southwest Early Intervention program at 308-345-7597 for more information.

 

 

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