After birth, babies need to undergo hearing screening to prevent hearing impairment, detect and treat it in a timely manner. Sometimes there may be errors, and some may only pass the screening once, but the second time is normal. Below, we will explain the health knowledge about babies' hearing.
1、 What should I do if my child's hearing test fails
Firstly, there are many interfering factors in infant and toddler hearing testing, and evaluation is also a very complex issue. Based solely on hearing screening test results or a comprehensive examination, hearing impairment may still not be diagnosed. Often requires a process of repeated inspection, analysis, and judgment. Therefore, it is necessary to listen to the opinions of experts from multiple large hospitals. It must be emphasized that hastily providing a child with hearing aids or installing cochlear implants based solely on hearing screening test results could potentially lead to a historic and irreversible mistake, delaying the child's life and causing endless trouble.
2、 What should I do if my child's hearing screening is problematic
1. Firstly, it is necessary to analyze whether the child indeed has hearing impairment and to what extent. As children will soon enter a critical period of language development, they should go to a qualified large hospital as soon as possible to have objective hearing tests: auditory brainstem potential, multi frequency steady-state evoked response, otoacoustic emission, tympanogram, and stapedius reflex, to confirm their hearing status.
2. If diagnosed with deafness after multiple tests, it is not necessarily congenital or hereditary deafness. Be sure to listen more to the opinions of relevant experts. Otology and audiology are very rigorous sciences, and practitioners in this field have different educational backgrounds, medical practice experiences, academic perspectives, medical specialties, and the high difficulty of pediatric hearing testing and analysis. Inconsistencies in diagnosis and treatment opinions are also normal. There are always different academic perspectives in the medical field from ancient times to the present, both domestically and internationally.
3. If a mother suffers from malnutrition or iron deficiency anemia during pregnancy due to various reasons, and the newborn does not pass the initial hearing screening, the possibility of iron deficiency hearing loss should be considered first (iron deficiency hearing loss is an iron deficiency disease in the inner ear tissue, and it is currently the only sensorineural hearing loss that can be completely restored or improved to varying degrees through appropriate treatment based on the cause). Infants and young children under the age of 3, regardless of gender, are at high risk of iron deficiency and iron deficiency deafness.
The above is about the issue of baby hearing test. Generally, it is a one-time test, but it does not necessarily mean that there is a hearing problem. As long as it has not passed twice, it is basically a problem. However, the specific cause also needs to be identified. Targeted treatment is the best, some are congenital, and some are caused by postnatal reasons.
