Hearing Loss in Children: Causes, Diagnosis & Treatment

If your child has been diagnosed with hearing loss, you might have a lot of questions and concerns about it. Hearing loss in children is common. As a parent, it is important to understand the causes of hearing loss and seek treatment as early as possible. A reputed audiologist of a hearing aid centre in Bhubaneswar discusses hearing loss in children and its treatment options.

What is Hearing Loss in Children ?

Hearing loss can happen in children in two stages, one right from their birth (congenital hearing loss) and the other at a later time during their childhood (acquired). Congenital hearing can either be infectious or genetic and the child can inherit the condition from the mother during pregnancy. On the contrary, acquired hearing loss can happen in small kids due to an unwanted infection such as ear infections or meningitis, trauma or some specific medications. It varies from one person to another. Depending on whether the hearing loss is mild, moderate or severe, our audiologists will recommend the best solution for your child.

Types of Hearing Loss in Children

Here are some of the common types of hearing loss in children

• Functional hearing loss: Functional hearing happens due to psychogenic problems or sudden intensification of hearing thresholds.
• Central hearing loss: Central hearing loss happens in children due to infection, malformation or damage in the hearing centres or neural pathways of the brain
• Sensorineural hearing loss: A problem in the inner ear of the child
• Conductive hearing loss:  A problem in the outer ear of the child
• Mixed hearing loss: Mixed hearing loss occurs when a child has both sensorineural and conductive hearing loss

Consult our audiologists at Hearing Plus now.

Causes of Hearing Loss in Children

Temporary hearing loss is more common in a child, which is also known as conductive hearing loss. Some of the common causes of temporary hearing loss in children are:

• Middle ear fluid
• Otitis Media
• Congenital disorders

An audiologist of a hearing aids clinic in Bhubaneswar said that permanent hearing loss is frequent in children, also known as sensorineural hearing loss. The main causes of sensorineural hearing loss are:

• Infections like virus-related cytomegalovirus, herpes and rubella
• Genetic causes
• RH factor
• Maternal diabetes

High-risk newborns are prone to developing hearing issues. A baby is considered high-risk if he has the following conditions.

• Premature delivery
• Low birth weight
• Jaundice
• Crying late

Treatment of Hearing Loss in Children

Diagnosis and treatment of hearing loss in children depend upon the cause. You must consult a qualified audiologist in a hearing aid center if your child shows any symptoms of hearing loss.

If it’s sensorineural hearing loss, an audiologist will recommend hearing aids. It is advised to go for a hearing health check-up routine for your child to monitor hearing issues and reprogram or change the hearing aids as and when required.

However, if hearing aids do not work, a cochlear implant is recommended.

Moreover, hearing-impaired children also need speech therapy because in most cases it is reported that children with hearing loss also suffer from speech impairment.

Seek treatment early if your child has any hearing issues and help your child to have a better hearing ability.

Some of the best treatment options for hearing loss in children include:

Hearing aids: Children with hearing loss can wear hearing aids in both the ears for better and increased sounds.

Speech therapy: Speech therapies allow children to hear different sounds and speak better

Cochlear implants: Cochlear implants are tiny devices that send electrical signals to the hearing nerve directly and are appropriate for kids with moderate to severe hearing loss

Auditory-Verbal Therapy (AVT): Auditory-Verbal Therapy (AVT) allows children to hear and communicate better

So, if your child has hearing loss, consult an audiologist at Hearing Plus for a permanent fix.

Conclusion

Hearing loss in children has become quite common these days, and at times it becomes hard to get over its side effects. Therefore, no matter whether your child has sensorineural hearing loss, conductive hearing loss, meningitis or otitis media, you must see a good audiologist quickly to treat the condition from the root.

And based on the uniqueness of the hearing loss, the audiologist will recommend the best treatment and remedy that will work perfectly in your kid’s favour.