In the U.S., each year about 12,000 babies are born with irreversible hearing loss. As per the statistics available with the National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management, the most common defect at birth, three out of every thousand, is hearing loss of one kind or the other. To get a closer look on free hearing test Parramatta visit this site.
Complete deafness is not the only kind of hearing loss as there are people who cannot hear soft sounds but are able to hear most other sounds. Hearing aids and therapy of some kind is quite common in children with hearing loss.
In cases of the extreme kind, where the more commonplace treatment does not help, cochlear implants are the only option. If a part of the ear is damaged, hearing aids which only amplify sounds are not effective; but cochlear implants are effective because they pass the sound directly to the auditory nerves. Whichever device is deployed, it is not yet possible to bring the hearing back to its original level.
Medical experts will always recommend getting babies screened. Hearing therapy started within the first six months gives babies their best chance to develop their language skills. As a person looking for free hearing test Epping you should visit that site.
Newborn babies can now be screened for hearing loss immediately after birth. Almost normal language development is feasible using modern day procedures if hearing loss is detected within the first six months after birth.
Hearing loss is usually detected in children when they are between 22 and 26 months of age. Hearing defects get identified quite by chance when parents and caregivers report speech related problems or language development issues.
By implementing a new procedure, medical teams are now able to detect hearing problems in newborn babies even before they are discharged from hospital.
Otacoustic Emissions are proving a boon for newborn babies who might have hearing problems. A probe is placed in the ear canal and sounds are delivered through it. A microphone which is placed in the same probe receives the echo which the inner produces. It takes just 10 seconds per ear compared to over 10 minutes required for any other procedure.
In case a baby fails the OAE screening, doctors resort to the Auditory Brainstem Response test. In the ABR test, the baby?s ears receive sounds through a disposable earphone, and the auditory nerve?s responses to these sounds are measured through three painless electrodes placed on the baby?s head and shoulders.
This is a small test that takes only 15 minutes for each ear.
Doctors ensure that these tests are conducted when babies are asleep. Hearing defects get identified, when the child is about 2 years old, quite by chance when parents report speech related problems or language development issues.
If all babies are screened, it will be possible to provide special attention to those who need it. Children will be able to develop their language skills better and also lead near normal lives forever.
If babies fail both these tests need to be taken to an audiologist for diagnostic testing. About 2 percent of the babies end up at the audiologist?s for diagnostic testing.
Amplification equipment, to compensate for hearing loss, is available even 2 year old infants. Early help is the key to ensuring normal development of these children.