Audiology

Why should a hearing test be performed 24 hours after the baby is born? Newborn hearing screening is of great importance in the early diagnosis of congenital hearing loss.

Because hearing losses that are not detected in the baby are manifested as speech disorders, retardation in mental development and mental disorders in the following years. In this case, if there is a severe hearing loss, a group of patients who never learn to speak, called deaf-mute, is formed. The earlier you recognise hearing loss, the easier and faster it will be for your child to learn to communicate by speaking.

SYMPTOMS OF HEARING LOSS IN NEWBORNS

A newborn baby: does not jump when he/she suddenly hears a high-pitched and loud noise, a 4-6 month old baby: does not turn his/her eyes in the direction of the sound: 5 to 20 words.

Between 1 and 2 years of age: does not fulfil simple commands such as show your nose, show your eyes.

Between 2-3 years of age: If he/she cannot make short sentences consisting of simple words of 2-3 words.

SYMPTOMS OF HEARING LOSS IN CHILDREN

• Frequent ear infections, especially recurrent middle ear infections

• Frequent recurrent ear pain

• Difficulty hearing and orientating certain sounds

• Better response to high intensity sounds

• Difficulty or errors in following verbal commands

• Difficulty in hearing in noisy environments, inability to understand conversations

• Better understanding of the speech when he/she sees the face of the person speaking

• Wanting to be at a closer distance to the person speaking

• Use the television, radio or cassette recorder loudly or at close range

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• Signs of delay in speech and language development

• Speech is not smooth, fluent and clear in an age-appropriate manner

• In the anamnesis taken from the family, the statement that “the child only hears what he wants to hear”

• Problems in reading and school achievement, such as

If you see the above symptoms in your own child, do not neglect to come directly to the Ear, Nose and Throat Doctor and have an audiometry test.

Edited by: OP.DR. İLHAN EĞİLMEZ