Audiologist and speech-language therapist from Hearworld, Carmen Esterhuizen speaks to us about reasons behind hearing loss in children.
Did you know that many people who are hard-of-hearing were born hearing? But due to numerous reasons they lost their hearing when they were children.
A Johannesburg-based audiologist and speech-language therapist from Hearworld, Carmen Esterhuizen explained that there are several issues that could cause a child to lose their hearing.
Esterhuizen said:
Esterhuizen said noise exposure, intake or exposure of chemicals or medications that are ototoxic (toxic for the ear) can also cause temporary or permanent hearing damage.
“Infections such as meningitis can also cause hearing loss, as well as degenerative diseases, brain injuries and injuries directly to the auditory system,” she said.
She explained that some of the warning signs and symptoms of hearing loss in children are lack of attention to sounds. Other signs and symptoms could be when a child has difficulty following instructions and does not always respond to their name.
Additionally, delays in speech and language development, or when a child pulls or scratches at the ear, are part of the signs. Others are difficulty in areas of academic performance, reading and spelling, being socially isolated or unhappy at school and discomfort after exposure to loud noise.
Hearing loss preventions.
Esterhuizen said everyone will experience some degree of hearing loss as they age.
“The best way to prevent hearing loss is to screen your child’s hearing regularly. This may not sound like a prevention, but with some types of hearing loss, if identified early it can be prevented. Early identification leads to early intervention, which can often help to decrease the rate at which hearing loss gets worse,” cautioned Esterhuizen.
She elaborated that noise prevention is a valuable tool to use to prevent hearing loss. “Volume and managing listening time for your kids limits exposure to noise. A rule of thumb with regards to anything listened through headphones is that you should not increase the volume more than halfway or two thirds of the volume dial. To encourage this, use the correct earphones, the more background noise it cancels out the better. With regards to speakers, the rule of thumb is that if you have to raise your voice at a distance of two meters from the listener it is too loud.”
“You are not always in control of your listening environment; therefore, I personally always have a set of earplugs in my handbag. You can download a dosimeter or decibel meter App for your Smartphone which can measure the sound levels in your environment, keeping in mind that it is not an accurate measure of sound levels it is useful in estimating when protection may be necessary, or if you have control, the volume should be turned down,” she said.
