Hearing loss in children

Important developmental steps as indicators for infant hearing loss

The Federal Centre for Health Education has listed at what age a toddler should react to acoustic stimuli and how:

After birth

Your child should:

• be startled by sudden loud noises.

At about 3 to 5 weeks

Your child should:

• respond to encouragement

• listen when you make a sound at a distance of about 20 centimetres, for example by snapping your fingers

• listen attentively to voices and sounds when it is rested

• look with the eyes for the source of familiar sounds

• make occasional sounds

At 2 to 3 months

Your child should:

• be soothed by a familiar voice even without eye contact

• move their head in the direction of a sound source

• laugh audibly

At 5 to 6 months

Your child should:

• draw attention to himself with his voice

• respond to distant sounds, such as a doorbell

• show restlessness through unfamiliar noises

At 1 year

Your child should:

• respond to whispered speech from about a metre away

• look for the source of the noise when listening to music, for example

• understand commands such as "No

• babble contentedly when alone in a room.

Hearing tests for children over the age of two

Older children can also have hearing loss that is temporary or permanent. A possible hearing loss is more difficult to identify in older children whose speech is already developed.

Prof. Dr. Behrbohm on the causes and typical complaints: "In children between two and six years of age, there are often ventilation problems in the middle ear. The cause is enlarged pharyngeal tonsils, also called adenoids. They obstruct the eustachian tube and cause effusions in the middle ear. The children snore at night, breathe through their mouths and only respond when spoken to loudly. There is also a delay in speech development. In addition, the children speak slurred."

Signs that a child over the age of two may have a hearing disorder:

• Your child often says that he did not hear you. It often answers with a counter-question like "what?" or reacts inappropriately when you address it. This indication seems trivial, but many parents assume in such cases that their child is not attentive enough. They do not suspect that he or she might be suffering from a hearing disorder.
• Your child seems to hear well, but sometimes fails to respond in a noticeable way.
• Your child looks at you intensely while you are talking to him as if he needs to concentrate. It may depend on visual cues to understand you.
• Your child turns up the volume on the TV louder than other family members.
• Your child starts talking louder than usual.
• Your child frequently turns one ear to the sound sources when listening, claiming that he or she can only hear well with that ear.
• Your child's grades worsen or the teacher notices that the child hears or responds differently than his/her classmates.
• Your child complains of ear pain or ringing in the ears.

If you suspect that your child has poor hearing, you should definitely take him or her to the family doctor as soon as possible. If necessary, he or she will refer the child to a paediatric specialist or ear, nose and throat specialist. Only a specialist can determine the causes of the hearing loss and initiate appropriate therapy.

Hearing loss in children - treatment by the doctor

The specialist will first carry out a hearing test especially for infants or children. These tests are painless and non-invasive; only external measurements are taken.

Depending on how severe the child's hearing loss is and what causes it, various therapeutic measures may be considered:

• Remedy of the cause (earwax, injury).

• Medication (infection)

• Operative intervention

• Hearing aid

• Cochlear implant

• Combination of speech therapy and hearing aid

Nowadays, hearing loss in children can be treated very well by a specialist, so that affected children are not disturbed in their development and hindered in their social activities.

Special hearing aids can also be a valuable help for children.