Principles of hearing aid fitting for children

  1. Exact audiological and medical diagnosis: the audiological and medical diagnosis must be clear (including the integrity of the middle ear, inner ear and auditory nerve, cochlear structures; auditory neuropathy, large vestibular conductance syndrome and other metabolic and genetic disease syndromes, etc.)  2.Obtain accurate and full frequency band (should include at least 0.5k, 1k, 2k and 4kHz points) hearing loss degree values (it is recommended not to use the results of multi-frequency steady state directly), i.e. obtain accurate predicted hearing curve graphs for both ears that can be used for hearing aid fitting.  3. Medical professional fitting: In addition to hearing aid and audiology related issues, hearing aid fitting also involves comprehensive medical assessment of the baby. Such as the diagnosis of developmental delay, lingual tethering, large vestibular conduit syndrome, auditory neuropathy and cerebral palsy and intelligence, cytomegalovirus infection, pediatric auditory development and mental development, etc.  4.Bilateral hearing loss must be bilaterally tested and fitted with hearing aids.  5.Avoid non-intervention and insufficient intervention: When audiological subjective and objective examinations do not lead to response, it is often thought that there is no residual hearing, in fact, most of them have some residual hearing, therefore, early (less than 1 year old) should not give up hearing aid fitting. If the hearing aid fitting is not effective, the electronic cochlear implant can be considered again.  6. Avoid excessive intervention. We already know that there is a problem of delayed hearing development and test error (test must be repeated twice) (about 7%), especially in patients with mild to moderate hearing loss. The problem of overdiagnosis in early intervention (less than six months of age) can occur, and overdiagnosis will inevitably lead to excessive intervention problems, which must be done in moderation.  7. Choose high performance hearing aids for infants and children whenever possible. High-performance hearing aids have the advantages of high fidelity of expanded sound, wide sound range, and fast and strong sound processing ability.  8. Hearing aid fitting must be done early, and family-oriented auditory and speech rehabilitation training should be adhered to.  9.The correct use and maintenance of hearing aids and earmolds and regular follow-up visits.