When do newborns have hearing? It used to be believed that all newborns were deaf at birth. However, with the development of science, studies have shown that fetal auditory receptors are largely mature by 6-7 months of age, and ultrasound imaging can be observed to show that the fetus blinks in response to external sound stimuli. Normal newborns are born with auditory orientation. Are hearing disorders common in babies? Hearing loss is the most common congenital birth defect worldwide, with permanent hearing loss accounting for approximately 20% of all birth defects, with an incidence of 1 in 1,000 to 3 in 1,000. Hearing loss in infancy can wreak havoc on a baby’s future language learning, resulting in a baby who is both deaf and dumb. How can parents detect hearing impairment in babies as early as possible? Early hearing ability of infants are 1. 1 month after birth: Suddenly given sound stimulation will appear as startle reflex, blink reflex, awakening reflex and sucking reflex. When crying or dancing with hands and feet, the baby will stop the current behavior when hearing the sound. When shaking a sound toy near the ear, the baby will occasionally turn its face slowly. 2, 2 months after birth: sleep by the larger sound stimulation, can appear jumping, open eyes, hands and feet shaking. Face to face baby talk, he can make “ah oh” and other vowel sounds. 3.3 months after birth: When the baby hears sound during sleep, the eyelids can be closed, fingers clenched and other movements. The sound of the TV can make the baby turn his head or turn his eyes. Hearing the sound of quarrel will appear uneasy, and hearing the sound of coaxing and music will have a joyful expression. 4.4 months after birth：The baby will turn his head to look for the name of the whistle, and will be sensitive to the voice of the mother, and will pay attention to the sounds he is familiar with, such as the sound of toys, TV, opening and closing doors. 5.5 months after birth: Can turn head to look for the sound of alarm clock in the ear, can distinguish the voice of parents and acquaintance’s voice. Fear of the sudden appearance of people’s voice stimulation. 6.6 months after birth: Talking or singing to him, he will look at you with his eyes and can track the sound source. Can be agile to find the place where the sound is made. If the hearing is normal, by the time he is a week old, he should be able to understand some simple language, such as come, come, hug, goodbye, etc.. When they are older, they can imitate adults and say simple words. By one and a half years of age, they will be able to correctly point out their five senses or objects they are familiar with according to the verbal instructions. How can I check my baby for hearing impairment? Hearing screening consists of two main screening methods: otoacoustic emissions and auditory brainstem evoked potentials. 1. Otoacoustic emission refers to the phenomenon that the normal cochlea emits sound after receiving external acoustic stimulation, and this sound is transmitted in turn through the auditory chain and periosteum to the external ear canal. This spontaneous sound can be recorded by instruments to assess the function of the cochlea. Because the instrument needs to record tiny sounds, the otoacoustic emission test is affected by the ambient sound, the state of the external ear canal, and the subject’s level of cooperation. For infants, this test is more accurate when performed during quiet sleep, so that the child can avoid crying and swallowing to interfere with the test results. It is important to note that otoacoustic emissions are only able to assess the function of the cochlea, not the auditory nerve. However, because the test is easy to perform and widely available, first-time hearing screenings are often performed for this purpose. 2. Auditory brainstem evoked potential test The child is given sound stimulation with an instrument, and the bioelectrical activity of the auditory nerve is recorded through electrodes attached to the skin of the child’s head to assess the function of the auditory nerve and the auditory nucleus of the brainstem. This test is also better performed when the child is quiet and asleep. The examination is not disturbed by the condition of the external ear canal and is one of the routine procedures for diagnosing hearing disorders. The drawback of auditory brainstem evoked potentials is that they respond to disorders of the high-frequency hearing threshold, but are easily missed for disorders of the low-frequency hearing threshold. Summary: Otoacoustic emissions can screen well for deficits in low-frequency hearing thresholds, so the combination of otoacoustic emissions and auditory brainstem evoked potentials for newborn hearing screening can provide a comprehensive picture of a child’s hearing. When should I have my baby’s hearing screened? Normal newborns: Hearing screening is usually done between 48 hours after birth and before discharge. If the first screening does not pass or is not performed, a repeat screening is required 42 days after birth. Children who do not pass the first screening are referred to a hearing disorder clinic at 3 months of age for further diagnosis by the provincial health authorities. What do I think about the results of the hearing screening? As a parent of a newborn, you need to remember to check the hearing screening result form issued by the doctor when you are discharged from the hospital, which will contain the results of the screening and the time and place of the re-screening. 1, the initial screening may appear false positive newborn hearing screening initial screening failure rate is 15-20%, but you should not worry, the majority of babies in this are normal. False-positive results can be caused by residues such as amniotic fluid and fetal fat blockage in the newborn’s ear canal, environmental sound interference, middle ear pathology, etc. Failure to pass the first screening does not necessarily mean that the baby has a hearing impairment and needs to be rescreened to clarify. If the initial screening is passed but the child has high risk factors, annual hearing screening is required for three years after birth. Some hearing disorders appear after the neonatal period and require regular testing. 3, through the screening also need to pay attention to the observation So even if you pass the hearing screening, parents need to pay attention to the child’s response to sound in the subsequent life. What should I do about my baby’s hearing impairment? If you feel that your baby is unresponsive to sound or is slow to start talking, you need to seek medical attention to check the possibility of hearing impairment. Early intervention for hearing impairment is best started within 6 months after birth, through hearing aids, cochlear implants, vibrating sound bridges and other means to help the child hear sounds, and then through professional language rehabilitation training to achieve the purpose of deaf but not mute. How to protect baby’s hearing? 1, do not let the baby lie down to eat milk The baby’s eustachian tube is flat, lying down to eat milk is easy to choke, milk choked into the eustachian tube into the ear cavity, triggering otitis media. Not only choking baby rhinitis, oral diseases are very likely to lead to otitis media. This is a very high incidence of otitis media in infants and young children, and is also a major factor in hurting your baby’s hearing. 2. Don’t just dig your baby’s ears Many mothers see earwax inside their baby’s ears and can’t resist the itch to clean them. In fact, the presence of some earwax in your baby’s ears is actually a great benefit. It can effectively protect your baby’s eardrum and relieve the impact of strong sounds on your baby’s eardrum. Moreover, the right amount of earwax can also block foreign objects and flying insects from entering your baby’s ears. 3. Don’t force your baby to take medicine It’s hard to make your baby eat bitter and astringent medicine obediently. That’s why we often see parents pinching the baby’s nose with their hands and forcing the medicine on the baby while the baby is crying with his mouth wide open. The forced instillation of medicine will lead to choking into the eustachian tube, causing otitis media, and choking on milk is almost the same consequence. The newborn’s resistance and immunity is very weak, so it’s easy to contract diseases. Parents will give their children a variety of antibiotics in order to make them recover quickly. Some kinds of antibiotics, such as aminoglycoside antibiotics (gentamicin, kanamycin, streptomycin), are particularly damaging to the nerve cells in the ear and can lead to deafness if not careful, called ototoxic drugs. 5. Avoid family noise Family noise, this may be a problem that parents are more likely to ignore. According to tests, the noise generated by TV sets in the home can reach 60 to 80 decibels, washing machines 42 to 70 decibels, and refrigerators 34 to 50 decibels. In addition, indoor banging and loud quarrels of family members are among the range. Hearing loss is gradual and not easily detected, while household noise has the characteristics of long-term and insidious, so the danger of hearing damage to babies from household noise cannot be ignored! It is recommended that the more noisy equipment at home should not be turned on at the same time, while avoiding making the baby in a noisy environment for a long time, and avoiding the common sources of noise pollution in life.