Currently, disability due to deafness is by no means uncommon. Data shows that there are about 30,000 newborn deaf children in China each year, so early detection of deafness has become a global concern. China has designated March 3 every year as “Ear Care Day” to draw the attention of all people, so that parents can keep in mind the “three early stages” of their children’s hearing development, i.e. early detection, early diagnosis and early treatment, so that their children do not lose their hearing innocently.
Life example.
This spring, a family came from a foreign county, grandpa, grandma, dad and mom brought a 4-year-old child to see a doctor. This is a clear-eyed little boy, well-developed, little face white and red, black hair, in the back of the head also tied a thin pigtail, looks quite cute. But he looked a little dull, only staring at us and talking.
Grandma told me first that there was something wrong with the little boy because he couldn’t talk yet. The mother also spoke up, more or less complaining, “I’ve always felt that something was wrong, but everyone always said that boys are late in talking, so it’s okay. Look, now he’s 4 years old and still can’t speak, so there must be something wrong, is his tongue too short to speak?” They also told me that the child usually did not respond to sounds, such as the doorbell, the phone ringing or people calling him from behind. After an examination and hearing test, the boy was found to have “severe sensorineural deafness in both ears”.
The 2 most common causes of pediatric deafness
1. Causes related to family and both parents
Congenital and early onset deafness in the family, or consanguineous marriage.
The mother used birth control pills before pregnancy, or had fever, rash, frequent upper respiratory infections during pregnancy; or used ototoxic drugs, such as streptomycin, kanamycin, gentamicin or other diuretics, salicylates, antineoplastic drugs, etc.
Failure to have regular prenatal checkups during pregnancy, abnormal fetal position, gestational hypertension, pre-eclampsia or prenatal hemorrhage, etc.; or unsuccessful delivery with obstructed labor.
2.Reasons related to the child itself
The child was born prematurely, with asphyxia at birth, very light weight (especially below 1.5 kg) or with some aspect of the body deformed (such as the face, head or limbs and other parts).
Newborns who have had jaundice during the neonatal period and who have been resuscitated in the neonatal intensive care unit have a higher chance of developing hearing impairment.
Hearing impairment is often secondary to frequent medication after birth, especially if the child has had certain infectious diseases such as meningitis, encephalitis, mumps, measles, scarlet fever, etc., and has been treated with large amounts of antimicrobials.
In addition to the above-mentioned conditions that cause deafness, the ear itself, such as congenital atresia of the external ear canal and various types of otitis media (e.g. acute and chronic otitis media, secretory otitis media), can also cause hearing loss.
How to observe the hearing of children?
1. First, we must understand the process of hearing development in children
Normal newborns should have a sense of hearing after birth;
At the age of 3 months, they should be startled by sudden loud sounds or be awakened from sleep;
At 4-5 months of age, they can turn their heads to the sound of a bell or car horn;
At 6-8 months of age, they will look for the source of the sound;
At 9-11 months of age, they respond to name calling;
Around 1 year old can understand the meaning of simple speech.
2, should know the relationship between hearing and speech development
People must first hear, and then learn to have language (language includes speech and writing, speech is the audible form of language, also known as speech), will speak. If a normal child is born in a closed environment with no contact with anyone and no one to teach him to learn his tongue, he will never speak. However, if a child is born with hearing impairment, even if he lives in an open environment and someone talks to him, he cannot hear and learn, so he will not speak, which is called “nine out of ten deaf children”. In fact, this kind of child pronounces normal, is never mute, but can not hear to learn to speak. Therefore, it is important to understand that hearing is the only way to learn to speak, so we can see how important hearing is for children’s speech development.
3.To understand the normal time for children to learn to speak
Generally 1-3 months after birth can be simple pronunciation; 4-8 months can be issued continuous syllables; 9-12 months is the budding stage of learning to speak, often “babbling” non-stop learning to speak; 1.5-2 years old can say simple sentences; 3 years old will say compound sentences, will recite songs, tell small stories. Therefore, it is absolutely wrong to say that “boys are late in speaking and it is normal for them not to speak at the age of 3”.
How to prevent deafness in children?
Early detection of deafness has become a global concern, as it is not uncommon for children to become disabled due to deafness. The country has now designated March 3 each year as “Ear Care Day” to draw the attention of all people. In China, the incidence of hearing disability is also high, and according to the survey report, there are about 30,000 newborn deaf children in China every year.
In order to improve the quality of the population and reduce disabilities, we are working hard to strengthen maternal and child health care, and hearing screening for newborns is also on the agenda. At present, it is being carried out in many cities in China. That is, for all newborns, hearing screening must be done at a qualified hearing center within 1 month after birth, and an evaluation in hearing must be made within 3 months. If there is a hearing impairment, they receive the necessary treatment within 6 months after birth. There are a lot of people in our country, some areas are relatively poor, medical conditions are not good, screening equipment is not complete, and there must be a certain amount of money to do hearing screening. Some parents can’t afford to spend more money and lack of knowledge in this area, so they have to bring their children for screening only as a last resort. However, this often delays the best time for treatment, resulting in lifelong regrets. We would like to make a loud appeal to parents to be fully aware of the dangers of deafness and to cooperate in hearing screening. It has been proven in many cases that early detection, early diagnosis and early treatment of hearing abnormalities can make a world of difference compared to deaf children who were not given the “three early” opportunities, and can have lifelong benefits that can change their lives.
Effective measures to save children’s hearing
If a child is found to have a hearing problem, he or she should go to a hospital with an ear, nose and throat specialist for further examination. At present, a good specialist can identify problems in the auditory pathways of the outer ear, middle ear, inner ear, auditory nerve, and auditory center, and treat them separately for different conditions. For example, diseases of the middle ear can be treated with medication or surgery, or with hearing aids. For inner ear, auditory nerve or auditory center pathologies, hearing aids or auditory speech training may be used.
Those with severe deafness who do not do well with hearing aids or those with very severe deafness should receive early treatment with cochlear implants. Nowadays, cochlear implantation has been carried out in many hospitals in China and has achieved positive results. The youngest deaf children who receive the surgery can be around 1 year old, which greatly changes the quality of life of some deaf children and gives them lifelong benefits.
Finally, I hope that all parents will pay attention to their children’s hearing development and keep in mind the “three early stages”, i.e. early detection, early diagnosis and early treatment, so that their children will not lose their hearing innocently.
Pediatric Hearing Screening Methods
Due to the progress of science and technology, there are many modern instruments available for pediatric hearing screening. For newborns, an otoacoustic screening device is available, which can be used very easily. If the test is passed, the hearing can be provisionally determined to be normal.
Why do you say “tentatively”? Because some rare or late onset hearing impairments may not be immediately apparent with the screening method and will be further examined later to observe auditory development. If the screening test does not pass, further tests must be done, such as auditory behavioral response test, auditory conditioned reflex test, auditory brainstem response test, etc., according to the age of the child. When diagnosing, the results of various tests should be analyzed together, and children with problems must be reviewed regularly to dynamically observe the changes in their hearing. As a reminder, parents must cooperate and don’t mind the trouble, it is a matter of the child’s life.