Caring for congenital neurogenic deafness in infants and children

  All parents want their children to grow up healthy. Every parent thinks about the possibility of their child becoming ill, but few think about the possibility of their child becoming deaf and not realizing it until the child grows up and cannot speak, thus delaying the condition.  What is auditory speech disorder?  According to a sample survey of five types of disabled people in China, it was found that auditory speech disorders ranked first among disabled people in China.  What is auditory speech disorder? Speech disorder is a mild case of slurred speech, commonly known as “big tongue”, and severe deafness can not speak, and this speech disorder is mostly caused by serious damage to the hearing in infancy.  We all know that infancy is a critical time to learn language, infants and toddlers are 5-6 months old before they learn to babble and learn to call “mommy” and “daddy”, and one year old before they can say “tee tee The infant will only learn to say “mommy” and “daddy” at 5-6 months of age, and “tik tik” and “ta ta” at about one year of age. If an infant is severely deaf, he or she will not be able to hear or hear the sounds around them and will not be able to speak. This is the reason for the old Chinese saying “nine out of ten deaf children are dumb”.  What deafness disorders affect children’s speech development?  The main clinical condition identified is sensorineural deafness, commonly known as “nerve deafness”. There are two types of deafness: congenital and acquired. Acquired deafness is mainly due to aminoglycoside antibiotic deafness, which has been recognized in China through long-term education and medical practice. However, although we have heard about congenital deafness, there is no information about its diagnosis and preventive measures. In recent years, due to the development of imaging and inner ear CT, it has been confirmed that enlargement of the vestibular aqueduct is a common inner ear malformation, and clinical practice has confirmed that “large vestibular aqueduct syndrome (LVAS for short)” is the most common type of childhood neurodeafness. LVAS is the most common form of neurological deafness in children. It has a high prevalence and severe hearing impairment (most children are severely deaf or profoundly deaf), and most children are deaf bilaterally.  The large vestibular aqueduct syndrome is one of the most difficult diseases to treat in otology, but to some extent, it is possible to use certain preventive and therapeutic measures, which are very beneficial to the children, therefore, early detection and diagnosis are very important.  How can LAVAS disease be detected early?  First of all, we must master the characteristics of the disease and observe carefully in order to achieve early detection and timely diagnosis. The main symptom of the disease is deafness. Although the patient is congenitally deaf, the hearing of the child is usually close to normal at birth, and the deafness occurs late, mostly when the child is 3-4 years old. Also hearing is variable, sometimes good and sometimes bad, and most patients are characterized by fluctuating hearing loss, and in general the hearing has a tendency to progressive decline. Some children can also develop vertigo. In these children, the possibility of LVAS should be thought of, and the diagnosis can be basically confirmed by timely audiological examination and CT examination of the inner ear.  Prevention and control measures for LVAS of large vestibular aqueduct syndrome.  There is no effective treatment for large vestibular aqueduct syndrome, but the following prevention and treatment measures are very helpful.  1, parents and children should be warned to avoid trauma and colds, stay away from noise, and avoid forceful coughing and nose-blowing actions to prevent the occurrence of fluctuating hearing loss.  2, children with sudden fluctuations, hearing loss, should be timely conservative treatment, can be applied to improve microcirculation drugs, glucocorticoids, energy synergists, neurotrophic drug therapy, most children through treatment, hearing can be improved or reach the original level, but in general to maintain the downward trend. Through the above preventive and curative measures, the hearing of children can be maintained at a better level for a longer period of time, which can help children to have better language training and learning.  3. For children with severe hearing damage or persistent hearing loss, cochlear implantation is also an effective way to improve the hearing of LVAS patients when wearing hearing aids is not effective.  4. The cause of LVAS is complex, but it is related to genetics, and some patients have a tendency to have a family history. Therefore, parents of LVAS patients, the risk of having another deaf child is great and must be cautious.  LVAS is the most common form of congenital neurodeafness in children, and since most are bifocally deaf, it can be very harmful and seriously affect the learning and growth of affected children. Although there is a lack of effective treatment for this disease, it is still beneficial to children if it is detected early, diagnosed early, and certain preventive and therapeutic measures are taken. We hope everyone will take care of congenital neurodeafness in infants and children with large vestibular aqueduct syndrome.