The number of deaf children is huge According to the second national sample survey of disabled people in 2006, the number of hearing disabled people in China has reached 27.8 million, including 800,000 deaf children under 7 years old and 1 million children under 12 years old, and more than 30,000 newborn deaf children will be produced every year due to drugs, genetics, infections, diseases, environmental noise pollution, accidents and other reasons. Infancy and childhood are the best time for hearing and speech development. If deafness occurs during this period and is not detected and treated in time, it will affect the child’s speech therapy development to varying degrees and seriously affect his or her life, learning and social interaction. To date, many parents lack this knowledge. Deafness in children can occur before and after birth Children can have hearing impairment before, during and after birth for various reasons, most of which are genetically related and account for about 60%-70% of all childhood deafness. Before birth: such as congenital malformation of the inner ear or the outer or middle ear, use of ototoxic drugs or infections during pregnancy; during birth: such as hypoxia (intrauterine hypoxia) or compression of the fetus’s head during delivery, which can damage the auditory organs or the auditory center; after birth: such as pathological jaundice at birth, inflammatory diseases during growth and development, or infections caused by drugs. Inflammation due to drug infections (e.g., secretory otitis media and purulent otitis media, which are common in children) and infectious diseases due to viral or bacterial infections (e.g., meningitis, mumps) may cause deafness in children. Don’t just dig your child’s ears ~ Early detection of congenital deafness Since most children’s deafness is mainly related to genetics, early detection, diagnosis and treatment of hearing disability in children is especially crucial. Familial deafness, renal failure, hematuria, and proteinuria should especially be examined early in the hospital to rule out Alport syndrome. This requires parents to understand the causes, hazards and rehabilitation methods of deafness, and to take their children to the hospital as soon as they notice suspicious symptoms of deafness, so as not to delay the best treatment. The following recommendations are carefully looked at There are ways to prevent and treat deafness Because of the large number of newborn deaf children in China and the great demand for rehabilitation, it is very important that parents should actively do their best to prevent deafness in children, in addition to taking the necessary rehabilitation treatment. In this regard, experts have made the following recommendations: 1. For couples with a significant family history of deafness, they should undergo genetic testing for deafness before conception and have scientific guidance from experts through deafness genetic counseling to determine whether to have children. 2. Pregnant women should prohibit drugs that have obvious toxic effects on the fetus during pregnancy, and prevent viral infections, and if they are infected, they should be treated promptly. 3. Avoid using ototoxic drugs for your child as much as possible. If you have to use them because of your condition, you must pay close attention to hearing changes and stop them as soon as symptoms such as tinnitus appear. 4. When a child suffers from an infectious disease such as otitis media, he or she should go to the hospital in time to avoid leaving sequelae that may lead to deafness.