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Is my child hard of hearing?
It is not always obvious that some children have a slight to medium hearing impairment because
of the fact that many can compensate extremely well for their hearing
loss. Thus, a hearing impairment is sometimes not discovered during the first years of the child's life.
Close
observation of a child by his/her parents in the early phases of development plays a central role for early detection of a hearing
impairment.
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Acoustic behaviour of normally hearing babies and infants:
* Before making the following observations, make sure that you do not use visual
or touch impressions to influence the hearing or voice reactions of the child.
| Age in months |
Expected reaction |
| Birth - 3 months |
The quietly sleeping baby wakes up due to sudden noises. Baby is soothed by mother's voice;
Baby gurgles, coos and laughs.
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| 3-6 months |
The child moves his/her eyes and turns his/her head to search for the sound source, reacts to
mother's voice, makes a wide-ranging number of babbling sounds, imitates "oh" and "ba-ba" and changes the pitch of
his/her voice. Baby likes to
have toys which make rattling and other noises. He/she appears to be conscious of
the surroundings and perceives persons and events.
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| 6-10 months |
The child turns around and tries to find sources of sound outside his/her field of vision.
He/she reacts when called by name, when the telephone rings and to voices of persons even in loud surroundings.
Baby understands "no" and other frequently used
words. He/she makes sounds with rising or falling modulation and listens to music or singing.
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| 10-15 months |
The child finds a sound source located behind him/her and also reacts clearly remote noises.
Baby imitates simple sounds and words and can generate a large number of different sounds, including vowels and
consonants. He/she reacts to the human voice with babbling and can, on request, indicate or look at objects or persons.
Baby shows signs of ability to
absorb information passively (i.e. the child can learn from events which do not concern it directly and actively).
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| 15-18 months |
The child can hear and react to being called from another room.
His/her voice sounds normal and
he/she begins to form first words. The toddler can follow simply spoken instructions without any
visual indications (pointing or changing one's
direction of view) or support by touch. He/she recognises persons, parts of the body and toys when
he/she is asked about them; baby gesticulates
corresponding to what is said, rocks to the rhythm of music and repeats words
when spoken to.
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If you suspect that your child has a hearing impairment then your child should be examined thoroughly by a specialist using subjective and objective detection
methods.
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