Hearing problems can occur at any stage of life and for a wide variety of reasons, from before birth to old age.
Dr. René Toral Martiñón, specialist in audiology, otoneurology, and speech-language pathology at ABC Medical Center, notes that hearing problems can occur in the outer ear, middle ear, inner ear, or the auditory nerve, and the treatment, whether medical or surgical, will depend on where the problem is located. A diagnosis must first be made through specific audiological testing.
When it comes to children, it’s reported that for every 1,000 births, 2 to 3 children have hearing problems with no apparent cause.
In newborns, hearing loss can have several different causes. One of them is heredity.
It can also occur if, during pregnancy, the mother takes antibiotics known as ototoxic drugs, which can damage the ear if taken while this organ is still developing.
Babies born before 30 weeks of gestation, or weighing less than 1.5 kilograms, may also develop hearing problems due to a lack of developmental maturity.
During childhood, viral illnesses such as cytomegalovirus, rubella, herpes, or measles, as well as treatment with ototoxic antibiotics, can cause hearing damage.
Otitis media is an inflammation of the middle ear, usually caused by drinking from a bottle or a training cup while lying down, and it can become complicated by bacteria or viruses; reflux disease can also cause otitis media.
Beyond illness, other common situations can lead to hearing problems in children, notes Dr. Toral, these can range from a simple buildup of earwax to an insect in the ear canal or the insertion of a foreign object like a bean or a toy piece. As children become more active, trauma can also cause the eardrum to rupture or the small bones of the middle ear to fracture.
What Should Parents Watch For to Protect Their Child’s Hearing?
An estimated 60% of childhood hearing loss is preventable; when it can’t be prevented, there are interventions available that can help affected children reach their full developmental potential.
As a child grows, parents can watch for various signs that may point to a hearing issue.
In Mexico, since 2008, the law requires every newborn to undergo a neonatal hearing screening using otoacoustic emissions testing, which can identify problems in the outer, middle, or inner ear.
If everything checks out at that point, the child’s development will follow a general timeline that can help parents spot a potential problem down the road:
- At three months old, the baby begins to babble without any specific meaning.
- At six months old, once the baby can sit up and hold their head steady, they begin making repeated sounds like “bababa,” “tatata,” “gagaga,” and so on. They also start paying attention to sounds around them.
- At nine months old, the baby may say their first specific word, which doesn’t have meaning yet but reflects what they hear most often.
- At 12 months old, once they’re walking, they’ll typically have three or four clear words and will start to understand when spoken to directly.
- At 18 months old, they’ll usually know around 20 words, and from this point on will begin developing many more.
- At 24 months old, they’ll have around 200 well-defined words and may start repeating the tune of songs or other phrases.
Parents should pay close attention to this developmental timeline, since hearing is directly linked to language development. As Dr. Toral explains, a child who hears well will speak well; a child with mild hearing loss will have somewhat impaired speech; a child with severe hearing loss will have significantly impaired speech; and a child who can’t hear at all won’t develop speech.
Different tests are available to determine the type and degree of hearing loss. Depending on the cause, treatment may involve a medical procedure, such as removing a foreign object, or surgery to correct a deformity or fit a device to improve hearing. There are also cases where hearing loss is irreversible, which is why each patient must be treated individually, with the goal of providing the best possible treatment for their specific case.
At ABC Medical Center’s Pediatrics Center, we can provide you with specialized care. Contact us!
