Deafness in children
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Although temporary hearing loss or deafness in children due to the presence of effusion in the middle ear cavity ("glued ear") occurs quite often, permanent deafness occurs much less often (in infants, approximately 1-2 per 1000 children).
But it is important to remember that since children of early age are affected, they need to provide all possible assistance to restore the hearing so that these children learn to speak.
[Causes of deafness in children
- Hereditary causes of deafness in children: syndromes of Wardenburg, Klippel-Feil and Treacher-Collins, as well as mucopolysaccharidosis.
- Acquired in utero: maternal infection [rubella, influenza, glandular fever (infectious mononucleosis), syphilis], the use of ototoxic drugs.
- Perinatal causes of deafness in children: anoxia, birth trauma, cerebral palsy, nuclear jaundice (bilirubin encephalopathy).
- Postnatal: epidemic parotitis, meningitis, ototoxic drugs, lead.
Detection of deafness in children
The ability to hear should be checked in all children at the age of 8 months. Particular attention should be paid to children with hereditary heredity by hearing and to children with prenatal, natyany and postnatal risk factors that can lead to hearing loss, since it is these children who are 10 times more likely than others (compared to the usual population) to suffer from impairment. Children under 7 months of age are currently not tested by ear, although they tend to shudder in response to certain sound stimuli. In children from 7 months to 1 year, the hearing is tested as follows: the child is sitting on his mother's lap, and in front of them is a man who from time to time keeps the child's face on the middle line. Testing becomes at a distance of 1 m behind the mother and alternately checks each ear of the child. Low frequency sounds usually reproduce the speaker's voice, high frequency sounds - a child's rattle. A rustling paper usually gives a wide range of sound stimuli. If you have any doubts about the hearing of the child, consult a specialist. At the age of 12 months to 2 years in children, it is usually difficult to test hearing. After 3 years, auditory testing can be performed using audiometry with pure tones.
Objective hearing testing can be performed using tympanometry and "induced response audiometry," while the recording electrode is placed behind the ear, in the external auditory canal, or in the eardrum. The ear is stimulated with sound stimuli, and the response is recorded as a curve of a certain amplitude, with peaks of a certain height that is transmitted to the computer. (Usually this happens in a special acoustic laboratory.)
Treatment of deafness in children
If the inferiority of hearing in a child is confirmed, then the treatment should be aimed at such improvement of the hearing that would make it possible to teach the child a colloquial speech, and in the future also to receive an education. Teachers who teach children with impaired hearing have undoubtedly made great progress in this field. Hearing formulas and images must be changed frequently so that children can more easily absorb them. Parents of these children need to explain that it is very important to talk as much as possible with the child. Such children can be trained in normal schools, but in addition, teachers from schools for the deaf should attend them. Children with partial deafness can practice in specialized classes of ordinary schools or in schools for the deaf - it all depends on the individual characteristics of the child.