ANGEL LAKETA MOORE (sound bite) What are you saying to the people?
*Baby laughs*
ANGEL LAKETA MOORE Some of the best moments from when the kids
were little is when I would speak to them and they’d start smiling.
Kai is just about 3 months old right here, and he’s totally responding to the sound
of my voice.
*Baby laughs*
ANGEL LAKETA MOORE And as time goes on, he gets even better at
hearing!
But I want to know how this development works and what I can do to help things along?
DR. PAYAL ANAND Anatomically, or structurally, the ear is
fully developed when an infant is born.
The inner ear starts to develop first, followed by the middle ear and then the outer ear.
The hearing nerve is also developed.
But the nerve fibers and the hearing nerve are very rudimentary. They're not fully developed
at birth.
ANGEL LAKETA MOORE So basically, babies are born with fully functioning
ears ready to go and take in sound.
In fact, they can start listening at 18 weeks in utero.
But to be clear, we’re not just looking at the ears when it comes to building those
sensory skills; we’re also looking at the brain.
DR. PAYAL ANAND So the maturation of the nerve fibers in our
hearing system, as well as the development of processing in our brain occurs with exposure
to sound after an infant is born.
ANGEL LAKETA MOORE Uhhhh...what does that mean exactly??
DR. PAYAL ANAND You could think of an infant's hearing system
as a seed, which needs that auditory stimuli, the rich environment, all of the sounds in
the environment for early sprouting.But it's through these repeated exposures to different
kinds of sounds that the nerve fibers start to develop.
It's the exposure to sound that allows the maturation of that pathway, the neural development,
that ultimately leads to speech language development.
ANGEL LAKETA MOORE (sound bite) Looking just like a rockstar!
Hey, hey, hey!
ANGEL LAKETA MOORE I feel like with my first child, I felt like
I was talking to him through telepathy rather than actual words, which makes sense because
that was my one child that had a speech delay.
Whereas my younger kids, they're surrounded with speech, whether it be me talking to them,
asking them how their day is, even before they could actually respond, or whether it's
their older siblings talking to them.
Now, no child will be the same, after 4 of them I would know,
but there is a timeline to follow along with.
DR. PAYAL ANAND In the early months of life, the child should be able to respond, or startle to loud sounds.
So if a baby is asleep, and there is a loud, sudden sound, that should wake up the child.
When you think about four to seven, or four to six months of age, babies at this stage will
start to turn to sound a little bit.
They will also start to respond to pleasure or displeasure by creating sounds themselves
so babies will start to giggle a little.
DR. PAYAL ANAND The next age group, and probably around seven
to 11 months, or one year of age, this stage we start to see early signs
of what we call receptive language development.
They may also start to indicate by gestures, like simple high fives and bye-byes.
So they'll start to understand language more.
ANGEL LAKETA MOORE Now, let’s back up..all the way back to
the hospital.
When an infant is born they go through the standard screening process, and hearing is
one of the things doctors check.
And even if they pass the first test, babies will continue to get tested at every check-up
visit you have with the pediatrician.
So these milestones really help us know if our baby is on track with their ability to
hear and respond to sound.
If you do notice that your little one isn't hitting those milestones it's worth mentioning
it to their doctor.
DR. PAYAL ANAND It was about 1.7 in 1000 births in the U.S.
result in hearing loss.
In that category, kids that are born with hearing loss, about 40% of the times, it's
some sort of environmental cause, and about 15 to 25% of those are due to CMV.
ANGEL LAKETA MOORE I wasn't aware of the things that actually
cause hearing loss, especially in young kids.
Like me getting older, yes, my hearing is on its way out of the door.
But as far as little kids, like knowing that congenital CMV, one of its most common symptoms
is hearing loss, completely unaware of.
But I think that's a lot with parenting is that if your child isn't going through it,
you aren't aware of all the possibilities and things that somebody else might be going
through.
DR. PAYAL ANAND And when I talk about identification, there are
essentially two things that we're looking at—we're looking at what is the degree of
hearing loss, and what is the type of hearing loss.
And after we have identified the degree and type of hearing loss, a child is usually referred
to a pediatric otolaryngologist to help further with medical diagnosis in terms of origins
of hearing loss, is the cause reversible, treatable, etc.
ANGEL LAKETA MOORE (sound bite) *baby gurgles* And then both are soothed by
music
ANGEL LAKETA MOORE So, when the doctor talks about a “degree”
of hearing loss, she’s actually referring to what I learned is called the decibel scale.
DR. PAYAL ANAND For children, what we consider normal is about
zero to 15 Db HL is considered a normal range.
And then 71 to 90 is severe hearing loss, and beyond that is considered a profound hearing
loss.
ANGEL LAKETA MOORE Now if a baby doesn’t fall within what they
consider a normal hearing range, there are SO MANY resources that are available for caregivers
and children.
DR. PAYAL ANAND So when a child is identified early, as an
infant, they are connected to early start services that is a team of interventionists,
behavioral therapists, speech language therapists that are working with the family in providing
support in any way that the family or child may need.
When the child turns three, then they receive all support services through the school district.
Secondly, I want you to know that if your child has hearing loss, your child will still
be able to have a very fulfilling childhood as well as adult life.
And you can have a village of professionals as well as a support system that will be your
partner through this process.
ANGEL LAKETA MOORE And don’t forget about the family, friends,
and anyone else in your network that can help.
Thank you for watching Seeker Baby!
I'm Angel Laketa Moore, and I hope you're learning as
much about babies as I am.
If there's a baby topic you want to see us cover, leave us a comment!
And keep coming back to Seeker for more on babies.
See you next time!