- In this video, I'm gonna tell you a few things
that you need to know if you suspect your child
has hearing loss, coming up.
(upbeat music)
Hi guys, Cliff Olson, Doctor of Audiology
and founder of Applied Hearing Solutions
in Phoenix, Arizona, and on this channel,
I cover a bunch of hearing-related information
to help make you a better informed consumer.
So, if your into that,
make sure you hit that Subscribe button
and don't forget to click the bell to receive a notification
every time I post a new video.
According to the National Institutes of Health,
about two to three out of every 1,000 babies
that are born in America have some form
of detectable hearing loss either in one ear or both ears,
and 90% of deaf babies are born to hearing parents.
Hospitals typically perform newborn hearing screenings
within 48 hours of when a child is born.
And if a child fails a newborn hearing screening,
they're typically tested again within a few weeks.
According to the American Speech Language
Hearing Association, all children should be screened
for hearing loss no later than one month of age.
If they failed the screening,
they should have a hearing and medical evaluation
no later than three months of age.
They should be treated with hearing aids
within one month of diagnosis,
and receive early intervention services
no later than six months of age.
But not all hearing losses can be detected at birth
In some cases, hearing losses can have a delayed onset,
or they can be too mild to be identified
with the screening technology.
Your child can also have a case of temporary hearing loss.
Now, temporary hearing losses
can sometimes be caused by fluid in the ear,
or even excessive earwax.
And sometimes, these can actually resolve themselves.
But in other cases like with an ear infection,
your child may need medical attention
which is why it's so important to seek out medical care
if you suspect that your child
has any kind of hearing difficulty.
A permanent hearing loss, like the name would suggest
is a type of hearing loss that cannot be reversed
with medical intervention.
It can be caused by things like genetic conditions,
ear malformations, noise exposure,
or even viral infections to name a few.
If undetected at birth, hearing loss can reveal itself
by monitoring certain speech and hearing milestones.
From birth to four months old,
your child should startle at loud sounds,
respond to your voice,
and calm down at the sound of your voice.
From four to six months old,
your child should move his or her eyes
in the direction of sounds,
they should respond to changes in your tone of voice,
and they should notice toys that make sounds.
From seven months to one year old,
your child should turn and look at the direction of sounds,
turn his or her head when you call,
respond to simple commands, and understand simple words
like car, truck, daddy, and mommy.
From one year to two years old,
your child should use many simple words,
listen to songs, point to body parts when you ask,
point to familiar objects when you name them,
and follow basic commands.
If your child does not meet these milestones,
it's time to schedule an appointment
with an audiologist to have your child's hearing evaluated
and with the help of an otolaryngologist,
they will be able to determine whether or not
your child has a temporary or permanent hearing loss
and they will be able to get you
pointed in the right direction for treatment.
Best practice for treating your child's hearing loss
requires an audiologist
to take your child's needs into consideration
as well as your family's needs into consideration.
This is called family-centered care.
If that treatment option happens to be hearing aids,
then you and your audiologist
have some important decisions to make
when deciding which hearing aids are best for your child.
And, Phonak, today's video sponsor,
has been a pioneer in the world of pediatric hearing aids
and they continue to innovate
with their newest hearing aid for children,
the Phonak Sky Marvel.
The Sky Marvel hearing aid may be one
of the most impressive pediatric hearing aids
that we have ever seen due to a variety of new features
built upon proven the performance of past Sky platforms.
First, is the AutoSense Sky Operating System.
If enabled by your audiologist, the Autosense Sky OS
allows your child's Sky hearing aids
to automatically adapt to changing environments
which is important considering home
and classroom environments
are dynamic when children work or play ingroup settings.
Second, is RogerDirect.
Now, this may be the single biggest advancement
in pediatric hearing aids
since the development of FM systems.
RogerDirect takes speech
from a someone wearing a Roger microphone
like the Roger Touchscreen
and sends it directly into your child's hearing aids
giving them full access to the your voice
no matter where they are.
Before RogerDirect, your child would have
to wear a bulky Roger Receiver.
Now, those Roger Receivers can be wirelessly installed
directly into the Sky Marvels.
which also help to reduce the size of these devices
for a smaller, more comfortable fit
particularly on children who have really small ears.
Whether your child's at home or at school,
this is an absolute game changer.
Third is Bluetooth connectivity.
Did you know that surveys indicate that 78%
of elementary school students
report using tablets and smartphones?
And 79% of schools report having students
use tablets for school?
The Sky Marvels directly connect to any Bluetooth device
allowing children to stream audio directly
into their hearing aids
making sure your child doesn't miss a thing.
Fourth, is the color options of the Sky Marvel.
With seven different earhook colors
and seven different signature sky colors,
in addition to the traditional adult colors,
the Sky Marvel allows your child choose
their favorite color combination
Fifth, is durability.
With an IP68 rating which is one of the highest
durability ratings that a hearing aid can have,
the Sky Marvel is built to withstand
even the harshest conditions.
This includes dirt and debris
and it also includes direct water exposure.
So your kid can worry more about being a kid
rather than worrying about damaging their hearing aids.
Now, if you just discovered
that your child has hearing loss,
it is a terrific idea to reach out to your audiologist
and establish open communication with them.
It is their job to support you and your child
through this journey of hearing loss treatment.
Ask them questions and utilize them as a resource.
It's also a great idea to connect with other parents
who have children with hearing loss.
There are a ton of support groups out there
that you can find even on Facebook
or by going to websites like HearingLikeMe.com.
Connecting with other individuals
who have walked in your shoes
can be really beneficial to you and your family.
If your child has a permanent hearing loss,
hearing technology can provide them
with better access to speech information
which will help better achieve
their speech and language milestones.
And for a little more inspiration
and just how happy and healthy your child can be
with hearing treatment, check out this video.
- [Woman] Hi, Saint.
(baby laughing)
Yeah.
Do you hear yourself?
(baby babbling)
- Hey Papa.
- [Woman] Hi, hi darling, hi. (laughs)
Can you hear better?
Can you hear better? (laughs)
- Can you hear us, Archer?
(laughing)
- [Woman] Yeah, you can hear.
You can hear, look.
(laughing)
- [Woman] Hey, hi. (laughs)
Loud, it's loud?
It will seem really loud
'cause you haven't heard for a while,
so do you hear everything?
(laughing)
(baby laughing)
- That's it for this video.
If you have any questions,
leave them in the comments section below.
If you like the video, please share it.
If you wanna see other videos just like this one,
go ahead and hit that Subscribe button.
Also, feel free to checkout my website, drcliffaud.com.
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