Newborn Testing and Infant Hearing Care
Hearing loss interrupts lives at any age, but imagine its impact on a newborn infant.
If your baby doesn’t hear well, it could delay their speech and language development skills, hold them back in school, and limit the development of his or her socialization skills.
Early diagnosis of hearing loss in infants is critical. Cayman Hearing Center places identifying and addressing the hearing challenges of your infants as a top priority of our practice.
Common Causes of Hearing Loss In Infants
Congenital Hearing Loss
Most fetuses have already developed their hearing by 16 weeks after conception. When proper or full development does not occur before birth, babies are born with hearing difficulties or a “congenital” hearing loss.
Genetic conditions account for 50% or more of congenital hearing loss cases, while the remaining causes can be linked to various causes like prenatal infections, illnesses, and toxins consumed by the mother during pregnancy, as well as an infection developed within the womb, premature birth, gestational diabetes, toxemia during pregnancy, and a lack of oxygen (anoxia).
Newborn hearing screenings identify congenital hearing loss early on, making it possible to limit the impact of hearing loss and maximize auditory function for children during development.
Infant Hearing Tests
Approximately 0.1% of newborns in Europe and North America are born with a hearing loss of more than 40 decibels (dB), according to CDC statistics.
To achieve the best possible results from therapeutic interventions for babies with a hearing loss, treatment needs to begin before your child is six months old.
The significant negative impact on speech and language development on children has led many United Kingdom territories to mandate screening infants for hearing loss at birth.
Should your infant not pass the initial newborn screening, your hospital may schedule an additional diagnostic ABR/DPOAE screening with an audiologist from Cayman Hearing Center after your baby is released.
How to Prepare for an Infant Hearing Test
For a child or infant diagnostic hearing exam at Cayman Hearing Center, your baby should be tired and hungry so that the parent can feed the infant during the exam. This makes things run a lot smoother during testing. In addition, please refrain from applying hair gels, lotions, or earrings to your child on the day of testing.
Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions (DPOAE) Tests
This test involves inserting a tiny probe that emits a series of sounds into the entrance of your baby’s ear canal. DPOAEs are distorted sounds generated by the cochlea’s outer hair cells that occur in response to two tones that are close in frequency. The presence of a DPOAE response indicates that your child’s cochlear amplifier is functioning properly.
Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) Test
Imagine a pair of tiny headphones/earbuds that fit into your baby’s ears. That’s what your audiologist will use, along with an array of electrodes placed on his/her scalp. As sounds are transmitted into your baby’s ears, the ABR system will measure auditory neural synchrony. Abnormal measurements could be an indicator of hearing problems.
What the Test Results Mean
A newborn who receives a refer or did not pass result during the initial hearing tests may not necessarily have an auditory loss. In fact, close to 90% of newborn babies who don’t pass their first screening usually pass a subsequent test. Common failures of initial screenings often include too much earwax, vernix, or fluid in the ear.
There are three result scenarios from an infant hearing test:
Testing indicates hearing loss in one or both ears. Treatment will start within the first six months of life in order to provide an adequate opportunity for proper development.
Your baby may pass the newborn hearing screening, but could experience hearing loss later on in childhood. Ongoing screenings and monitoring of factors that could lead to acquired hearing loss is advised.
Your baby may pass the initial screening, but with some indicators that your baby might develop late-onset hearing loss due to genetic disposition, infections and illnesses, exposure to secondhand smoke, or NICU treatments, which means testing will be repeated between 9 mos – 1 yr.
Treatment solutions prescribed depend on your baby’s overall health and the cause of the hearing loss. The one thing that is constant is the fact that treatment needs to begin as soon as possible and before he or she is 6 months old. Common interventions and treatments may include:
Cochlear implants
Babies as young as one year old may get a cochlear implant. It doesn’t give a baby complete hearing, but it can give a baby a sense of sound. Audiologists and speech therapists can help your baby learn to hear through the implant and develop speech, language, and social skills.
Speech therapy
This therapy helps your child learn how to speak more clearly or communicate in other ways by helping him or her learn how to make sounds, improve their voice, and interact with others.
Learning special language skills
This therapy helps your child learn how to speak more clearly or communicate in other ways by helping him or her learn how to make sounds, improve their voice, and interact with others.
Surgery
Surgery can sometimes correct any structural issues of the outer and middle ears that cause hearing loss.
Hearing aids
Hearing aids make sounds louder and clearer, helping babies as young as 1 month old.
FAQs
