Do You Hear What I Hear?

Hearing Difficulty, Loss and Screening

By Carma Haley Shoemaker

From a child's birth, parents look forward to each and every milestone with great anticipation, excitement and pride. Rolling over, crawling, walking and talking are all occasions for celebration. However, if or when a milestone is missed or delayed, the celebration is replaced by worry – or guilt.

For instance, if a child does not exhibit normal speech patterns, the possibility of a hearing loss, hearing difficulty or even deafness may be pursued. All parents want their children to be healthy, happy and develop within the "normal" guidelines. Parents want to be able to communicate with their child and fear that this may not be possible if a child has hearing problems. The idea of a child with hearing loss can be overwhelming. What does a parent do? What happens next?

In any diagnosis, including hearing loss or deafness, the first step is screening. Without proper screening, the illness or difficulty may go unnoticed, which can lead to a more serious problem in the long run.

Dr. Michael Lotke, a pediatrician at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Chicago who specializes in serving deaf and hearing-impaired families, says the percentage of newborn babies who receive hearing screening is much higher now than in years past.

"There have been requisitions for universal newborn hearing screening but at this point only a little over half a dozen states have actually enacted these policies," says Dr. Lotke. "Where it is not state mandated, some hospitals are choosing to institute policies of their own for the screening of all newborn babies. Currently, greater than 90 to 95 percent of babies are being screened compared to only 65 percent as recent as six years ago."

Even with various states adopting policies to test all newborns for their level of hearing, some hospitals continue to leave this process to the family pediatrician.

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