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Is Baby's Hearing Normal?
New Tests Help Provide Answers
By Holly Brown
When we think of a traditional hearing test, we think about raising our hands when we hear a beep. This is how adults take hearing tests, but what about newborns? How can accurate hearing results be obtained when little ones lack the ability to participate in traditional test methods?
According to researchers at the University of Colorado, two to three out of every 1,000 babies born in the United States will have some degree of permanent hearing loss. Sometimes parents suspect a baby has a hearing problem, especially if it is profound, but not always.
Most of the time, mild to severe hearing problems will not be identified until a child is about 2 years old. By this age, say researchers, many babies are already demonstrating delayed speech and language skills and problems with social and emotional development. Studies show that if babies with mild to severe hearing loss can be identified and receive intervention and support before 6 months of age, they will have a much better chance of speaking and socializing normally.
Fortunately for today's families, we are living in a technological age, and two new hearing screening tests are available, which require no active participation from babies. In fact, it is preferable that the tests be done while the newborns sleep.
The first test, called an Otoacoustic Emissions test (OAE), is performed by placing a small probe into Baby's ear canal. A series of soft tones is presented through the probe, and tiny emissions, created as the inner ear processes the tones, are recorded by the same probe. The second test is called an Auditory Brainstem Response test (ABR). In this test, electrodes are placed on Baby's head and behind the ears, and soft clicks are presented through earphones. Brainwave activity is recorded as nerves carry the hearing response to the brain. Both tests take only a few minutes and are completely non-invasive.
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