Hearing is essential to our children’s learning ability. Even in the womb a child can begin to recognise sounds, such as their mother’s heartbeat, and from their very first day in the world they begin to develop skills and knowledge from speech and environmental sounds. It is easy to take for granted how much we rely on sound in our daily lives, even the simplest of tasks are made easy by the ability to listen. For children, hearing is a key sense for personal development and without it you will find your child challenged in many aspects of life.
Children depend on sound, more so than adults because they’re on a steep learning curve. From the day a child is born, they don’t just have to learn how to walk, eat, express their emotions etc., they also have to learn how to speak and later, learn all the skills that are taught at school, such as reading and writing, along with social skills and so on. Learning is so much easier if you can hear what’s being taught – both directly and indirectly. Poor hearing affects the childs ability to overhear and therefore development through incidental learning,
They are also more likely to become tired quickly from the added effort they have to put in to making sense of the world, and how they interact with their peers can also be affected because of the hearing loss.
The first step in helping a child with hearing loss is identifying the problem. The best way to identify the problem is knowing the signs. On this blog we aim to give you the knowledge to be able to recognise signs that your child may have a hearing loss. We will break this down into lists of hearing loss signs for children of different ages as variations occur as a child grows and is faced with different challenges.
The first entry is ready to read now:
Signs of hearing loss for infants and toddlers 0-3 year-olds
Common signs of hearing loss regardless of age
If you suspect that your child may have hearing loss, we recommend that you consult a hearing care professional to receive the right guidance for their age. Here are some common traits and signs of hearing loss in children to look out for, regardless of age.
● Cannot follow sound and its direction
● Does not respond when spoken to
● Fails to understand questions or to answer appropriately
● Inattentive or seems far away
● Slow to develop speech
● Struggles in social interactions
● Acts out in frustration
● Has poor academic performance
● Turns up the volume on different devices
If you suspect your child may have hearing loss, please contact your nearest hearing care professional to get their hearing tested.